Well The Economy is Hitting Home

[HarmsWay]

On January 7th I was asked to come to my bosses office for a meeting. I walked in and the HR Manager was sitting at the table. They asked me to close the door behind me and proceeded to inform me that my job was being immediately eliminated. After showing me the paperwork, I was led back to my office where I picked up my keys, my cell phone and handed over my company credit card to the boss who promptly escorted me to the door. I was 25 days short of having 25 years with my company. It's AMAZING that they wrapped up 20 years of service in less than 15 minutes.

Wow that's harsh. I just got my 25 year plaque. I can't begin to imagine how it would feel to have been laid off instead. Years ago, I was laid off the day before Christmas with no warning after only two years with a company. That was bad enough but no comparison to your situation. All I can say is I hope you got a fair severance package.

[dbhost]

Well it finally hit me at home... LOML was let go due to corporate downsizing efforts. She was customer support / tech support for her companies internally developed software, and had been at that job about 18 months. The two members of her team that were kept, have less than 5 months on the job with no training...

The folks that trained her, left the company months ago before the new folks started. There is no one left to train the staff on the product... Makes perfect business sense right?

[Ed62]

I have a sister, three nephews, and a niece living in Oregon. My niece just got news that her employer was shutting down the business. She is now out of a job. The local steel mill has announced 100 people being laid off, for a start. They said they expect the layoffs to last about six months. I don't know how they can give an estimate like that. It seems optimistic to me.

Ed

[Bruce Cohen]

Guys,

For the following reasons, I can't say that I'm at all surprised. I've been "under/un-employed" since April 2002. I was the Creative Director of a narrowly focused Ad Agency in NYC. When the dot coms had their meltdown, we lost quite a few accounts. Then came 9/11, and that was all she wrote.

Prior to the Towers going down, NYC had lost (in a one-year time span) 75,000 jobs in the advertising agency industry. We all saw it coming, and chose to play ostrich, and make like it could never happen to us.

Well, I went from a six figure salary to working at Home Depot for slightly over minimum wage. At least the medical coverage was good and cheap.

We've been through our savings along with 2 small inheritances, and we've run out of relatives.

Next year I'll be eligible for Social Security, if there's anything left after bailing out the "rich folk".

Thank God my wife has a well paying job that's not going anywhere.

Now, if we can just pay off our 2 daughter's student loans. 'Cause there's no jobs for them at the moment.

I suggest everyone (re)read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", as the stuff is getting way too close to the fan for comfort.

Bruce

[cgallery]

Well it finally hit me at home... LOML was let go due to corporate downsizing efforts. She was customer support / tech support for her companies internally developed software, and had been at that job about 18 months. The two members of her team that were kept, have less than 5 months on the job with no training...

The folks that trained her, left the company months ago before the new folks started. There is no one left to train the staff on the product... Makes perfect business sense right?

Maybe this is one of those opportunities for her to keep in touch and pickup some income if they get into a bind?

Good luck, I hope this turns around quickly!

[dbhost]

Well, I've got a garage workshop, I've got some contacts, I am going to get back into making some fishing accessories. (Pole holders etc...)

[sparkeyjames]

On January 7th I was asked to come to my bosses office for a meeting. I walked in and the HR Manager was sitting at the table. They asked me to close the door behind me and proceeded to inform me that my job was being immediately eliminated. After showing me the paperwork, I was led back to my office where I picked up my keys, my cell phone and handed over my company credit card to the boss who promptly escorted me to the door. I was 25 days short of having 25 years with my company. It's AMAZING that they wrapped up 20 years of service in less than 15 minutes.

Get a lawyer this is probably a case of age discrimination. I'll bet that they filled your position with someone half your age for half your pay and he/she was sitting at your old desk the next week. Greed and stupidity know no bounds.

[Kristofor]

Maybe this is one of those opportunities for her to keep in touch and pickup some income if they get into a bind?

Good luck, I hope this turns around quickly!

That's a big +1. Either to get back in the door, or alternatively to turn the thumbscrews if they need help and don't want to play nice.

About 15 years ago I ended up "consulting" for a company I had been working for on a contract previously. They decided they no longer had the hours to justify that contract. Since my consulting rate was $150/hr and I was only making $32/hr at the time working under contract I almost doubled my pay over the next year and I could work another job part time on the side... They would have saved lots of $$ to keep paying me full time even if they only needed 20hrs/week of work...

[Edit: Ah, the halcyon days of IT pre dot-com bust. Easy to pull a decent 6 figures with no degree, 2 years out of high school so long as you had skills that weren't widely available]

[jabe]

It's been bad in Hawaii too, lots of places closed down, unemployment up. I'm retired but worried about the economy as it has affected my retirement nest egg, already lost 25 % of its value.

[jking]

Wednesday last week our engineering department laid off 8 people. Four engineers & four drafters. Two of the drafters had combined over 80 years with the company. One was a few months from retirement & basically marking time, so, he wasn't really broken up about it. Still, it would have been nice to have given him a "retirement party" instead of a layoff.

Back in 2002 I was one of the affected. It took me 6 months to find full time employment. Everyone where I work is thankful to have a job right now.