Once upon a time, in a land much different than it is now I worked for a company which now no longer exists, as it became a casualty of the early 1980’s recession. In those days the technology we now take for granted did not exist, we had to make do with comptometers (unknown I suspect to those under 40 years old) to do our calculations, computers were big bulky things filling a medium size room, ledgers and accounts were kept and filed on paper, the very thought!
Yet I remember one aspect of that time in my life vividly. Stress was prevalent, whether it was because the company was floundering, or that is how it was generally, I do not know, but at times you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Directors at the time seemed to totally lack any personality management skills, some of them lacked personality altogether.
I remember seeing the scowls and hearing the raised voices as the figures did not make good reading. As a youngish sort of lad in those days I found it interesting why people reacted as they did. My regular reader, may recall my tale mentioned in Hypnotes some years ago, of how one stressful event at that same company lead me to view life, in a totally different way.
The young Mahoney noticed that stress was contagious, it was amazing to see how the stress would build and tempers would fray, arguments were common place, especially as month end arrived and the accountants had to explain to the financial director why the figures achieved were not those projected.
In those days, or at least in the environment I worked in (though in fairness sheltered from a lot of the issues by protective, mindful colleagues) it was not uncommon for foul mouthed language to be slung about, levelled at those who had no impact on the poor figures produced nor had they the standing to answer back.
Bullying at times was near scandalous, but in those days, it was the norm, not something frowned upon as it is now, or even aspects of which now which are illegal in employment and common law.
I remember seeing grown adults cry due to stress, I saw, and worked in offices where people smoked 40+ cigarettes a day, a large office where many people smoked as of course it was socially acceptable then. I saw individuals still drunk from the night before after trying to drown their sorrows, dealing with stress in a destructive ways. I saw families ruined by poor coping strategies, reported incidents of home place violence too.
I knew then, that I didn’t want to be in this environment. And eventually I was made redundant, and grateful for it, although it was scary at the time.
Those days have helped to shape my life, I understand the effects of stressful environments, bullying, stress and poor coping strategies. Little did I know then that I would go on to do occupational health, become a clinical hypnotherapist or develop self-help audio programs which help people around the world.
As our economy is destined for a much anticipated, and for some much feared government cutbacks and job losses, I am seeing many more people now who are facing or have become redundant, through no fault of their own. Hand on heart I know of no-one who has been made redundant and not gone on to better things. If you need more help for redundancy see my site for my audio program Laid Off, Move On, or if I can help in any other area, please contact me.
See all my self help audio programs here
