When was the last time you were ready to throw in the proverbial towel? Did you end up letting go, or decided to fight on anyway?

Very recently. And I’m glad that I didn’t do it. By giving up I mean, giving up on me getting back to a semblance of normal life, with a steady pay package and having a proper job to go to and be active and social. I was reeling from the shock of having a decent job at a small yet comfortable office yanked from underneath my feet when my former boss at the previous organization informed me that he would have to let a few people go and by a few people he meant his management staff of which I was a part. First was me and a girl in HR and then soon in quick succession two of the Ops leaders and one of the tech guys. That was a hard pill to swallow but I should have seen the signs coming as some issues with clients, financing and mistakes that the owner was doing meant salaries were delayed and things were tight months before this.

So for many months I had to be at home and look for some freelance work which were few and far between while I sent resumes and applied for several jobs. I got two offer letters in April-May but I had to turn both of them down due to issues with the job. I went close a couple of more times, losing out in the final rounds after being informed that I was in the running for the post and that it was  down to me and perhaps 1 or 2 more guys. I cannot tell you the disappointment I felt when after an interview at a company in June, where I was told by the main guy that it was “just a formality but that he had to complete a few more interviews” and that they would be in touch in a few days only for no news to come to me and on calling their HR 2 weeks later I found out that they had selected someone else. Devastating just doesn’t begin to describe it.

At times I wondered if I would ever get another proper job again and with cash being so low I wondered how much longer I could go one like this. I kept thinking “one more month”, “one more month” and soon I started thinking if continuing on was worth it and that it would so easy if I could end it all and that if death suddenly came, that it would be relief. I’m glad now though. Good things are in store.

Prompt from the Daily Post at WordPress.com.

Last evening was a long night. On Thursday towards the end of the shift we had learned at the office that a representative from the Philippines would be coming in to Cochin on Saturday night and that someone from our department would need to go and receive her at the airport and take her via a cab to her hotel. The cab and hotel room was already arranged, now just an escort had to be fixed. With a 4 day weekend looming the other two guys in my department had already made plans to go to their homes which were a few hours away and since I live here in the city, I offered to be the escort since I had no other plans.  Even though I was new to the organization and I had never met this woman before but it was important that someone from our section does go.

So I spoke with the Admin department and the cab driver and arranged for the driver to come to my place by 9 pm and we’d go to the airport as the young lady was arriving on a 10:20 pm flight via Singapore. I took another shower (as I had been out for a few errands earlier in the day) and got ready and we left for the airport and reached ahead of time by 9:45 pm. I waited at the International Arrivals section as the driver went to get a placard ready with her name and the company logo. The plane arrived at 10:29 pm and we waited and waited and waited…….and waited some more. Everyone in that plane seemed to have come out and there were two flights from Kuala Lumpur that landed a few minutes apart from each other and everyone on those flights also came out. Where was my colleague?

A flight from Dubai also landed at 11pm and everyone it seemed to have gotten out and left. By 11:45pm I was getting worried – what if she had missed her flight? No one in Admin seemed to know. I called a couple of people and they finally got back to me by 12 am that she had arrived but was stuck in getting a visa on arrival as her previous visa had expired. She had a SIM card that she had bought when she had previously visited India in Chennai and I got that number texted to me and I called her on it to let her know that there was someone waiting outside and that we wouldn’t leave without dropping her at her hotel. A few minutes later she called me back as she was heading to the exit and I waved on spotting her (only woman talking on the phone) and I greeted her and helped her get her bags to the car. We chatted on the way to her hotel and after she got checked in I said goodnight and got back into the cab to come back home. By 1:20 am I was in my bed eating a cookie or 2 and watching a tv show.