Fired for Now: Getting fired, laid off, and hired again

If any of you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you may have noticed that this past week or so I’ve been rather quiet. That’s because my free time lately hasn’t been so free.

In the past month, I’ve been preparing my house to take in a renter in my basement. And it seems lately every evening and weekend is being spent clearing out over 20 years of living and getting it reading for the next 10. That’s a lot of clearing out to do. And a … Continue Reading

I have a confession to make.

I have to admit to a small-minded, not-so-pretty response to hearing the news that 16 more people were just let go by the company that laid me off last November.

Without question, my heart goes out to those affected. But there’s something else going on. While I hate what’s happening to the individuals, I also feel a sense of satisfaction at the news.

Okay, now you must think I’m some awful cruel-hearted monster. But no, what I’m feeling is a sense of vindication. And I think that … Continue Reading

I just got to experience job loss from the opposite side of the company door. And it is so terribly, awfully surreal.

As some of you know, I’m now a working stiff again. I’d barely warmed my chair here as a full-time employee when a senior employee of 15 years, with a VP to her title, left the building.

An email from the president announced the news. It blindsided everyone here. The “parting of the ways” was “effective immediately.” As a newbie, I had no history, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. All were in a state of complete … Continue Reading

It’s Friday today. And that means you’re going to see or hear of a lot of people getting laid off today. Like any other day of the week in the last several months.

But here’s the thing.

YOU SHOULDN’T BE HEARING OF ANYONE GETTING LAID OFF TODAY. NOT ON A FRIDAY!

How is it, that at a time of massive layoffs, so many employers still haven’t bothered to learn the decent way to do it? I can’t figure it out. Letting someone go early in the week is a well-accepted principal of HR practice.

There’s … Continue Reading

It’s no secret that job loss can lead to depression and despair. When things seem unmanageable with no end in sight, it can also lead to a tragic ending. Yesterday, the Associated Press published a story about two brothers, third-generation car dealers Gregory and Randolph Graham, who are now dead following the slow collapse of their car dealership in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

As the article explains, “Gregory, 61, went out to the dealership lot in the middle of the night last month, set fire to some of his vehicles and died of a heart attack next to the burning wreckage. Then, over … Continue Reading

The idea of keeping up with the Joneses goes back long before the comic strip of the same name that popularized the phrase back in 1913. Comparing ourselves to others is a core part of forming our self-image.

And I can tell you one thing. I’m finished with it. Or, I hope, well on my way.

For a very long time I bought into several middle-class benchmarks that were supposed to validate where I am in my life.

Things like career. Home-ownership. Salary. Position. Savings. Investments. Possessions.

These are the symbols of success we’ve collectively accepted. Failure to methodically knock these … Continue Reading

Andrea & Sophie

The old expression used to be “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” The 2009 version of that may be “What doesn’t kill you, makes you happier.”

If you’re just newly unemployed, you may look at that with skepticism. Please don’t misunderstand. I will never minimize the hardship of losing a job. It can be brutal. However, it can also be transforming. I know I have come through the last year with a renewed understanding of what’s truly important to me and what I would … Continue Reading

When I lost my job last November, I immediately cut back on my spending. Everywhere.

Last weekend I wrote about my fall from grace when I caved and went to a movie after months of frugality.

But as I’ve also said, there was one area I never really took the hatchet to. And that was my home food shopping. I figured since I’d stopped eating out, or really going out at all, I could at least feed us well at home still.

I’m now paying for it. I’ve gained weight. My pants are … Continue Reading

Yesterday I was contacted by a member of a San Francisco-based team of filmmakers producing a documentary film on the recession. They have one particular focus:  to document how the economic meltdown is bringing about social and personal transformation. And they’re looking for volunteers with a story to tell.

Definitely, transformation is happening all around us. Amid foreclosures and payment struggles, self-doubt and fear, not to mention more time to think,  people are re-evaluating their lives. Some are choosing radically different paths. Some are taking stock of what’s important in new … Continue Reading

Stress and sleep don’t make good bedfellows. I ache for continuous restful, sound sleep. On those mornings I wake up and realize I’ve slept through the night, I feel relieved and grateful.

On those mornings, uh, nighttimes, where I wake after a few hours of sleep, and lie there, with the thoughts of the stressed beginning to circle, I feel like crap.

Like tonight for instance. I’m writing this after waking at 3:30 in the morning. Of course, I tried shifting my brain over and over away from the worries that … Continue Reading