A Personal View: By Michael Casey
EARLIER this year, a sales executive who had just lost his job, asked to meet me for a drink and discuss possibly doing some work for yourthurrock.com.
I had known this person as they were a press officer for an organisation in the borough.
We met at the Treacle Mine. They explained that back in January 2008, their colleagues at the property magazine they were working for discussed how much houses would increase in value. One said 8%, another said 7%. One colleague said 3%. They all looked at them as if they were mad. A year later, they were all unemployed.
I explained to the unemployed sales exec that yourthurrock had just begun, was finding its way and wasn’t quite ready to use their services but once we were, they would be the first to know.
I went away thinking that, with all due respect, they must be quite desperate to speak to little website like yourthurrock but perhaps that is what losing your job does.
A few months later, i tried to get in touch but had no reply. A relative told me that they had taken being made redundant badly.
Recently, that person took their own life……
Sometimes in life, people are put in front of you as signposts, as moral markers to remind you of your own moral compass.
We understand that there is a recession. We understand that there are organisations that need to “modernise”, “downsize” or simply “let people go”
but all we ask is to show some respect, show some concern.
There are victims of many wars and one is an economic one which we face at the moment. Take a minute to remember them. On sunday and for the rest of my life, i will think about the person i met at the Treacle Mine.
