Taking Measure Of Layoffs In Baristaville

Next to finding out your spouse/S.O. is cheating on you, getting laid off is one of the worst feelings I can think of. It gets you right in the gut, like a sucker punch, leaving you reeling with shock and dismay.

I've never been laid off but my imagination is pretty good.

My advice to someone who's recently been let go: "Don't visit your former place of employment with a camera".

... you should go immediately to 'Titillations' in Bloomfield and as Xenon for the 'house special'...

Not sure I'm down with Bob Adler on this one. You lose your job, I express some sympathy, and you tell me basically to stick the sympathy in my back pocket and do something constructive, like help me find another job. Gee, Bob, sorry I said anything at that point . . . . .

I don't think what Mr. Adler said was in poor form. There's nothing wrong with getting the word out that you're newly on the job hunt. How many people do you think found a job, either first or career-change, through someone they knew?

I'm not trying to kick someone when they are down, but anyone who would say to a friend "I know you are sorry but that doesn't do me any good . . . " sounds like the kind of person who might need a few pointers on dealing with others.

Bob's comment is right on the mark.

I recall being told that getting laid off "wasn't personal" when it happened to me. Know what? Losing your income, possibly your home, your childrens' education, and everything else is pretty damn personal.

I would agree. Until it happens to you, it's hard to imagine how awful it is. It's really not just loss of income and the possibility of losing one's home, although that is horrifying enough. It's also the isolation, the lack of day to day connection with people you've seen every day for years. I was laid off right after 9/11 and stayed in bed for days afterward. It took months to get back on track. Knowing in advance and telling people you are looking is the only way to get leads and information about other job opportunities. Good luck to Bob.

I was laid off one week after a meeting where the company's owner told us all our jobs were safe.

When he laid me off I asked why he told me my job was safe and his responce was what else was he suppose to do. (nothing or bold face lie...)

I also learned that my direct boss knew for over a week, but didn't wnat to worry about my job performance while she went on vacation.

I took it personally.

"Nothing personal."
Isn't that what Sal said about Michael when speaking to Hagen, right before they put him in the car?

I got laid off a month after 9/11. The company laid off 65% of its people.
The CEO is now in prison as well.

It took so long to find another job. I still find myself resenting a comment my brother made, something like 'why can't you find a job? all my friends have had no problem...'

I am still traumatized by the thought of getting laid off, to the point where most of my friends believe I am now playing it too safe with my life choices and not pursuing what would make me truly fulfilled, and going for the bottom line instead...

So true..

Still working on it however.

I always thought unfair that if you leave yoru job voluntarily, you have to give your employer 2 weeks notice. If you get laid off, your employer does not have to do give you the same courtesy. Sucks. That is because we have something called "at will" employment in NJ. They don't even have to give you a reason why.

It's not just NJ Miss M. It's everywhere. I work in Manhattan. I even had a contract. My "position" had been eliminated for financial reasons. Of course the position was back a year later, when the company was doing better and they hired someone for less money.

Actually Miss M the majority of most contracts are at will for both the employee and the employer. Yes they can fire you at will, but you can also resign on the spot - you do not have to give 2 weeks notice - it is more of a courtesy. And ususally (at least in a big company), if you are laid off you are given advanced notice and a package - it's when you are discharged/fired that it's that day.

We have the same situation in our company - because I work in a high tech video industry if someone leaves to go to the competitor, even if they give 2 weeks, they are out the door that day. We do however pay them for the 2 weeks notice.

Others have resigned and given 2 weeks (or more) which we have accepted as they are leaving to go to another industry all together or for other non-competitive reasons.

I thought the original article was a typical New Yokr Times story of this nature. Meaning it said absolutely nothing I haven't heard before and predictably used one of the old sweats of modern "Communications" theorizing in Deborah Tannen. (How they missed getting a quite in from Steve Adubato is beyond me, that sure wouldn't have happened if it'd been the Star-Ledger.)

What I'm really always interested in is how people mentioned in the article are chosen in the first place. How does the Times find them, right down to that nail salon voice from the Caldwells? And is the universe across which Times reporters seem to range for such stories really that small that it has to focus on Baristaville? As opposed, say, to Oklahoma City or Nashua, NJ?

That said, though there is supposedly a "rule" which decrees that we give 2 weeks notice when fleeing a position, I assure you, Miss Martta, it is a rule I have often delighted in breaking. Scum, proven scum who treat their employees like so much chattel, forfeit their "right" to professional courtesies very quickly.

But then, too, I was once fired by a coked-up, depressive publisher from a magazine which had in fact closed forever only that morn, for answering the phone as we awaited news of our errant, overdue paychecks (no, as it turned out, they'd been abducted by aliens) with 'Formerly..." followed by the name of the magazine.

I had to laugh when I got axed, they sent us to an Out placement office which we dubbed "Camp Fired". They had no idea what to do with creative types, so we just used the phones and faxes and slapped our resumes together and tried to pick up the pieces of our careers and homelife.

I've never been laid off, but I've had contracts come to an end and that is definately an uneasy feeling. The shortest notice I ever got was 2 weeks. Usually I'd get a month(mainframe gigs). Back in the day, I'd line something new up in a few days. I laugh now, when I think of how cocky I was then. It's a different world now.

Good approach by Mr. Adler....get back up, don't be shy, talk with your friends for advice and leads. Also easier said than done.

I also got laid off a few months after 9-11. Couldn't believe it happened to me. Felt like a sucker for not reading the writing on the wall after management changed and the business went south. Should have started looking for another job while I still had a job.

It's a real shock to be thrown out like a piece of trash.

Only consolation was my boss and his boss were later fired. :-)

I also got laid off in the spring after 9/11. I was lucky enough to get a reasonable package; if I'd been one year younger I'd have got nothing, like so many of my colleagues did.

I eventually wound up working at a Montclair deli, which is why I'm here on baristanet. I haven't seen the inside of an office in 6 years, which seems to be the kiss of death now that I'm looking for another job. However, I keep at it, & if Bob Adler can be shameless, so can I:

If anyone wants to take advantage of my word processing / editing / proofreading skills, my email address is above. I'm reliable, conscientious and a joy to have around! TIA. :=)

One of my automated job search agents turned up this one today:

Experience making travel arrangements, setting up meetings, reserving conference rooms, ordering food and supplies, mass mailings, processing expense reports and invoices. Strong organizational skills working numerous vendors and cross divisional contacts. Must be comfortable working near cadavers.

Too bad it's all the way up in Mahwah, sounds pretty much ideal otherwise.

C'mon, crank, with the right salary + benefits??

crank,

Mahwah's not that far and at least the cadavers don't give you any lip.

I think I may apply for it later today.

Thank you!

It's having to, errr, "work numerous vendors" that gets me.

I don't think I have quite the skills they want.