FIRED! LAID-OFF! NO NOTICE! HERE IS YOUR FINAL CHECK! What now because I feel like a LOSER!

• Share This Post
• Pin It
• 1
• 4
• Sparkle (
  2
  )
   

GLRED

Paralyzed by fear would sum up how I felt within 24 hours of receiving a letter from Price Water House terminating my employment effective at 8am the following day. The day prior to receiving this letter I followed my employer’s instructions and laid-off approximately 125 employees. I explained the company was simply reorganizing. I, too, believed this to be a true statement. The month was March. The year was 1996 and a bankruptcy court had appointed Price Water House to run the company that employed me. My employer’s company had been placed into receivership three days after all my possessions arrived to my company paid apartment… a high rise penthouse suite. By the way, I was representing my employer in a country other than the USA.

The next 3 months I experienced many different emotions; shock, numbness, shame, worry, helplessness, anger and betrayal.  I was panicked stricken.

When I finally made my way outside of my beautiful high rise apartment, I felt I had an imaginary neon light above my head flashing the letter “L” that stood for LOSER.

I’d like to tell you that I bounced back immediately. Not so much. It took three months to get out of a country I felt sequestered to, and seven months to obtain employment. Twelve interviews later I accepted a wonderful job opportunity in New Port Beach, California.

Thinking back, when it came to filing for unemployment benefits, knowing how to communicate and negotiate with my vehicle financing company, credit card companies, and anyone else I owed money to, I was absolutely in the dark. It’s so difficult to know what to do when you don’t know what you are supposed to do. Ya know?  Yes, I eventually landed on my feet. Ten months later with a good job living steps away from the beautiful beaches of Pacific Coast Highway in sunny New Port Beach, California. Even so, it would take approximately 6 years to rebuild my credit and feel a sense of stability in my life.

I could go on and on sharing the peaks and valleys of my 1996 experience. Perhaps at another place in time I may decide to write more. For purposes of this blog my objective is simple. First I’ll briefly touch base on the horrific impact of the ever lingering economic downturn to a few of my coworkers. Then I’d like to walk you through how their coping skills catapulted me to be proactive in an economy that was still spiraling. All valuable lessons learned between 1996 and my life year to date. I knew there was no way I would allow myself to sit and do nothing this time around.  Surviving the 1996 experience (Bruised and tattered as I was.) I gained a sense that I could live through any corporate restructure… downsize… shut down…realignment…termination. Today I know this is true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last time I experienced the above level of stress came after a former business partner committed suicide. We worked together at the largest financial institution in the world (Well, it was the largest before the credit crises.) He was our area investment vice president. He killed himself with a gunshot to the head leaving behind a wife and five year-old son. The year was 2008. The month was April, five months away from the credit crises that certainly had my mammoth Wall Street employer on everyone’s radar.

Seven months later my dotted line manager for my division would attempt suicide but live to talk about it. Prior to his suicide attempt, he learned his position within our company was being eliminated across the country. I learned about this one evening while leaving an evening class. He called to let me know (Give me a “heads up”) an announcement would be made to all employees the next day. He also wanted me to know he would be taking some time off to consider his options.

He had recently relocated his family and life to the area we worked. He bought a fabulous house (Thanks to those great mortgages!) on a great side of town, beautiful back yard with swimming pool and gorgeous garden in the front. Material possessions, living on the right side of town, picturesque house and yards make life look so perfect, doesn’t it?

When I got home from my class, my other half was still on the golf course. It was dark outside which meant it would be dark in our house.