What do you do when an otherwise great boss blindsides you with the news that you are no longer an employee of his? Well I don’t know what others have done but me, I took the strong, silent route. Seriously. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather and I was sitting down when he told me. I don’t recall the exact words he used, but the tone of it was along the lines of, “Well you’ve been great to work with but you don’t have that much experience and well, we need someone who can take initiative here. So let’s just consider this your last day. Oh by the way, you owe me money for that dental cleaning you did on your own cat so we’ll just take it out of your last check.”

Let me backtrack a few steps: I’m a licensed Veterinary Technician who graduated in 2009. I got not one, but two new jobs at the same time. One was for my local humane society which, unfortunately did not have an opening for a vet tech. So I took an adoption counselor job, which I still have so obviously I’m doing something right. The other was a vet tech (part-time) at a small, and I mean hole-in-the-wall, vet clinic. It was a bit overwhelming between both jobs, learning new skills at two different positions. It’s tough enough starting one new job, let alone two.

I should’ve known it was going to be all kinds of bad at my vet tech job. When I first started I was told I’d only be given 3 days of training. I was given six WEEKS at the humane society, and that was only for a crappy adoption counselor job. Is there something wrong with this picture? About six weeks into my vet tech position I was pulled into the office by the doctor. He explained that he wanted to see me take more initiative. Apparently I had not been vocal enough about my desire to be trained and he wanted to see me just “jump right in”, as he put it. Never mind that this was my very first tech job and he and his employees weren’t exactly falling all over themselves trying to get me practical experience.

Fast forward five and a half months. I’d been slowly getting into the groove, trying to carve a niche for myself as a useful (albeit inexperienced) technician. I’d gotten used to the routine and though I still needed practice with a lot of things, I felt that over time I would get it bit by bit. Not so fast! One Friday afternoon (note that you should not let go employees on a Friday, when they now have all weekend to do nothing but scheme about ways to exact their revenge), I was called upstairs by the doctor. Uh-oh; by now I’ve learned it’s never a good sign that the doctor wants to speak privately. Guess I was right. I sat there as he told me I was being dismissed, hardly able to keep myself from bursting into tears. The only thing I could do was to agree with everything he said. He was right after all: I did need more training (and if his staff had been willing to do it we wouldn’t have needed to have that discussion). All I could think about as I left that day was the mountain of bills I’d been slowly chipping away at over the past few months, and how I’d surely be maxing out all my available avenues of credit yet again. Luckily I was still employed at the humane society so I had a bit of a safety net there.

Fast forward about a year. Right around the beginning of the summer I ran into one of my former workmates, a highly trained, experienced technician who, you guessed it, was let go from the same place I was. She informed me that as soon as I left, I was replaced with a person who knew the good doctor. How’s that for favoritism?

Fast forward (I know, AGAIN?) another two months and lo and behold, I meet the girl who took my job. WOW. How’s that for fate? She showed up at the adoption shelter where I work and when I saw her place of employment listed on her application she was only too happy to talk about it. Of course she had no clue I was pumping her for information. Turns out she is the niece of the good doctor’s golf buddy. She graduated at exactly the same time I did and spent the first year afterward down at Disney World. That’s right: DISNEY WORLD. She interned (translation- worked for free) at the vet hospital in Animal Kingdom. Here’s the best part – they didn’t even let her do anything technician related. She got to be an assistant, that’s it. So she had no more technical experience than me. In fact, I even had MORE because I’d actually been working as a tech for six months.

I guess now I don’t feel so bad but I still managed to lose out because after all, I am the one who got canned.

This post was submitted by Jenn.

This isn’t about being laid off so much as to leaving with style!

I worked as an art director for a very small 4-person advertising agency. My boss, the owner, had many personal issues – His short stature, Huge ego, raging coke addiction, wife who we nicknamed Maris (from Frasier TV show). She was never seen in the office, but always commented to our boss/troll on our work/ideas.

This was a horrible gig, but a good stepping stone as I was able to create some good work. We were housed in a industrial complex in a desert city in Southern California and while the front office looked great (we marketed real estate and Maris was a “interior designer”) the studio was in the back, with poor AC, and a industrial heater that could remove hair at 10 feet.

After a 2-3 weeks of daily post-its from Maris trying to tweak my designs (and always changing her mind) I’d had enough. The coked-out troll didn’t that the balls to make the final decision and Maris avoided day-light and human interaction so I was forced to deal with her via plethora of festive colored post-its, or a phone message that always started with her nasal exhaling from a cigarette and the words – “Markie, darling”. Just typing that makes my sphincter tighten. Anyways, I digress.

I was soon hired by our #1 competitor and when I gave two weeks notice, he countered he wanted me gone as soon as I finished my last project which was due July 3rd. He & Maris were going to a chi-chi spa (I’m betting a swingers thing) the next week so he was shutting the office down after the 4th and for the next week (unpaid for the staff – thanks boss!).

I decided on the 3rd to come in early to clean my desk out and I bought a nice big fish at the 24-hour supermarket on my way in. Before anyone arrived, I placed “Bert the bass” in a aluminium roasting pan and placed him above the false ceiling in the troll’s office.
I’m sure when they all arrived back after 12 days, that it smelled like that job did.

This post was submitted by Markie.

2012 looks to be a year with new beginnings as it already begins with one big end. I think everyone that gets laid off rests in a fuzzy “did that really happen” state of mind for a while after they get the ax. That’s certainly how I feel after being laid off just 2 days after my 2 year anniversary with my company. I also think everyone who gets hit in this position will be asking themselves the question to which they may never get the answer – “Why me?”

