Hitting The Wall

I finally did it - hit the wall that is. I thought I was doing fine. No emotional breakdowns. This loosing your job thing was just another problem to tackle. Well, I was at a board meeting, discussion budget cuts and layoffs, and was overcome with emotion. Don't know why, but I had about a 15 minute time period where it was difficult to speak. It passed, and I was fine again, but it goes to show you just never know how things will affect your deep down emotional state.

On a plus side, my forced vacation has given me an opportunity to do things that have not been possible before - such as serving as a "Model UN" judge. I've known a little about the program, because two of my sons participated, but this was an interesting experience - watching high school students act out on the "world stage".  It made for a very long, but rewarding day. I was able to see the future, and it looked pretty bright.

Keeping in Contact

I have really enjoyed the visits when folks have reached out to make contact so I started to make contacts with some of the folks in my situation. Hopefully, we can stay in touch for the long haul.

Visiting the Employment Security Commission was a little awkward, but the  folks were really nice and held a group meeting for some of those displaced with me. It was like "old home" week. I was glad to see everyone was in good spirits and the Security Commission folks did an excellent job explaining things.

Next up was a visit with the consultant the company hired to help with outplacement services. These folks are on task to push everyone to get active in finding other employment. They've given everyone "homework" to complete before their next visit. Time to get to work.

Staying Busy Helps

As luck would have it, the first week was really busy with two fund raising events and a third that came from a fund raiser. Elaine's Cooking School was particularly good since the "guys" got to help and the food was delicious.

One recipe from the event was Almond 'Sweet' Tea - a nice treat for the distinguished Southerner who cherishes sweet tea. The formula:
4 c. strong tea
3 1/4 c. water
1 six-ounce frozen lemonade
1 c. sugar
1/2 to 1 t. almond extract
Serve over crushed ice - but double the recipe, because most frozen lemonade comes in 12 oz. cans and - you just can't have too much sweet tea.

There is another version you may want to try. Something to compete with Charleston's Firefly. Substitue Amaretto for almond extract and call it, "Momma's recipe".

Boy, Do I Feel Better!

Day two was similar to day one - but there was one distinct difference. Boy, did I feel better. I guess I didn't realize how depressing it was to work where you couldn't spend money because of financial troubles.

And my work group was the best in the company!

With the burden of making equipment work without using good maintenance gone,  a huge weight had been lifted. I didn't know how bad it was. I do worry about those who are left.

I know folks think that I'm not answering the phone, but this has been a really busy week. I just haven't been home all that much. I've also given myself the luxury of waiting a week before doing any serious work on leaving the "unemployed".

Paranoia

I decided to make my first day of unemployment a busy one. Rising at the usual time of 5 am, I read the papers, checked email, and then went to the Y to work out. Stopped by the church to volunteer, home for a brief lunch, back to town for a meeting, and home late in the afternoon.

Checking voice messages, there were a lot from friends I used to work with. I never gave much thought to making phone calls when I was the one with the job, but I really did enjoy the conversation. I do believe it was much harder on those left than on me. I've made a mental note to do a better job making contacts in the future.

An interesting side note, no one called me from a "company" phone and no one used "company" email to contact me. I asked a few and they just didn't want to take any chances.

Volunteering at church was food for the soul. The ladies sure were a joy to work with. Oh, I also got news for a couple of job opportunities. All-in-all, a good day.

Last Day

I got the call about 10 am. "The boss wants to see you in his office". I never get calls like that. Something tells me this is not good. It takes about 15 minutes to get there, and when I walk in, the boss is there with a corporate HR person. They explain that some "benchmarking" has been done and many positions are being eliminated, including mine - and because of bankruptcy - there will be no separation package, only outplacement service will be provided. Then they asked if I had any questions?

Will I get paid through the end of the month? No. Your pay stops today - but you will get paid for unused vacation.

Is there a cash value to the outplacement service should I choose not to use it? No

Can I clean out my office? Yes, but your security card and email account will be deactivated this afternoon.

I had no other questions. So we went into another office to meet someone from the outplacement service - we'll call him John.

John was a nice enough person. Said he was sorry we were meeting under conditions like this. To which I replied, "if not for this situation, he wouldn't have a job". I meant it as a joke, but John didn't laugh.

John carried on with typical conversation, How are you doing? Did you see this coming? We will be here to help you. Your wife will probably be upset, she can call me at any time. To which I replied, you know she's going to ask if she can call George Clooney instead. John laughed this time, said his wife would appreciate him being compared to Clooney.

I decided to clean up my office. I'm a pack-rat and I really wanted to get things thrown away so no one else would have to. When I got back to the office, I told my secretary (we had worked together for 32 years) and then sent a few emails out to let folks know how to contact me in the future. Filled two trash cans up (I told you I was a pack-rat), boxed up what I wanted to take, made a few calls and left to return that night to pick up my boxes.

I returned about 7:30 pm - and everyone wanted to talk. Made it extremely difficult to load up the car and leave.

I found 4 newspapers that I had kept from an explosion 10 years ago. Don't know why I kept them, but I did. I laid them out on the table where our morning meetings are held and wrote the following on the white board:
Read the Newspapers
Lock-out and Burning Permit Violations Contribute to This
Don't Take Short-cuts.  Good Luck!  JBV


My task was completed in about 30 minutes, and I took a slow drive home from the place I had spent more time than with my own family. I'm sure it felt like a divorce, and there was no turning back for me. I stopped and bought a lottery ticket hoping my luck would change.