Regular K

For those of you who haven’t spoken to me recently, I am currently working as “administrative support” at the offices of Teekay Shipping. Of course, “administrative support” is a euphemism for “the guy who does the stuff that nobody else wants to do”. It’s been a very dry three weeks, filled with lots of labels, stickers and files, but I’m still thankful for the opportunity.

Last week, I was assigned to fold a few hundred blueprints of the different ships that the company is considering for deployment. They sat me down at a large table, amidst a few computer terminals, then I started folding away. But since I didn’t need the entire table, some workers used the empty portions to discuss various matters. I didn’t really mind much, and I mindlessly continued on in my folding.

But since the office is so quiet, I can’t help but overhearing conversation. Imagine my surprise as I overheard this:

Person 1: I don’t know, I think we should get rid of her.
Person 2: Why? She’s been with us for years.
Person 1: Yeah, but she’s too old now. She’s a risk to the company.
Person 2: That’s true. Maybe you’re right, we should get rid of her.

At first, I was shocked that people would talk so openly about firing employees. But after listening to their conversation for a while, I realized that they were talking about phasing out old ships, not people.