LuCaspeRobin + Thomas ;-)

This a saying as old as time itself (if anyone knows just how old, please let us now!). And for me the saying comes out. After having spent almost a month at the head office of my employer, because my contract at a customer was ended due to lack of funds, I find it difficult to stay inspired by the few things that I can and am allowed to do. It's a feeling known to creep up on an employee when having done nothing substantial and in line with one's abilities and knowledge. For the time being it is nothing to do but see if there are any interesting options opening up at another customer, but as it is summertime, the chance of being hired at this time of year is almost as close to absolute zero as liquid nitrogen.

So when there's nothing concrete to do, you invent stuff to do. Clean up the harddisk, write small programs you never got around to when working, e-mail people you haven't spoken in years, downloading stuff you'll never need and surfing the Internet 'till you drop. But after a while this also becomes boring. There's only so much fun you can have with a computer. Long walks with other people who are "on the bench" as we say in the Netherlands, or "in ze cooler" as the Germans used to say in "Hogan's Heroes" (for those of you who can remember that old sitcom!), give some sollace to the troubled mind. But it also strenghtens the felling of uselessness and being superflous. Furthermore many of the colleagues I take lunch-walks with have been working 3 or more years for one and the same customer. This creates a closer bond to the customer than to your own employer. And sometimes it is difficult to return to the offices of your employer and feel "at home" there. This is also something that I have voiced towards my superiours and even discussed with my boss. "Coming home and settling in" is an issue many employees face when returning to the head office when one's "in between" assignments. For me the blues are setting in at this moment, so I need to be doing something active and inspiring and something that can fill my days, as I'm expected to be at the head office for the contractual 8 hours every day. I'll go and have a talk with some other of my colleagues and see if we cannot find something to do. And check out the new and vacant assignments lists again! Hey, this isn't idleness anymore, this is activity!

Posted by Sebastiaan Naafs - van Dijk | top