Scary!!

Perhaps a bit of a background before I go into my gist.

I work for a multi-national company, which is currently in the throes of "right-sizing (read down-sizing) no thanks to the current global economic crunch. The bottom line is that there is a lot of re-structuring going on and nobody is sure whether they will be asked to stay or leave. Everyone is waiting with bated breath for the final report and the release of the new organogram.

So, you can imagine my horror when I received a text very late at night yesterday, from my company's "service desk" informing me that I had been scheduled for a one on one meeting with my director. The text was however, silent on the agenda of the meeting. Whoa!!!!!!

I experienced for the first time in my life, what is commonly described as cold sweat; you know, that feeling where you have chills running all through your body and break out sweating like a Christmas goat all at once. (do they actually sweat?)

Now folks, a meeting with my director would normally not even earn a second thought from me. But in this uncertain times, that sounded like a death knell. I mean this meeting is so important that they had to send me an sms at close to midnight rather than wait for me to get into my office the next day. This was definitely no ordinary meeting. I looked across at my little tot running around the living room happily screaming at the top of her voice; I looked forlornly at my heavily pregnant wife lying on the sofa across from me. Only one thought came to my mind: What do I do if my director informs me that I am one of those declared surplus to requirement by the company?!!!!

It is strange how minor things like a text message in the middle of the night can jolt you and cause your whole life to flash before your eyes. Make you realize that you are actually walking on thin ice that could give way any minute. I couldn't sleep anymore. What's worse, I couldn't tell my wife about my fears cos I didn't want her getting all worried and upset in her condition. My mind just kept doing somersaults into a future, which had suddenly taken on a grey hue. Questions were climbing over one another in my mind:

Am I out of a job?

Would I get another?

How long would it take before I get anothe rjob?

Do I still want to work for someone or should I see it as the hand of God and pursue my personal dreams?

How long will my grossly depleted savings last?

So many questions in my head but no answer was forthcoming.

Thankfully, I woke up a short while later, sweating profusely and heaving a sigh of relief when I realized it was all a dream. Or was it? I wondered as I reached for my phone. Sure enough, there was an unread text message on it: I was too scared to open it...when i eventually got the courage to do so, i realized it was just a text advertizing one of ur products to all customers...

Am I getting paranoid? You answer me.

I say I dey come...

Just Checking!!

I was just checking to see if I am still on blogosphere...yup! I am!

Been ages aint it guys? Just been away for such a long time. So much happening around and in me that I just can't seem to pull my thots together well enough to write anything.

So much has happened since I was last here...we now have a black American President people. (do I hear an amen?) On the down side however, the global economy is on recession. (why did it have to wait until we have a black man at the helm? Now they are going to blame us blacks for the poor global economy. Neways,) The most scary part of the whole meltdown thingy is the fact that there has been a surge in job losses globally. Right-sizing, down-sizing, whatever men. Bottom line, niccas are having their behinds kicked to the curb as businesses struggle to mitigate their losses and stay afloat.

While country's like the USA have planned and are executing well thought out bail out plans, my country, Nigeria, is as usual, playing the ostrich with its head in buried in the sand. It is instructive to note that Charles Soludo, the dude in charge of the central bank doesn't even think that the Nigerian economy is under any threat of depression. Thats almost as crazy as people still believing the farcical claim by some that HIV/AIDS is the "white man's disease!!!" Really crazy I tell you. But while Soludo and his employers live in their utopic cocoon, totally immunized from the pervasive financial crises, the Naira is plunging down a steep slope against the Dollar. 180 Naira to $1USD people!!!!!!

To worsen matters, the government picked these hard times to remove subsidy from petrol! Y'all know what that means right? The retail price of fuel will shoot for the moon and take every thing else with it. Already, the cost of basic consumables has risen by as much as 25% in some areas and is still rising. The future is looking very bleak. God help us in these times...

Speaking of God's help, I was reviewing the recent US elections, paying special attention to the man Barack Obama. The man that came from near obscurity and swept in to our consciousness, running a race with such vigour and verve. I am wondering: Who is this man? I have my fears...but I'll save that for another day's discussion.

In Edo State, Osunbor is out and Oshiomole is in as Governor, thanks to our judiciary that ruled in favour of the people's wish. Now we can only hope that he converts some of his suave rhetorics to action aimed at turning around the State. Mimiko is also in to replace Agagu as Ondo State governor following the latter's ouster by the courts. One hopes these young turks will not let their people down.

Ok y'all, I'm back for good this time. I'll see you in a bit.