Wake Me Up When the Changes End

A song lyric about job loss, set to the tune of "Wake Me Up When September Ends"

         Wake Me Up When the Changes End


         We grow up, we grow out,
         Nothing's sure, we learn to doubt,
         Wake me up when the changes end.

         Projects come and buildings go,
         Memory preserves the show,
         Wake me up when the crisis ends.

         Here comes a change again,
         Forcing a fresh start,
         Here comes the pain again
         Of learning a new part.

         Poor decisions may not last,
         Management can flame out fast,
         Wake me up when the outsource ends.

         Planes arrive and planes depart,
         It's people that make this an art,
         Wake me up when the layoff ends.

         Here comes a change again,
         Forcing a fresh start,
         Here comes the pain again
         Of learning a new part.

         30 years has come and gone,
         I didn't think I'd last this long,
         Wake me up when the changes end.


         Terrence G. Fisher 2016


Author's note: ▶︎

This is a song lyric, set to the tune of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day.

Hear the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU9JoFKlaZ0

I wrote this shortly after getting a layoff notice from Boeing in 2016. I'd been writing maintenance manuals for the commercial jets for 20 years. I had already survived an attempt to outsource our work in 2004. It did not end well, and the responsible manager was reassigned soon after. Most of us returned to our jobs in 2005 and rebuilt the organization. Ten years later, all of our jobs were moved to a non-union location. I was hoping that the 2015 move would also fail. Instead, the entire site was sold in 2017. I was able to take early retirement and start my pension, but I'd rather be working.

We want to believe that the way things are is the way they've always been. And that the way things have always been is how they'll always be. The truth is that reality consists of constant change. We can ignore it for a while, but nothing lasts forever.