Lifeline

Thanks to everyone who did wish me a happy birthday yesterday. For those who didn't, don't worry about it, it's not like I celebrate my birthday anyway.

Yesterday I had a conversation with one of my co-workers. He started working for the City a few months ago and is going to be a victim of the cutbacks in the City, he'll be laid off by this Friday. It was really sad to talk to him about it, pretty much anyone who becomes a temp with the City is almost guaranteed to eventually become permanent, and thus are set for life. That's pretty much the route I took with my career at the City.

But talking to this guy you really see how important a job is, especially when raising a family. I think it's something I really far too often take for granted. So we were sitting at the lunch table talking about it and asking him if he was able to find another job, which he wasn't. He mentioned something about doing some hard labor for $10/hour. Then I asked him about if his wife worked, he said yes, but that she didn't make enough to support the family. And then he joked about how he was glad he didn't buy a house. Wow, can you imagine if he had, talk about a family crisis. Then we talked about some of the other temps who are being laid off, most of them were either gone already or still had a couple of months left. Because he was the most junior of the lot, he was getting let go first.

That really sucks.

Edit: So today I was talking to this guy again, and he was telling me about how he brought his car in for service and they tried to rip him off again, it was all over about $50, but due to his financial/job situation, that's like a week of food for him and his family. Then he started talking about some fruit he bought the other day and how his lunch came out to $8, and that if he told his wife she'd probably kick him out.

That's pretty depressing..

It's just the way and manner in which he carries himself, you really feel for the guy, he's really great at lamenting. I feel so bad for the guy that if I had my cheque book I'd probably give him some money.