The Back Story on the India Project

I would be lying if I said that the last week in prison didn’t drain me emotionally. So much had happened in 2 weeks and once I finally decided to leave, the anger started to own me. The more I learned about the India Project, the more enraged I became. It seems as though this plan had been in place for almost a year and those that knew about it had been putting on Oscar-worthy performances.

When I kicked back and looked at 2009 as a whole, so much more suddenly made sense and I started to feel like the world’s biggest schmuck. I don’t believe in having regrets, as you can’t go back in time and change anything, so you might as well own your past and try to learn something from it. However, 2009 had easily been one of the worst years of my life and the main contributor was the job. Knowing what I know now, I wish, albeit briefly, that I could go back and redo some key things. Hell, I’d like to take a mulligan for all of 2009.

The India Project actually started in February. There was a day in February that brought mass layoffs to the company, and art and production was hit especially hard. Our department went from 9 employees to 5 employees in a matter of hours. Three were layoffs and one lucky person was reallocated to a different department. On top of all of that good news, the day ended with the introduction of Boss as the new manager of the department. Seeing how Boss wasn’t fit to manage an ant farm, those of us left were all very disgusted as well as highly suspicious.

Now, what this all meant for me is simple: I took on another person’s entire job and became the Production Manager of three monthly magazines, increasing my already busting at the seams workload by a third. Those of us left were asked to make the impossible possible, and we all succeeded. In hindsight, I wish I would have failed miserably, but I couldn’t have known what was to come.

It appears that the big plan for all of 2009 was this: Make the department as small as possible, yet still functional. Work the remaining people like migrant workers during harvest. Ignore their pleas and requests for help. As the end of the year approaches, send their jobs to India and never look back.

Perhaps I was picked to stay for the year because of my work ethic. The Warden and Queen Bee knew that I would get the work done because that’s who I am. I put a lot of pride in my work and I always did a great job. Who knew that would turn out to be such a bad thing? Apparently, I’m a diligent worker to a fault: I don’t know when to start doing a crappy job to prove a point.

The low point of 2009 was when I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It didn’t take someone with a medical degree to figure out the cause. I was working way too much and that’s the price I paid. Well, when I called Boss to tell him I had pneumonia, he had this very professional and intelligent response:

“I hope you still plan on working because there’s a lot of work to do and no one else to do it.” And that was the end of the pneumonia discussion. He never even asked me if I was feeling better, which was the proper thing to do not only as a boss, but also as a human being.

Here’s the ultimate clue on just what kind of person Boss is (in case you haven’t already drawn a picture in your mind):

About 3 weeks after I made the pneumonia call, Boss called in sick to work because… HIS DOG WAS SICK SO HE NEEDED TO STAY HOME!

Now, I’m going to steal a line from someone I worked with in the mid-90s. He was from Kentucky and had a certain drawl when he spoke. Whenever he talked about someone he didn’t much care for, his signature line was: “I wouldn’t piss in your asshole if your guts were on fire!” Seems kind of appropriate for a certain someone, no?