My first response after embarrassingly being escorted out the building was a strange state of acceptance. But as that day kept going I kept getting what could only be described as an instant pop bubble appear over my head that read, “You don’t have a job anymore.” Now, as the weekend comes to an end and I begin to realize I have nothing to wake up to on Monday. I remain very upset with the situation, as well anyone in this situation should be.

The marketing company I worked for gave me a few wonderful experiences I am grateful for which only makes the lay-off that much worse. After everything I’ve done, after all that’s been set up for me in the future… this is how it ends? This past summer I actually volunteered to work overseas for 3 months in a new client services role, different from my role back here in the states. The experience was amazing. The exposure within the company was overwhelming and I’ll always remember that amazing time I had.

When I returned I was placed back into my previous position but with the work my superiors were pleased I accomplished they had their eyes on me for something bigger once the moment came available. I was eventually approached about a special projects role I’d be filling when the time came but in the meantime my original role remained.

Month after month passed. No change. I’d ask, “Any updates on the new team getting started?” “No updates yet,” my future boss would say. As time went on I became a little humiliated each time my peers would ask me, “So when are they moving you over to something else?” Everyone expected me to move on from my original department and clearly noticed how nothing was changing. I remained content because some role is better than no role at all.

Then comes a Friday like any other. My future boss calls me as soon as I sit at my desk. As I walked upstairs I wondered if the time had finally come where I’d be deployed off to a special assignment. “Have a seat. We’re just waiting for ______ ,” he said. That’s where I got scared. This person worked in HR and could only mean Death was about to come walking in.

“The company is reducing staff right now and you’re position is being eliminated.”

“Okay?” I mean, what else could I really say?

All of the paperwork was then handed to me. The letter from the president, the separation agreement and a lot of other copy that you really wish you’d never have to see. I asked if I could sit somewhere and actually read it all since everything said to me was just mush due to my head saying a hundred things to myself. Cut back to me being escorted out of the building – As I said goodbye to my would’ve-been boss we shake hands and say our goodbyes. I saw in his eyes he genuinely felt bad about having to do this but either way the damage was done.

What ultimately sucks is trying to figure out the “why me?” answer on your own. In my case, the only explanation was since I was in a transitional role into a position that would inevitably be eliminated in a time of crisis they did away with it. It didn’t matter who filled that role at the time. I was placed in a role that would further my career only to fall victim to that role being eliminated. The infuriating fact of this problem is I didn’t ask to be placed in this transitional role. I could’ve easily been told due to the staff reduction we’re killing the new role and will be in my original/current position for the indefinite future. But did it matter? No. The damage was done therefore any bargaining was unnecessary. The department I was in had 3 new employees that were still in their 90 probation period. But what do they do? Get rid of the person that travelled to the other side of the world for them only to be done away with 5 months later. It’s not a question of laying off people that were less valuable than me but it is a question of me not having control of the fact that I was in a transitional role BECAUSE of them. If there were a term for this it would only be described as Corporate Entrapment – Being promoted to a role that did not yet exist but because it was expendable during hard times the person in said role is with whom they do away. Awesome.

I was looking forward to special projects, being deployed to other offices throughout the country to accomplish short-term missions. This wasn’t the deployment I was hoping for.

Just remember that after being laid off and you ask yourself “Why me?” you are rarely ever a name or a person. You are a position that a committee has decided they can do away with for the time being. And as much as that sucks the best thing you can do is take the experience you got while there and show it off elsewhere. Someone out there will see your value.

Because at this point, your career can only go uphill.

This post was submitted by Andy.

Ahhhh, my layoff. Our biggest client was a bank that was seized and auctioned off by the FDIC so my ad agency closed it’s LA office. I knew it was coming and sat in anxiety waiting for the day to come. I sent out resumes, networked, did everything I could to get out before axe fell. The economy was the economy…and nothing materialized. I was dejected, depressed and panicked.

Since my layoff, I’ve learned to look at this time as an opportunity…to volunteer, to become an eBay seller, to be an extra in a movie, to get on the ESPYs red carpet and to write an ebook. Recently published, “FUNemployed: Finding the Upside in the Downturn” offers tips and humorous stories to help the unemployed find a silver lining in a bleak situation. Reviewers call it witty and informative so I think I’ve found my new career. It can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, Diesel and Smashwords.

This post was submitted by Kerry.

When NBC and Comcast were merging we were told we had nothing to fear. As I write this I see the “you have nothing to worry about post” and nod in understanding.
The merger finally came and the day after the layoff’s happened. First it was the silent ones where all contractor’s were let go then it was the very public fel swoop mass layoff’s. That day they called us into a room and said “nothing to worry about” again while HR looked ominously on. “This was it”. Then the slow bleed began. One week it was someone in Marketing, the next in accounting and so on and so forth.

I went to speak with my HR person around this time and admitted I was worried this may happen to me. I’ve been trying to start my family with my new wife and we had just settled on a house losing my job was not something I took lightly. I also wanted to let them know I would do anything to stay as I loved it there. Every day I walked into work I was proud of the company i was helping grow. I (foolishly) saw myself continuing to work hard and stay for years. I also was not so unskilled that I couldn’t be moved around as my skills were of use across the company and within my dept. Sadly not soon after…my day came.

So here I am having to bear the guilt that my $40k salary was so demanding upon their bottom line for them to justify sending me into the worst job market since the depression. Poor Comcast can only just report a 5% increase in profit over last year (905 million dollars).

This post was submitted by Eric Davis.