Final Season of a Sitcom

Not to say that my workplace is a lighthearted or jovial place to be, but with what has happened recently, I liken it to the last season of a sitcom.

To explain, back in March, an email was sent round to the entire company, over a number of sites, informing that certain locations would be closing down. That meant that if we didn't choose to work from home, we could be facing redundancy. The sitcom that was my job was not getting renewed for another season. Eleven years is a good run for a show that was not meant to last more than five.

Like some TV shows, however, the people involved in making the show are not always informed as to just how many episodes of the final season they get to wrap things up. Is it six episodes, is it nine, or is it twelve? Instead, people are left in a kind of limbo, waiting for more that crucial bit of information so they know when they can move to their spin-off show.

Latest update is that the show will air its last episode on the 31st of December.

The reason that I liken this whole process to the final season of a sitcom is because of the many tropes that a show will have in its final episodes. Firstly, I have randomly bumped into many people that I have met through work who I never thought I’d see again or had not seen for a number of years. That pleasant guy who is friends with everyone and who moved on up the ladder through different departments, I bumped into while at the coffee machine. That person who mysteriously no longer worked there? I saw on the street, one random day. They told me their version of what had happened, and like most returning guests stars, their story is now complete.

The reason I mention this is because, like a sitcom in its final season, the universe is bringing back all of these previous characters from earlier seasons. “Hey, remember this guy from season three? Well, this is what he’s up to now.” “That really annoying person from season 4-6? Here’s what's been happening with them lately.”

As time goes on, and as they move on with their lives, people are slowly disappearing. In the office, less and less people are present. Both literally and figuratively. Some people have moved to the working-from-home option while others have mentally checked out. Something else that you might see in the final episodes of a show, some of the actors are now just phoning it in.

Am I doing that, you ask? Well, I’m not killing myself for the show anymore. My mind is set on what happens next. When I say “set on” I actually mean “concerned about.” I don't know what comes next. Some people call me pessimistic or that I put myself down too much, but I have no clue as to what will happen next. I know people who are confident and unconcerned about what happens next. These people, I wonder, are either smart and have things all planned out or are being carelessly nonchalant. I worry that I’m going to be that sitcom actor who never gets work again when their show ends. Or if they do get work, it’s absolute garbage but the money is just about good enough to keep them there. We’ve seen that happen to actors before. They are great, absolutely perfect, at playing that one role. But nothing else.

How did this come about? What caused the show to get cancelled?

Simple answer, The Pandemic. I feel that it should be capitalised. It’s earned it.

A friend of mine saw The Pandemic as a chance to improve ourselves. “Come out of it better than we went in,” they said. A very good mentality to have, I must say. So, during Lockdown (something else that deserves the capitalisation), with my government-sanctioned one-hour-a-day trip out of the house, I started street running again. It had been a couple of years since I’d done this. Given the sudden free time I now had, this was the chance to start again. I was doing quite well too. Maybe not compared to some people but for me, I was doing well. That is until I overdid it on a run, pushed myself too much, and hurt my back. I think it was the constant and repetitive impact of the running. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going running for a while.

It’s crazy how quickly your stamina for running declines compared to the time it takes to build yourself up. It can take a number of weeks to build yourself up to running a 5K, 10K or 15K, whatever your goal, but it takes a fraction of that time to lose it again.

Getting back on track, though. Because of The Pandemic, many businesses were forced into a working-from-home model. For some jobs, that is perfectly reasonable. I am not against the notion, depending on the job role. Some jobs need to be in an office environment. There is a mindset that comes with being in an office, working with colleagues, with management nearby. Also, given that my job is phone-based, talking to customers, sometimes often irate, rude and abusive, no one should have to put up with that in their own home.

Question: If someone was to scream and shout at you, calling you all kinds, swearing and threatening you, in your house, what would you do? Well why should it be any different if it was a customer, on the phone, while you’re working from home? Anyway, that is a rant I won’t get into. Not right now, at least.

The “studio” behind my own personal sitcom had decided that the work-from-home model worked really well for them. “Why provide a place for our employees to work when they can sit in their own home, in the kitchen, at the dining table, or on the end of their bed?” “We can save so much money by not giving our workers a place to work.” What a great way to end Lockdown than to announce the closure of the building and the not-really-a choice of taking redundancy or not?

It was not really a choice for me. Hmm, let’s see. Do I work from home and gamble my mental health? Do I work in the small, box-bedroom, a makeshift office, and have people talk to me like shit, in my own home, with virtual colleagues and a virtual manager? Any interaction with colleagues would be text on a screen. Or do I take the redundancy money and look for a new start? Next year I’ll be turning forty. “Life begins at forty,” they say. I don't know who “they” are but I hope they know their shit.

So, having heard a little about it from my sister-in-law, I m making the most of my time before “the sitcom” ends and have started a copywriting course. This is my equivalent of going from a TV show and trying to break into the movie business. Fingers crossed.

I’ll go into the copywriting more another time. All I will say for now is that it is interesting, a lot of reading and self-driven learning but, and most importantly, fun. Will it lead anywhere? I don't know but I hope so. The Pandemic gave us a chance to “Come out of it better than we went in.” This redundancy can be another shot at that too. I want to come out of this “sitcom” better than I went in.