Aaaaaarrghh!!!
Well. Today I got FIRED.
Not that there's ever a good time, but it's a particular bummer right now. Not to mention that in my line of work it's not unusual to need 8-12 months to find a new position.
So I'm feeling pretty skee-rood right now. It's too soon to panic - I'm still numb. And this, besides the fact that I had a sense it was coming.
Maybe it's time for me to find a new line of work. Sadly, the job as Shania's lingerie consultant isn't available. :?
So - in case anyone cares - after another week or two, I might be incommunicado for a while, or perhaps only occasionally if I can get my laptop and an internet connection in the same room.
Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
Not that there's ever a good time, but it's a particular bummer right now. Not to mention that in my line of work it's not unusual to need 8-12 months to find a new position.
So I'm feeling pretty skee-rood right now. It's too soon to panic - I'm still numb. And this, besides the fact that I had a sense it was coming.
Maybe it's time for me to find a new line of work. Sadly, the job as Shania's lingerie consultant isn't available. :?
So - in case anyone cares - after another week or two, I might be incommunicado for a while, or perhaps only occasionally if I can get my laptop and an internet connection in the same room.
Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
Comments
That's musician talk!) lands on their feet! Eventually. I hope!
If it is any consolation. The airport and bus terminals have hot spots so you may be able to get an internet connection at them places, if you choose to crash there! :P That's what I do! :shock:
Sorry to hear the news Shredd. I wish you luck, and pray you will find something soon.
Maybe now is an opportunity to make that career change as you say. Remember, it is the skills you can use that make you employable - don't be fooled by thinking you can't put those skills into a different job context. I deal with lots of people who think like that sadly. It could also be an opportunity to better yourself in terms of education or training maybe. I have gone through the same situation myself and had to make the same hard decisions. So I decided to study a degree by correspondance while I was working (was a hard slog!) and once I completed that, I decided to study another degree in something kinda related to my first one - but more importantly gave me much more scope career-wise. I specifically chose a career that had security - I just decided I had to be much smarter about things in my life and give myself opportunities, not be at the receiving end of bad luck for a change! And you don't have to be young to do these things either Shredd. There are lots of older people studying/training. In fact, when someone is older they do better in their studies anyhow because they are more committed. You're never too old to learn!
Anyhow Shredd, be positive about your situation, use it as an opportunity to better yourself and get yourself skilled up so that it doesn't happen again
One door closes, another opens.
Getting canned is among the worst feelings though...total emotional shakeup. Makes one realize how comfortable we allow ourselves to become in what we think are \"solid\" routines. Nothing is guaranteed, do what you love in the moment and you will find happiness and have no regrets. You are an awesome individual, never give up!
Sometimes these things take a bit of time...the important thing is not to lose faith...hang in there.
Dobb.
I believe that nothing happens without a cause, so, perhaps something better is on the way.
Good luck man, and keep us posted.
Well, at least there's ONE guy who I know isn't sleeping with her instead of me...
Anyway. Guys, thanks one n all for your encouraging words and support.
I'm really in sweaty panic mode right now; this only happened yesterday, and I'm feeling very not up to dealing with it. I've been unemployed exactly twice in the last 20 years, both times fairly short term, both times with something to move on to coming up fairly quickly.
This time I'm simultaneously unemployed and homeless (my housing came with the job), and by the nature of where I live, I'm being forced to relocate...and of course find a new place to live, find some kind of job to keep the cash flow going while I get it together...
And this all has to happen in the next 2 weeks. :shock:
So, not surprisingly, I'm pretty shell-shocked. And without Shania to frolic in my hot tub and raise my spirits, I'm pretty tense about it.
And yet all I can think about is finding a way to keep my dog with me; if I have to give him up it's really going to put me over the edge. :?
Thanks again for the good vibes. I'm sure I'll look back at this with much less anxiety, but right now I'm in major sweaty-mode...
I also don't like the subconcious/karmic concept of planning the end as soon as I begin. This might be a sound idea in the work world, but I have a hard time embracing it.
So I guess I'm bound to deal with the inter-job up n downs. I'm just not very good at making decisions or taking action under great pressure, so I'm a little sweaty about it... :shock:
I was a consultant for 5+ years, and my wife hated it. She hated that I might be out of a job for a couple of months at a time. So, to appease her, I took a full-time position for a well known law paper. It took me about 6 months to get over the fact that I was making much less money (about 45% less :shock: ) than I would as a consultant, but I kept hearing that they paid my benefits, etc. So, I swallowed my pride and learned to live with living paycheck to paycheck.
