My Time Unemployed, This Time: Part 1. Late Start, and the Way of | |
the Last Day | |
Friday Mar 14 10:20:50 2014 | |
[I am also posting this to my MOTD blog, but I figure, may as | |
well increase the content in gopherspace] | |
(I was going to start this a week ago, and I was going to catch | |
up all in one post, but it hasn't been happening like that, so | |
I'll just part it out into a few posts, and see where it goes) | |
So, I have been meaning to make a record of this latest unemploy | |
of mine. It--unfortunately--feels like I'm getting a real feel | |
for the progression to finding a new job after being laid off. I | |
feel like I know the pattern, although every time I sort of doubt | |
it will hold *this* time. | |
I don't know this ending yet, but so far, it feels very similar. | |
It starts like this: | |
First, you get laid off. It's a crummy day. You may or may not | |
have seen the signs, like other people slowly getting let go | |
around you, or talk of a slowdown in income or traffic for your | |
team's project, or, you know, your project being canceled or | |
something. Maybe you saw the signs and figured you were | |
safe/lucky, or maybe you started tentatively putting out | |
feelers--but too tentatively. Maybe you just went on, oblivious. | |
However you mentally prepared or didn't, *POW*, here's the sit | |
down with your manager and HR, where you aren't ready, and where | |
they try to maintain a little decorum by being icy, icy cold. You | |
will probably follow along (I've laid a couple people off, | |
myself, not fun). It's like an unexpected slap in the face, whap! | |
You don't really respond, so you act like a gentleman (or a lady) | |
and that's what they are really hoping for, instead of the crying | |
or the anger flash that you would do if you were in a movie ("I | |
say!"). You knew right when you sat down, by the setup, with the | |
people, and the big envelope of stuff for you to read over after | |
they've told you about it. There's no plea bargaining or | |
anything, and anyway, how would that even work? So you just | |
listen, maybe don't listen, maybe put yourself in your poor | |
manager's shoes, maybe wonder how the HR person is able to be so | |
nice the rest of her day. So you don't stomp out or anything. You | |
just take your envelope and slink back to your office or desk. | |
I personally, have been lucky, and at the places I've been let go | |
from, they have each let me collect my things at my leisure, | |
taking as long as I wanted (sort of). However, where I was | |
working where I had to let people go as a manager myself, I had | |
to help them get whatever they needed together ASAP and walk | |
their sad bottoms out the door in "30 minutes or less", telling | |
them to schedule a later time for them to pick up the rest of | |
their stuff from boxes at the front desk. That seemed pretty | |
brutal, but I guess it's just two ways of pulling off the same | |
bandaid. In retrospect, when I've been laid off, each time, I | |
stayed too long before leaving, like as a micro-defiance, like I | |
didn't want to go right when they said to or something. | |
This last time, I think I at least tried to motivate myself out a | |
*little* faster, but I still dragged it out. |