A rough week

Hello friends. I hope that you are all doing well. I've definitely been better. I got laid off this week. And out of the blue. In fact, it was worse than "out of the blue." It was in direct contradiction to what we had been repeatedly told by our managers. Several weeks ago, our managers called an impromptu meeting to let us know that we'd be seeing emails and hearing about upcoming layoffs. However, they emphasized that we shouldn't worry, as these layoffs would not be affecting our team. They reiterated this several times, in various meetings: layoffs would be announced company-wide during the week of November 11, but our team would NOT be affected, so don't worry. Just "keep being better than we've ever been."

Then, Wednesday morning, we got called into a sudden and mandatory all-hands meeting at 8:30 am. My friend Amy and I were making guesses about the purpose of the meeting before things got started. Amy figured that it was either layoffs or that one of our coworkers, Jay, was getting promoted. I looked around as people were still filing into the conference room and saw a couple of our managers sitting off to the side, laughing together. So I said to Amy, "Well I hope it's a promotion for Jay. If it's layoffs, then I'd like to note that the laughter is inappropriate."

A few minutes later, we were told that our team would, in fact, be affected by layoffs... effective immediately. We were instructed to return to our desks and get back to work... the affected team members would be called in and informed by their managers. It was like a death watch. We all sat silently, waiting to see who would get a call and then leave their desks. I was called in 2nd or 3rd. I was told that in all of the budgetary cut-backs and outsourcing, my job had been eliminated. I was then escorted to my desk and out of the building. In total, 6 members of our team were laid off, including my wonderful friend, Amy. You can read her layoff story here. She includes some good points about our last supervisor, including his affinity for passing off work so that he could play World of Warcraft and other games at work, and his horribly disturbing habit of picking his face, and inspecting whatever he pulled off, while he talked to people. He was mostly a good-for-nothing hall monitor... milling around talking to people, keeping an eye on who was away from their desks.

Sadly, I found out later that our layoffs were explained a little differently to the rest of the team after we left. The remaining team members were called in around 11:30 for info about moving forward. After some fake tears by our inarticulate and underqualified director, the team was told that the layoffs were not personal, but were determined by performance. The managers indicated that they had taken all of the SCORE cards for our team, and laid off the bottom 6 performers. However, I know that this is not entirely true (if at all), as several lower-performing team members are still there and I'm out of a job. There were members of the team that weren't familiar with our product lines or typical research procedures, and they're staying while I was let go. One lady couldn't even find the on/off button on her laptop, but she's still there. I was the go-to girl for the Wise Solutions line of products and arguably the best person at compiling the difficult and often confusing purchase histories for Wise customers. Sales associates in our European and Asian sales offices frequently asked me for help, as did members of my own team, to no avail. Part of me hopes that they will struggle now that I'm gone... like a posthumous admission that I was a valuable member of the team...

Sorry if I come off a little bitter. I am.

I echo Amy's sentiments for the other 5 employees that were laid off. I wish you well in your searching. May we all find excellent and stable employment right away. I've struggled in this job, and have been irritated with my managers for quite some time, so I'm trying to appreciate the positive changes that are bound to come from this. And, if all goes well, I'll be able to find a job in SLC and be able to move at the same time. Until then, I'm trying to keep things as stable and normal for Hannah as I can.

Thank you, sincerely, to all of the family and friends that have offered kind words and prayers in our behalf. I have felt and appreciated your love and concern for me and Hannah. Thank you! I hope to have good news of a well-paying and more-enjoyable job soon!