And Then There Was One...

The office suite where I work is very interesting.  While the company I work for is relatively small, it is part of a larger corporation. (A little bit like saying I work for Taco Bell, but the actually corporate owner is Yum Brands.  Or that you work for Nabisco,which is part of the Mondolez brand.)  Most of the employees work remotely.  I may see my boss, the President of the Company, once a week or once a month.  We talk at least once a week as we have a weekly conference call with the corporate leaders, but days can go by without us actually speaking.  That's not to say we are not communicating; there is a lot of emailing!

This office is suite is also shared by other corporate companies/brands.  Each company "head" has a physical office.  Sometimes that office is shared.  I work in an oversized cubicle with a lovely view. (I never realized how much a view can really mean until I started here.  Not having a view would be  a hard thing to transition to if I had.) Most of the people I physically interact with on a daily basis I don't actually work with. Because we all work in our own little "worlds" there isn't a great deal of office chit chat and if you asked me what each individual did, I couldn't answer you.  The office is friendly, but it's not an overly social arena.  It's quite a bit different than other offices where I have worked. (Although it is NOT the smallest company or office I have ever worked for.  That would be a job that I had where I worked with 2 other people on a regular basis not including the two men who owned the business.  There were many days when I worked in the office by myself; I ALWAYS had music on to keep myself company.)

For the most part, there have been two other people within the company who (pretty much) came to the office on a daily basis.  I should probably actually have said one and a half people, since the other person was a night owl and came in later in the morning and stayed later (or so I'm assuming since I am an early bird).  Though not incredible close, we were a core group.  We did a few meals together, chatted and laughed.

As you have probably guessed by the title of this post, neither are with the company any more. One was let go for reasons I'll never completely know (but have a good idea of what was going on) and the other's position was eliminated.  (It was a newly created position and the experiment did not turn out as expected.)  So now there is just me.  Me in my very nice cubicle with a great view surrounded by no one.  It's a little strange; a little off putting.  It's definitely very quiet.  (Although it gets chilly in the office so there is often the haunting sounds of my heater.)  Unless one of my account managers comes in (rare) or my boss comes in (not rare, but not often), I AM the company in this location.

Why do I feel like I have been cast in some off-beat version of Survivor (without having to eat gross food)?  Maybe some morning (since I'm an early bird who gets in by 8 and the majority of people who work here don't get here till 9), I'll stand on my desk and belt out the last verse of Sondheim's "I'm Still Here":

"Good times and bum times, I've seen 'em all, and, my dear, 
I'm still here.
Plush velvet sometimes, sometimes just pretzels and beer, 
but I'm here. 
I've run the gamut, A to Z;
three cheers and, dammit, c'est la vie.
I got through all of last year, 
and I'm here.
Lord knows, at least I've been there, and I'm here. 
Look who's here.  
I'm still here."

Today just might be the day.  It's snowing here in NJ and it's early.  No one else is in this office right now.  I've got the internet radio cranked to keep me company (until someone else shows).  Now I just have to do is find the song and let 'er rip.  I'm feeling crazy enough today to actually do it!

If I do, its a show you WILL be glad you missed.  Just like I'm glad I'm still here.









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