Then There Were Three Again

It was one week ago today when Wendy told me the bad news. I knew right then and there that I was being laid off that day. No one in the office knew about this, not even Wendy.

I was planning to leave the company anyway, but not until I found a better job and until I saw what the company profit-sharing was all about since I was eligible in January 2010. However, they beat me to it. Now, I'm back at home pounding the keyboard for job opportunities. And I did get a reasonable separation pay that was good for six weeks, even though I was only entitled to receive 2½ weeks' worth of pay.

As soon as I finished reading my walking papers, I grabbed a box to put my personal stuff in there, like my action figures, books, water bottles and picture frame. To save me from embarrassment, Wendy had the box shipped home.

After signing the release form, I hugged Wendy and asked her to say goodbye to the other Wendy and Cathy for me. Then I looked outside my window for the last time while putting on my jacket. It was a cold, wet and dreary day.

I grabbed my bag, waved goodbye to Wendy and headed out the door.

Thank God for Short Workweeks

Monday was Thanksgiving Day; so, we didn’t have to go to work, making this week a four-day workweek. Last week was, too, because we got Friday off. However, the days appear longer, especially now that projects are getting few and far between. Clients who are taking their time in sending approvals aren’t helping either.

Once again, I try to keep myself busy by watching training videos online; however, it’s now becoming tedious. Sooner or later, I’ll run out of training videos to watch. When that happens, I guess I’ll have to start learning new software.

By the way, three boats caught fire yesterday by the harbour a block away. It produced a huge pillar of black smoke, which I could see from my office. No one was hurt fortunately.

Christmas in October

Monday morning, as I was about to leave for work, I got this text message from the bigger Wendy not to come in the morning. She said that a transformer blew in the building on Sunday and caused an electrical fire. I called her up and asked for more details about the incident.

Wendy said that there was no power in the entire building. Unfortunately, Petra from the other agency was at work on Sunday and parked inside the parkade when this happened. She had to go down 16 floors using the stairs. Her car was stuck, too, as the security gates couldn’t be opened.

This was reminiscent of last year’s disaster in the building just days before Christmas when a water pipe on the fifth floor blew and flooded everything under it, including the elevators. But that was worse. This time, they got the power back on by Tuesday morning.

Wendy and I dubbed this event as Christmas in October.

The Tail End

The last two weeks were busy for me. Now that most of my work is either with the printer or lettershop, I have plenty of time on my hands again. I don’t mind working on several project days in and day out with a few short breaks in between, but work comes few and far between, especially in the summer.

However, I had a short chat with the smaller Wendy this morning. She said that work on the second phase of a client’s new business venture would begin as early as next week. She was surprised I was ecstatic. I told her that if the agency on the other side was swamped and I wasn’t busy, I might go there and help Bart out.

Wendy thought that I would get paid extra. I told her no, which she believed was unfair, but I added that the additional work experience would look good on my résumé. Actually, I’d love to help them out to get more exposure, but I didn’t know where to begin.

Back to the Norm Again

So, after a busy week, I’m back to waiting for work to return again. Last week was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed every minute of it. It also made the day go fast. This week is the complete opposite.

There’s not much projects to begin with. Monday, I saw my billable hours diminishing. No matter how hard I tried to prolong the work, it simply wasn’t enough to last the whole day. It’s already the middle of the week and I only have nine client-chargeable hours.

And I never got to work for the other side, even though Petra, Bart and Dennis asked me to earlier.

Busy — So Far

My week started off with typesetting an unapproved copy for a DM letter. I had to do this in advance to give me an idea how the text would fit the letterhead, graphics included. So far, I’m still waiting for the final approved copy. Later, Cathy asked me to typeset a service charge comparison table for the client, which was a bit challenging because this was the first time I created a table using InDesign. It turned out much better than I thought, however.

Then there was this appointment notice that I had to layout quickly. The client wanted six designs, but I came up only with five. However, the smaller Wendy, who was handling this project, decided to hand only four because she felt that the last one, which was my favourite among the five because of its uniqueness, might be too difficult to produce. At least, that’s what she thought.

Then I had to cover for two persons. The bigger Wendy is getting married for the second time tomorrow, and Bart, the graphic artist from the other side of the wing, is taking a day off today to spend some quality time with his wife.

Some Work — Finally

This week was off to a good start. First of all, it was Labour Day on Monday, making this a short workweek. Second, there was work to be done.

I started Tuesday with last week’s outside envelope. Thursday, I worked on some client edits on an existing brochure. Unfortunately, both projects weren’t enough to keep me busy for the entire week; I only clocked 6.5 hours of billable time. I continued to spend the remainder of my day watching online videos on Photoshop CS3’s channels and masks.

It’s going to be a short workweek, too, next week. I have been summoned for jury duty.