The Ugly Truths

14 July 2011

A day where for the 1st time, I saw the harsh realities of the world I work in. My mentor cum good friend, Jackson, was retrenched for no rhyme and reason. Everyone who works with him knows him as Mr Nice Guy who has been with the bank for 13 years. And that's what the bank did to him.

That dreadful morning, he was being bullied by the team to treat coffee coz he was on the morning shift but came a bit late. As I was downstairs helping the team to get the coffee, he was told the news. I came up and my colleague told me that Jackson was retrenched. I told my colleague to not joke and he said he wasn't. Tears fell from my eyes uncontrollably. Silent hot tears slowly rolled down my cheeks.

Jackson was the 1 who 1st interviewed me, who thought highly of me and wanted the rest of the team to meet me and hire me. He was the one who taught me everything I needed to know now. We shared many secrets between us and he trusted me with things going on in his family. He was 1 of my best friends on the floor cum the 1 person whom I talk to the most about stuff. Without him, I wouldn't be where I am right now..

As Jackson came back from HR to pack his things, he even finished up his end of day commentary to send to our London colleagues. That is how freaking responsible he is!! What did he do to deserve this?!! I hate our London counterparts coz they think way too highly of themselves and backstabs everyone which did Jackson in along the way. Assholes! I really detest these London bastards who are so arrogant. They will not come to a good end.

After Jackson has packed his stuff, the whole team just abandoned all work n sat around to chat for an hour before he had to leave. I couldn't control my tears at all!! How embarrassing! And when he finally looked at me and shook his head, I bawled. The sad, dejected and disappointed look in his eyes and on his face caused memories of the past 1 year to flash thro my mind. Couldn't hold back anymore. :( Sigh..

Since then, the whole team has been in this really nonchalant mood - we sit around as a team to chat more than we work. When we work, we are soulless people who will rather listen to MP3s and work. My boss is upset too and he's decided to take a couple of days off. We know it's not his fault so we don't blame him. It's those above him and his counterparts who are the fuckers.

My team went for drinks that nite (We stopped work by 4pm since no one was in the mood.. honestly who cares? Working hard doesn't pay off anyway!) and we really jus drank, talked and drank more. Wonder when our morale will be back to normal. But I know 1 thing for sure - I will always keep in touch with Jackson as a friend. He will always always be a good friend to me despite not working together anymore. I hope he gets a job with the brokers. Then we can all hang out together again! We even checked with the brokers - they are more than happy to hire him!

Hopefully, this turns out to be a blessing in disguise for him n prove all those bastards wrong!