Sometimes Life Isn't So Great

Just met up with an ex-colleague yesterday. He was getting some documents ready to send his daughter to UK for studies. We chatted awhile, and I found out that he had been out of a job since my previous company axed him 6 months ago, along with a dozen or so of my other ex-colleagues.

My previous job was at a construction project in our new federal administrative capital, spanning more than three years. In that lengthy tenure, the size of the project team started with about 20 and peaked at about 100 people. All in all we probably saw about 200 people join and leave. And I probably knew all 200 of them.

But a core group of masochists (that would include me) stuck through it from day one to the very bitter end or at least until the project was almost over. We went through harsh working conditions – 24 hour concreting jobs, going 30 days without rest days, burning our backs under the cruel sun, pushing through the mud, the rain, the sludge, the hunger, the dust other things unmentionable.

But after it all, it was all in vain for us, as the company refused to acknowledge the sacrifice. Our replacement leave was forfeited and every single contract staff terminated ruthlessly in the name of corporate downsizing. Even those at the top were not spared. The project manager was forced to resign, now facing an industrial court case. The senior project manager was demoted, and subsequently resigned.

My ex-colleagues and I keep in constant contact; we have dispersed all over the country seeking new pastures and different environment. But somehow or rather, I suppose everyone one of us still bear the battle-scars of that project.

I worry for my ex-colleague that I met yesterday. I didn’t dare to ask him how he was going to pay for his daughter’s UK education.