tragically funny?

So I was late for my appointment to get laid off last Tuesday.

I got an email appointment from my boss on Monday night this past week. He needed to meet with me for 15 minutes to talk about a project that I was running. or so I thought.

I left the house, deciding to ride because it was a nice day. About 2 miles from my house, the throttle cable broke! Managed to grab the remains of the cable and limp home at 20mpg. Got the car and headed to work. Arrived about 10 minutes late, only to find my boss waiting for me in the hallway. He seen me, met me halfway, the walked with me towards his office. As we passed the conference room, he said "we just need to stop in here quick". the department head and an HR rep were waiting for me. within 15 minutes I was headed back out the door towards my car.

Luckily I have another throttle cable from the 2nd parts bike I bought!

Anyone looking for an IT Manager?

what a drag - bad economy and high unemployment.

Any other tales of woe?

 

It's not much better in the health sector, no matter what you're hearing in the news about a nursing shortage. I get sent home early FREQUENTLY (lower seniority, even tho I have been at this hospital for 7.5 years). Sadly, it's not going to get much better due to GM and that fiasco (seniors in retirement from GM losing their health insurance and benefits).

But my bike does bring me joy...

 

Wow, really 85? My wife's a nurse in a nursing home here, and they're chronically either short staffed or staffed with people who should've been fired/never hired in the first place.


DM, that really sucks. I drove to work 20 miles through a blizzard on a Monday morning a number of years ago to find out I'd been laid off. They knew Friday just before I left, but didn't want to ruin my weekend. Thanks jerks, I could've gotten drunk, slept in and avoided nearly wrecking my car.

 

I've thought about working at a nursing home, but staff there are usually chronically overworked. Here in MI, it's not uncommon to have 30+ wards to take care of in a home, med pass, vitals, the whole bit. No thanks.

 

no doubt - that would've MADE my weekend

 

It is annoying how they wait. They could have told me Monday on the way out the door!

 

that sux. but heres what happen to me. On ther 26th of May i fell and broke my foot and had to take unwanted time off from work as i am a chef and cant work in the kitchen on crutches well i went back to the doctors on tuesday of last week and was cleared to return to work. so i called them and asked when they wanted me to come back and they relpied we have replaced you since you have been on leave for too long.

so i rebuilt my carbs and drank some beer and had some fun with the wife and slept in the rest of the week. I figure i will look for something on monday, maybe.

 

dms,

Sorry to hear that. I got the cut last Aug. from the Dental industry. Went 8mo's without work and got some work from a friend at a body shop. But this is there slow time for a few months. I have been making less than a third of my usual salary since I got work. Man things are tough but we are keeping the house up to date and the kids fed so it ain't that bad. We just had to find alternative things to do for fun that cost less $$.


85'

From my dad who is a GM retiree so far he has only been informed of Dental and Vision benefits being pulled. Hopefully they hold out on the Medical or things will get bad quick. My Mom has cancer and undergoing treatment I really hope they get to hold onto the medical for at least a few years. I think it is BS that they are taking things away from the reitree's They retired under a contract. It should be honored. But nope hey Were happy you devoted 34 years and change to our company now we need some fo what you promosed you back. EERRR it pi$$es me off.

 

Sorry to hear that - hope you cna find something soon.

As someone who has had to let folks go I can tell you in a large company the managers don't always have a choice for timing. Although we do give a 30 day notice instead of instant dismissal. It's the worst part of my job by far.

 

Sorry to hear so many tales of how this economy is hurting people. I have to consider myself and my wife extremely lucky, we manufacture transformers, and although late last winter and early spring our sales tanked, we all took 10% paycuts in management for 2 months back in March and April, but were able to keep our jobs! We had to lay off some plant level employees due to lack of work, but as of late as sales have begun to tick back up, we've actually brought back almost all of the people we had to let go. It's shaky at best, we still have to take a day off here or there during slow weeks, but we are seeing a steady increase in sales again overall.

 

I've run paint and body shops since '75. I've always had a reputation of being a loose cannon because I always went with the money to whatever shop paid the most. I've NEVER had loyalty to individual shops and I've taken a lot of flak because of it over the years. My FAMILY always came first, NOT a company and I travel where the money's best. NOW I'd like to ask all those who condemned my attitude over the years to explain to me where all these COMPANIES loyalty is. I say the are just like I always was, following the most money. Funny thing is though, I retired for 10 years and at the first of this year had a shop call ME wanting my services AGAIN. For as I'm concerned I played it right over the years.

 

I've been on unemployment since october. It's rough out there, but keep your head up and think positive. I know it's hard to do but positive thoughts lead to positive outcomes. Be well.

 

dmschuler,

I am sorry to hear about your job and your bike trouble. Hope it won't be too long before you are on your feet again. I am going to be in your neck of the woods, North Tonawanda in about three weeks. I brought a 1982 750 Seca last August but since then I have been unable to get there to pick it up. I plan to get it this time.

Like you, I am out of work but by choice, sounds weird, Ugn!

After years of near-nonstop work, I burned out physically and mentally. The straw that broke the camel’s back was: after busting my ass for a five months, laying out a project’s design specs for contract-to-hire position the company “found” it could not hire the senior developers but “could keep” the juniors. Typical bait and switch: Get the senior’s design expertise, fire them, and then use junior members to finish the project.

So, I spent the last year honing my skill set (.NET Certifications) and getting healthy again; may be a good idea for you or anyone who was let go.

At the end of August, I plan to seek a position with a company who wants a good .NET Framework/Database Web Developer here in the Raleigh area. I know the year off cost me financially but my health and attitude has done a complete about face. I was told sometimes you just have to “let go to get it”.

Again good luck,
Kent

PS: the company mentioned above miss-timed the firings and due to the lack of expertise the project failed costing it thousands of dollars.