Since I recently wrote about the fact that I blog here, I guess I should actually blog here.
And I have a lot to blog about.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, I am now a free agent – because it sounds better to say “I am now a free agent” than to say “I was laid off in the middle a pandemic because fewer people are buying my (former) company’s services.”
(Tangential comment to those who have happened to read my recent posts in Tymshft and Empoprise-MU - yes, I do recycle introductions.)
But after working for IDEMIA since its founding, and working for several predecessor companies, it's taking my brain a while to get used to NOT working for IDEMIA - in essence, to move from "we" to "they" in referring to the company.
I can give you a couple of examples.
IDEMIA, like most companies, has competitors. And since IDEMIA offers multiple products and services in multiple markets, it has MANY competitors. From force of habit, while I certainly won't disparage our - I mean THEIR - esteemed competitors, at the same time I will not go out of my way to praise them except in very special circumstances. (Raffie, I still owe you for everything you did for me during the Motorola days.)
So earlier this week, after my employment at IDEMIA had officially ended, I was relaxing by reading Instagram stories from the accounts that I follow. If you were born in the 20th century like I was, perhaps I should explain that Instagram stories are snippets that appear on your screen for only a few seconds, to be replaced by something else. And unless the poster chooses to "highlight" story, it disappears completely after 24 hours, never to be seen again. (As I've stated earlier, I posted my own Instagram story on Wednesday evening, consisting of a picture and a music snippet.)
So anyway, I was sitting back and absorbing the Instagram stories, and one came across that I liked. It was from a vendor of security equipment for airports, and the Instagram story included the word "Obrigado." (People in my industry can probably guess the company to which I am referring.) From force of habit, I immediately thought, "I can't like this, because it's from a competitor" - and by the time that I realized that it WASN'T from a competitor (any more), the story had already passed me by.
Peço desculpas.
A second example. For as long as I can remember, I have been paid every two weeks, on a Friday. So when that day comes, I have habitually remembered, "Oh, it's Friday," and then I would proceed to do things that one does after one is paid.
Yesterday happened to be one of those Fridays, so I immediately thought, "Oh, it's Friday. I just got paid. I need to do..."
Then I paused.
"Wait a minute. I didn't just get paid today. I got paid earlier in the week, in connection with my last day of employment."
(And no, I'm not facing an immediate financial issue in two weeks. Everything is fine.)
So, I'm sure that it will take some adjusting, but my brain is slowly moving around to "they" mode.
And now I'm working on who my new "we" is going to be.
