Tuesday, November 25, 2008

just when things are going great...

I've had some crappy jobs in my life. And some good ones. The current one is one of the good ones. Up until this week, I would have said one of the great ones. This week we laid off 86 people. It seriously sucks. Both for the ones that are gone (some of whom are great friends), and for those of us left behind. We are having a little bit of survivor's guilt, as well as trying to wrap our heads around what we have to do. My boss is gone, but I will be reporting to a pretty good guy, so that's good. I'm just not sure it's still going to be the same place.

It was so hard to watch co-workers leave. They had a meeting, were given a package, and escorted out. I was ready to smack one of the consultants who was walking a friend out - when we all stopped her to hug her and wish her the best, he made some comment about "unprofessionalism" and "that's enough of that, now". Cold, man. Really cold.

I guess it's a case of be careful what yo wish for. I had always wished for a job at a company like this - friendly, family oriented, close to home, etc. I finally got it. Now I hope I get to keep it.

4 comments:

Needles said...

Oh dear. My best wishes to your friends on the list. And I'll keep hoping for only good things for you.

CatBookMom said...

It sucks big time, especially this close to the end of the year with the holidays and all. Been through this as a survivor twice, and the guilt is awful. The guy with the attitude, wow, what a jerk, but he sounds so much like the personnel people at my last job.

I hope that you and your new boss (so sorry to hear that yours is gone) are able to work well together, and that you survivors will be able to fill in the gaps left and still have time for your own lives.

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

A consultant--ie, someone who didn't have a permanent job there, someone more likely to be shoved out the door fast, someone who might possibly be jealous of the emotion of friendship and camaraderie found on that job by others, and, if you want to talk about survivor's guilt, that person showed it to the extreme. And I'm so sorry you had to listen to it.

My husband got a better job because of a layoff that pushed him to go find it 15 years ago. He's still at the new place. Best wishes and good luck to everybody over there!

Anonymous said...

I hear you. It's been that kind of week around my workplace too.