Today's foo was a huge shock. The last time I was laid off from this job, it was 2008 and the week of my 2nd anniversary with the company, which at that time was Motorola. I was called into my boss' office to find him sitting next to a fat middle aged white guy who had a big brown accordion briefcase. The man was from corporate in Chicago's burbs, and it was a huge shock, totally out of the blue. One other member of my team was let go.
I kept in touch with boss, and about 4 years later he let me know the two positions were open again, so I applied, and got hired. Same cubicle. Slightly higher salary. New-ish company named Motorola Solutions. Moto was split in half, the original company was Motorola SomethingElse.
We have since been sold twice, once to Google, after being split yet again, and then to Arris.
This time it was a conference room full of people, four of them critical to the success of the product, IMHO. And this time the person with the paperwork was a slender blonde woman of about 35. From Boston, which was a major WTF because our HR was handled out of Penn. Looking at the packet, this was a world-wide reduction in force. So it wasn't as personal as the last time, but it was the death knell for that job.
So I placed profiles on Monster and Career Builder and actually applied for one job for which I am only marginally qualified. Tried to apply for one at Akamai, but they make it too hard.
I'm okay for a while. 10 week's pay and 4 weeks' vacation cashed out, that is supposed to happen on the 29th along with my final paycheck. I am not sure my change of direct deposit will have kicked in yet.
Canceled my two hotel bookings for Kansas City. I don't think I'll sell my membership, I want to stay in the loop for Helsinki next year. Did not book travel yet, so nothing to do there.
Watched Elementary and Shark Tank and there's a Magicians and Supergirl in the queue.
During those, it dawned on me is that days like this call for ice cream. And dinner out. And black forest cake. So I had pancakes & bacon at Denny's, then continued on top Lucky's and bought their last black forest cake, and a quart of mint chocolate chip, and a bottle of chocolate shell syrup.
Home, plugged the car back in, ate a slice of the cake, put the ice cream in the freezer and the shell stuff on the counter for another day. I have all week.
Lots on the calendar:
Tomorrow: to the office with boxes, tape and a cart and bring home my coffee cup collection, all my personal stuff from the drawers, photos from the wall, the USB photo frame and my velocity fan. There is also a big box of oatmeal packets and most of a case of shrimp Nissan cup-o-noodles. I think I'll give the admin my calendar.
Wednesday: Manicure
Thursday: Severance meeting
Friday: songwriter friends performing at Red Rock
Saturday: Thai Movie meetup
Sunday: 1 pm and 4 pm Mulan, Jr. at Sunnyvale (two complete casts, one at 1, the other at 4)
And of course the following weekend is Consonance.
I kept in touch with boss, and about 4 years later he let me know the two positions were open again, so I applied, and got hired. Same cubicle. Slightly higher salary. New-ish company named Motorola Solutions. Moto was split in half, the original company was Motorola SomethingElse.
We have since been sold twice, once to Google, after being split yet again, and then to Arris.
This time it was a conference room full of people, four of them critical to the success of the product, IMHO. And this time the person with the paperwork was a slender blonde woman of about 35. From Boston, which was a major WTF because our HR was handled out of Penn. Looking at the packet, this was a world-wide reduction in force. So it wasn't as personal as the last time, but it was the death knell for that job.
So I placed profiles on Monster and Career Builder and actually applied for one job for which I am only marginally qualified. Tried to apply for one at Akamai, but they make it too hard.
I'm okay for a while. 10 week's pay and 4 weeks' vacation cashed out, that is supposed to happen on the 29th along with my final paycheck. I am not sure my change of direct deposit will have kicked in yet.
Canceled my two hotel bookings for Kansas City. I don't think I'll sell my membership, I want to stay in the loop for Helsinki next year. Did not book travel yet, so nothing to do there.
Watched Elementary and Shark Tank and there's a Magicians and Supergirl in the queue.
During those, it dawned on me is that days like this call for ice cream. And dinner out. And black forest cake. So I had pancakes & bacon at Denny's, then continued on top Lucky's and bought their last black forest cake, and a quart of mint chocolate chip, and a bottle of chocolate shell syrup.
Home, plugged the car back in, ate a slice of the cake, put the ice cream in the freezer and the shell stuff on the counter for another day. I have all week.
Lots on the calendar:
Tomorrow: to the office with boxes, tape and a cart and bring home my coffee cup collection, all my personal stuff from the drawers, photos from the wall, the USB photo frame and my velocity fan. There is also a big box of oatmeal packets and most of a case of shrimp Nissan cup-o-noodles. I think I'll give the admin my calendar.
Wednesday: Manicure
Thursday: Severance meeting
Friday: songwriter friends performing at Red Rock
Saturday: Thai Movie meetup
Sunday: 1 pm and 4 pm Mulan, Jr. at Sunnyvale (two complete casts, one at 1, the other at 4)
And of course the following weekend is Consonance.
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howeird- Mister Eclectic
- Howeird's Place
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Sorry about everything else.
Good luck with the job hunting.
Poor and happy is doable, lol.
I wonder if they hired a downsizing service to do it for them? Like that George Cooney movie.