Not Part of My Job Description

I am sitting in the parking lot of Concentra Medical right now, getting ready to go in and take a DOT (Department of Transportation) physical. My normal routine is getting up at 5 am so I can work on my blog, but this morning I had to wake up at 4:15 so I could get to work at 5:30 for an efficiency meeting.

My work laid off 3 people yesterday, so the meeting was more about reassuring the one's that are left that they'll continue to have a job in the future. Of course that all depends on a continued work load and a cut back in costs. So we all gathered together to share ideas about how we can save the company money. There were several good ideas presented that will end up saving us around $1000 a month, but I couldn't help but feel that the company really had another agenda.

Its become very popular for companies to try to give their employees a sense of ownership. Its one of our core values. You know that list of things that hangs up on the wall that no one ever pays attention to. But really I think its more about the head honchos feeling good about themselves. Its like the king asking his peasants for advice. He's not really listening, but if it keeps the peasants from hating him he'll oblige. And who knows maybe there is a piece of good advice in there that he can use for himself. Of course the peasant will never get credit for it.

Our company will miss its sales projections this month by $400,000. That $1,000 dollars in savings we found is not going to save our jobs. I am taking my DOT physical today, so I can get my commercial drivers license. My job title is Direct Customer Service Tech. I handle taking orders, accounts payable, accounts recievable, among other office duties. And now I will be actually taking the product to our customers. My new boss thinks its important that I learn new things to help the company. Driving a big truck carrying hazardous materials, is not one of those things I ever wanted to learn.

I'm sure many of you are in the same situation. I really enjoyed my job up until the last 3-6 months. But what can we do? There's no other jobs available for us. I seem to be stuck with no way out.

How many of you are in similar situations? How are you handling it?