Wednesday 12 December 2012

Vietnam

Sometime, throughout the course of the year my then, (ex) Employer changed the the Annual Leave policy. The new rules stated that come December 31st the maximum number of days that could be rolled over into the new year could not exceed 5 days. All days in excess of this number would be forfeit, without any compensation. This new mandate saw the Q4 period become a pseudo holiday period with employees scheduling leave for the sake of reducing their total leave. This new policy was of course two-fold. To prevent employee burnout but more importantly, reduce the overhead of employee payouts should employment termination ever come into the fray.



I had pencilled in leave immediately after the work Christmas Party and had planned to join some friends in Vietnam for a few days. In hindsight, I wish I had booked a longer trip...


I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City early Saturday night. Hong Kong had only this week dropped below the 20 degrees Celsius mark and the warm South-East Asian Saigon climate was unexpected. My friends were asleep, it was 6 pm. They had experienced their first night in Ho Chi Minh, namely Apocalypse Now, a local haunt that catered to expats and local revellers until the early hours. The recount of Rooftop bars, Magnums of Belvedere and foreigner-filled bars corresponded with zeal of their greetings, or lack thereof. That night we indulged in a steaming bowl of Pho (30,000 VND ~1.50 AUD) and headed to Lush, a cigarette fumed club. So it began, the following four days we literally ate and snoozed our way around Vietnam.



A short flight to Da Nang, and we arrived at base camp, the Hyatt Regency (we squeezed them for a free upgrade). Here we stole naps by the pool, in the car, in the hotel, anywhere we could really. We lazed by the pool, participated in daily yoga, sat in the sauna and made the occasional day trip to Hoi An and Hue. We consumed cakes, donuts, all-you-can-eat breakfasts, Hoi An Chicken Rice, Pho, Bun Bo Hue, Cafe Su Da, until our pours oozed fish sauce and mint.




Excellent trip - four days of not having to worry about being an unemployed 30 year old. I wonder if I can work in Vietnam?

Currently reading: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Redundancy

Surreal, yet so vivid. That's how I would go about describing my last day of work. I remember coming into the office just before 8 am. At the time it felt like any other ordinary day, it was early, so majority of the office were still making their way out of bed or mid-commute. I logged onto my PC and opened Outlook looking through my inbox while I prepared my usual breakfast at my desk: Oatmeal.

I scanned my email and noticed a new message, with subject "Last day". It was sent from a personal email address from a colleague in Sydney not 2 hours earlier. As I read the email, I was tapped on the shoulder. It was my Managing Director. "Can I speak with you in the boardroom?". I grabbed my pen and pad and entered the boardroom only to find the COO and HR already seated. At that moment, I knew something was up to which I said "This looks ominous".

The rest, is history. Bid farewell to my colleagues and was home before 9 am. First thing that I did was call up all my friends who had been recently made redundant. My mind was racing through all the options and contingents. The aftermath of the global cuts, saw our team reduced by 50%, with other key personnel being cut along the way.

"Today is going to be the day, that they're going to throw it back to you" - Oasis