Former employer to close shop

For a decade I worked at a facility in Macon Georgia and when I resigned from there earlier this year I felt as if I wasted a huge chunk of my life. That's because my former workplace had slowly and painfully deteriorated due to poor management AND the Macon area's pathetic work ethic. Education quality and individual egos also played a part in making an average workday difficult to deal with.

My former workplace was ripe with gossip over anything from someone's personal life to the possibility that our jobs would be eliminated. Most of the time, the gossip was just that. But the gossip did have many fearing that our workplace would close. And many who worked there would not be prepared for that possibility. Well today those fears came true as the announcement was made that First Data would move the Macon operations to facilities in Omaha Nebraska and the 300 positions in Macon would be eliminated. By spring, the facility that was originally opened in 1990 will be history.
(News Article)

When I heard this on the evening news today I was not surprised. First Data bought the Macon facility from GE Capital in 1999 and kept the Macon employees, adding us to the First Data payroll and maintaining all tenure. It was a promise of growth and prosperity. But instead things went downhill. There were promises of work and new clients that never materialized. An entire building at the facility remained empty for years. Then there were cutbacks and reshuffling of staff around the facility. When work volume did increase, people were worked to the max. We were forced to work lots of mandatory overtime and had fewer options in taking vacation days even when you had them available.

Outdated technology at the Macon facility created many problems and may have led to the loss of clients and work being given to the other locations within the company. Even regular maintence of the Macon facility itself became sub-standard. The floors were no longer as polished as they used to be. The employee cafeteria was reduced to a bunch of pricey, unreliable and unhealthy vending machines. Restrooms were unsanitary. Climate control of the facility was a constant challenge. Moral within the workplace reached an all time low. Few people cared about anything and those who did were ridiculed.

Life had become so depressing at work that many people who had given years of their lives to working there started to leave. Even if it meant relocating to another area. It was a tough decision for many reasons. Many First Data employees started working there when the facility opened in 1990 as Monogram and later GE Capital Credit Card Services. For some, it was a family. For many, this was the only job they had as an adult. And some may not have the right skills needed to find new work that will compare to the job and salary they were leaving behind. Also jobs in Macon are very hard to find. So leaving a job in Macon Georgia has to be a careful decision.

Many of us kept our jobs as we made a decent salary and feared the prospect of having to start over at the bottom somewhere else. But for some of us that prospect was worth more than working in a dead-end environment. Some retired completely. Others quit to focus on family businesses that were already in progress. And some just simply quit if they had no bills, a savings and/or a spouse who earned enough money for the family to get along.

I quit to attempt my own business and for peace of mind. I needed to make a change in my personal life. And my experience at First Data has converted me into someone who just cannot work for others. Because most of the time, my superiors there were bumbling idiots. I am not ashamed to say that I despised most of the management there. It happens to be that the members of management that I did like never stayed long. (go figure) One retired after she saw her department reduced by corporate management. And other members of management that I actually liked just wanted to take on new challenges somewhere else. And I should have learned from them much sooner. I would be in a better place if I did.

Instead, I hung on like everyone else to the one good job that I had. I put in my time, did my best and collected my paycheck. I accepted some of the "gifts" from the company, even though we would find them heavily taxed on our next paystub. And I had fun with many of the people that I worked with. That is the only good thing I felt when I left First Data in March, 2005 after 10 1/2 years.

So with the news of the closing of First Data Macon I must think about the people that I got along with over the years. I can call some of them friends. Mainly the ladies of the Card Services department. I won't mention anyone's name online but I will directly e-mail this blog to them and they will know who they are. These were working mothers who not only raised children at home but raised ADULTS at work who acted like children. But we all had fun working together. We shared music to keep the peace at work, we ate many great potluck dinners, celebrated our personal occasions and came to support those when they were sick or suffered a loss. Even after I left the company, these ladies supported me and my sister during the death of our mother which was only a month after I left the company. I never properly told them thank you for that! I do thank them all for that and many great memories.

There were a few gentlemen as well, but we were definitely outnumbered by many strong women. They have young families to raise and they have the smarts to move on to bigger and better things. Thanks guys! Be strong and be well.

I wish my former co-workers well and hope that this change in their lives will turn into a great blessing. Many of these people are people of great faith. I hope that faith will carry them through this.

There are more people who I don't feel sorry for at this time but they are not worth mentioning. Many of my co-workers know who I speak of. But this really affects everyone. It will be rough for everyone and it is time to move on with lessons hopefully learned.

Now lets say it all together "Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, we are free at last". Now take your freedom, go forward and prosper!