Things at work are changing, and not in a good way. This time next year I'll have been moved to a new area of the business (along with about a thousand of my colleagues), and my extensive, detailed expertise in my particular area will no be longer required or valued. I can't go into the specifics here, but it's a really bad idea, dreamt up by senior management to cut costs.

An analogy would be if, when you went to a hospital, instead of being triaged by a nurse and then directed to a doctor with specific expertise in dealing with your particular ailment, the first person you spoke to when you came in the door - whether they were a receptionist, paediatrician, janitor, nurse, surgeon, etc, - was the person who dealt with your case. And instead of needing to be an expert in that particular field, they just asked the people around them or used Google to find out what to do because "the answer's in the room" (actual slogan adopted by management). It's exactly like that and the outcome will be bad for a lot of people who use our service.

Working at home has been reduced with a view to total elimination of it, so I'm now in the office most days, on a long commute - 1 mile+ walk to the station (with bonus hills), then three trains. Morale is at an all-time low.

I'm hoping to hang on until either I get a nice payoff (which I would after 16+ years) or the wheels fall off the bus that senior management is expecting everyone to get on and they realise that they actually do need people with, you know, skills.

When I bought my tiny condo 11 years ago, it was just a "holding place" until I met someone and started my real life. And I deliberately bought a place that was bare bones and needed little maintenance, and I had (and still have) this mental block where I absolutely refuse to put any money into it, because it's only a matter of time...

Now, 11 years later, I can't stand looking at my ancient couch or ugly cabinets anymore, so am starting to do research online and figure out my finances. Aaagh!! My brain explodes every time I see some nice cabinets at Home Depot. Must unblock brain, somehow.

I am definitely a whiner -- it's only about 10 years until I can retire, but the thought of those 10 years gets me all crabby many days. ATTITUDE, I HAVE SUCH ATTITUDE.

I want to retire too but I probably have about 30 years AT LEAST waaaaaaaaaaah

I love my job and don't want to retire but I thought about staying home today this AM and didn't due to work obligations which were all cancelled when I got here. Also, my AM train didn't run due to "mechanical issues" so had to take a boring replacement bus ride instead. And it was even duller here at work, because everything was cancelled. So now I wish I had taken the day at home!

Thus ends the venting.

More of a whine than a vent but......

I don't mind change in general especially if I think it will improve things. But my tolerance for the constant change at work is hit rock bottom. The other departments barely have time to get caught up on the other requirements; getting them to work on this new stuff is going to near impossible unless someone puts a big stick behind it.

And I'm just tired of it all. Tired of the culture, which very obviously selects for extroverts who think on their feet. Heaven forbid you're an introvert who has to thinking about it some before opening your mouth. Tired of the push towards the shiny new things. Tired of the push to be "visible" so that you don't get crushed in the yearly performance management because despite explanations galore that it's not a forced ranking, it really is a forced ranking.

And I'll be going out on maternity leave in Feb and who knows if I'll get screwed over in my next role like I did the last time I went on maternity leave.

And amusingly my dearest friend at work sits in some of the higher level discussions. She told me that my boss's boss and her boss were discussing me and the need to make sure I'm doing what I want as it's obvious I'm taking charge and making sure things get done, etc etc. And all I really want is a new job that pays me what I make now without having to manage people.