Rag dolls

We left-behinds are tossed about like rag dolls....

"Go work for him. No, wait! Go work for her. No, on second thought, pack up your stuff again (but don't hurt your back when you move your boxes, so be sure to bend your knees) and move over there and work for them."


Q. What is my job?
A. We don't know. Just do something till we tell you to stop and do something else.

Q. Who is my boss?
A. That has yet to be determined. For now, just take direction from anyone who approaches you in your cubicle.

Q. Will I make the same salary?
A. Oh, now that's a good question. We are reevaluating compensation structure, cutting base pay, eliminating incentive pay and merit increases, slashing benefits and pensions, and will probably end up asking you to pay US for the privilege of working here. So just wait to see what's in your next paycheck -- if you get one. Payroll people have been laid off, so there will be some glitches.

Q. How can I function?
A. Just be glad you have a job.

Good tidings?

Housing starts up 22% in February.

Durable goods orders increased 3.4 percent in February, and purchases of new homes jumped 4.7 percent.

Stock market has rallied and surged 21 percent since hitting 12-year lows.

Could this mean we had finally hit bottom?

Mini trips

I just finished a Skype video call with my future husband, who's all the way across the country right now, visiting friends. I was supposed to be with him on this mini-trip, but I didn't go because I was too afraid of leaving work when everyone is being laid off. (Now's not the time to be gone on mini-trips.)

Then I got to thinking, after we all blew kisses and "wish-we-were-together"s at each other -- what's the point? Why didn't I go? What difference would it have made if I were here or not? If they're going to get to my name on the layoff spreadsheet, they will if I'm on a mini-trip or not. And out of fear I missed a few irreplaceable days with the man I love, and some wonderful people who love us.

I've spent far too many years picking work over the people I love, despite my best efforts not to. And was it out of ambition? Loyalty? Passion for what I do? No. None of the above. It was out of fear. Fear of losing my livelihood. Fear of ending up living in squallor. And worst of all, fear of being dependent on someone else.

My future husband lives in another city, so we do a lot of Skype calling. We'll keep doing it, because we both have to hang on to some sort of livelihood.

Moving on

So I spent a rainy Sunday working on a laid-off colleague's resume. It felt good to do something positive for somebody, to help her think about the future and moving on. It's still incredibly difficult for people who've spent so much of their careers and lives devoted to one company to even conceive of working somewhere else. "We thought we'd be here always. We thought it would be here for us."

But wow -- you should see her credentials. Her experience! Her accomplishments! Until I put her through a grueling exercise to really think about what she had to offer, she didn't understand it thoroughly herself. Maybe this is a first step for her.

I can't find her a job. But maybe I helped give her a powerful new tool for her toolbox: confidence.

Great NYTimes article: how to help a laid-off friend

This is great.

NYTimes March 21

Another bloggee

Don't even know if that's a word, but what the hell.

Give morehansanity your support, huh? Link off to the left.

It's a beautiful spring day where I am. I shrugged all this off and headed to the woods ... crunched through the winter-beaten leaves and listened to the quiet vibration of life lingering just below the surface.

An overheard conversation

"His wife is the ladder-climber, ya know. He's the one who just tags along for the ride. Hee hee. He'll have 30 years in, and nobody will've even noticed."