Showing posts with label X-mas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label X-mas. Show all posts

Saturday, December 18, 2010

immigration

A week before X-mas eve. I got the books in house to read. Then snow blizzard can come. Hopefully the food distribution centers won't strike. That would spoil X-mas dinners for those who eat at home.

A colleague of mine goes to France with the holidays until new year. She was raised there. Originally she comes from Turkey, but her parents went to France. Later when she got married they moved to The Netherlands. And now she 's back to the place where she went to school, the heartland of Les Vosges. The old folks there understand German. It's a kind of no-man's land. The Rhineland which soil was battleground for a thousand years or more.

Another colleague I spoke came from the west of Turkey. He came 30 years ago to The Netherlands. The Netherlands were the promised land he told me. Friends of him told that. So he followed his dream to be rich one day in the promised land. His classmates have better lives than he has he told me. That aches, he better could have stayed. Some of classmates are lawyer or doctor and have much luxury and of course a different life style than here in The Netherlands. We live more in house, even in summer and certainly in winter. But the colleague has a house on the West coast of Turkey so why should he complain? I could say he is becoming very Dutch.

I found out that in 1980 we became an immigration country. Only in 2006 we were an emigration country again. That's the population explosion we had. On secondary school I learned The Netherlands has 15 million citizen and suddenly there were 16 million.

The Dutch always have something to complain about. If not there is always the weather. Today we've had a lot of snow. In the middle of the day we've had a white blanket covering all. December is cold till now. Maybe it will last until X-mas.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

a stormy week

Many things happened this week.
Beside work each of my colleagues had an important personal talk with the interim manager (IM) about functioning in the department. It was really an assessment of us.
I didn't really prepare myself for that. I thought that it was in my head, it wasn't. I had it on paper though. My poor preparation disturbed the IM a little, and me as well. So the conversation lasted a little bit longer. (my figure got lower and lower; yes, the organization gives figures to the employees. I disgust it)

It was also the moment on which the IM decided to tell what will happen with the staff of the department after the reorganization.
My function will be centralized in the back office. It's a question I should ask myself if I want to be in the back office and what my function could be there.
It could also ask to transfer me to the economic department. It's the same question there.
When I was told this. I said I'll cooperate with it. (resistance is futile, like in next generation?) My first reaction on it was that it's such a waste of people and experience. My co worker and I will work on different places. The other roommates will get jobs in other department, more centralized. We will be split up. That gives me a very sad feeling.

It's Christmas eve and it's a good moment for reflection on this night.
- First, I like to say that the IM (according to the Internet he had some key-management positions in former offices linked to my department) has a very bad feeling for people's management.
- Secondly, it is in only six months before everything will be effective. Very fast actually (other short period; 6 months ago I lost my wallet in France).

Wednesday I was told and the rest of week was no business as usual. Thursday we had a Christmas drink in town. I wasn't in the mood and had some fruit-juice before I went home. I also decided not to drink anymore alcohol after reading something about restless legs

I spoke my former boss and she told me to lean and give in on storms in the organization. When the storm lies down you will get back in normal position.
Resistance might break you and when the organization gets back to normal you can't get up.

It's a go-with-the-flow philosophy and I'm not so very good in it. That is the charm of my work. It's not a follow the rule mentality. It more a go your own way and do the things that have to be done mentality.

Next months, all weeks might be like these.
In February I have a conversation about a what to do strategy/tactics, or is it what I have to do because management has already chosen. I think the last because I can't imagine that I can choose what to do. I can imagine however that the new organization can miss me. Finance will be done by the financial department.
I could say "change, okay, I accept it's there and look forward to it as a chance, a possibility to improve."


All of you, merry X-mas!