On to the next chapter

Like Rush Limbaugh when the Republicans lost the House in '06... I feel liberated.

Actually I've felt liberated since I first got the news that my job was being eliminated two months ago. But as of two hours ago, it's official. I'm unemployed.

Is that a bad thing? Hell no. The way my supervisor had to collect my keyfobs and my badge, walk me to the door and send me off, the scene looked and felt like an ex convict finally leaving the state pen. The irony was perfect.

Then in the car, the first song to queue up off the CD was Gotta Knock a Little Harder from the Cowboy Bebop OST, which was oddly fitting to how I was feeling on the drive home.

I feel liberated. I no longer have to pretend to care about a job as a phone monkey.

Maybe that's what I'll end up being again in my next job, but for awhile I get a break.

A break from jumping to the beck and call of a chime in my ear like a trained zoo animal and putting on my "smiling voice",

... from having to help the very people who are stealing my job on the sole merit of being cheap labor,

... from having my ethics, my integrity, and my intelligence questioned daily.

... from being shackled by moronic and useless procedures that are designed to discourage initiative, while at the same time being held to unrealistic standards -- that ultimately mean nothing -- that are held as sacred by people who haven't a clue of the realty of my job and couldn't care less,

... from being treated like the lowest common denominator no matter how often I prove my ability or how obediently I do my job,

... and from hearing lies like "This is your chance", "Your feedback matters", and my favorite "We care."

Is it any wonder why the villains in my comics are heads of corporations?