A little less than 1 year, the was a wonderful surprise. The brought the entire programming department into a meeting and fired us all on the spot. No severance pay, nothing. We were told that today was our last day, do not report tomorrow. I actually had to get special permission to come back the next day to get my stuff. There was no way I could carry all my technical books, etc., on the bus.
Did I mention that it was 2 weeks before we were all entitled to IPO shares?
I went home and told my wife the wonderful news. She was devastated. I've told her many times over that as a consultant, I work on contracts. The contract is binding for both parties. If I want to leave an assignment, I must give between 2 weeks to a month's notice (depending on the negotiated time). By the same token, they have to give me the same amount of notice.
So, working FT may sound great at first glance, but if you do the math, you realize that consulting has it benefits also. You make an average of 40% more than FT employees working along side of you. You have your own corporation (if working on a corp-to-corp basis). This entitles you many tax writeoffs that FT employees don't get. You also can pay double into your retirement: both as an employee and a matched amount as the employer.
I'm not against working FT. But there are benefits to both worlds.
If it's so hard to find a job in your line of work, maybe you should try it. There are also try/buy contracts, where you start as a consultant, and if they like you, they hire you.
Do we have a wrongful terminiation issue here as well? That is one of the fastest growing and jury friendly areas of law today.
Anyway, keep your chin up, you're a smart guy...you'll find something soon.
JV
On the landlord issue - the housing is contingent on the employment, and also involves no lease, contract, nothing written.
So I'm just trying to keep my chin up and be hopeful and try to make some good decisions about what to do next. I'm still pretty dazed and unsure what to do now. :shock:
serve you to talk to a lawyer as you may have legal rights regarding your living situation. Might buy you enough time to get something else together.
It varies in different states. You could also make them evict you which would at least give you some time. At any rate I would milk it for all you can.
Yah, that seems to be the consensus - try to put some stumbling blocks in the way of my employers to try to keep from losing my housing on such short notice.
But I really don't have a leg to stand on, from a legal point of view. No contract, no lease, nothing like that. I have, in reality, no rights at all. The only objection I could raise to losing my housing is a moral one, and my employers couldn't care less about that.
The good news is I have about 3 weeks - till mid-May - to get going. That still seems like soon, but I plan to have my plans made in the next week or so, and carry them out in the next week or two after that.
I may not be able to stay where I am - cost of living here is ridiculously high. So I may be relocating, which I'm REALLY not looking forward to.
I really liked the idea that I can take advantage of this time to do things I can't do when I have a job; the only thing limiting me is my new dog, who I couldn't bear to give up, and am reluctant to leave anywhere for any length of time. He's still a baby.
So...no plan yet. Still waiting for Shania to call and bail me out... 8)
I played guitar in my living room for 30+ years. When I lost my last job, I ended up meeting new people, got involved with some muscians, and before I knew it I was in two differnt bands. One band is still going after 2 years. At my age, I thought that train had left the station. So it sucks to lose a job and a good pay check, but I have had more fun these past couple of years than ever before (although I'm pretty much broke while \"retraining\" at school). All in all, I expect to come out better for the loss. If nothing else, I am many times the musician I was two years ago.
I'd love to think that I might end up in a situation where I can find new people to play with. But to be honest, I'm a little more worried about a roof overhead, and so on...I don't have much of a safety net. No wife to help pull me through, no backup plans, and hopefully enough money stashed to get by until I get something new going. That's why I'm so panicked.
I'm sorry to hear your on a downer, losing a job is no fun at all.
I really hope you get yourself sorted soon and life picks up.
Paul
I'm SO STRESSED. I have less than three weeks to clear out of my housing, and the search for a place to stay is not going well. At issue is my dog, who I just adore; it would kill me to give him up. But about 96% of places of I've looked at are \"no pets\" or \"no dogs\" or \"dog OK, $10,000 deposit required\". :evil:
This is on top of the usual issues - like what do I do with my guitars and other such equipment? This kind of stuff, especially guitars, can't just sit in a storage unit; the temperature variations are very bad for them, often damaging.
I'm working on this issue every day; as my deadline nears, finding housing is my priority; I'll deal with the employment problem after.
But I don't know how to make it all work...put my stuff in storage, live \"light\", just me n my dog n some clothes? Do I relocate somewhere temporarily, in preparation to make some big decisions for longer-term? I just don't know.
Like I've mentioned, I feel very unable to handle all this, and it's just freaking me out. I'd much rather stay cool and work it out, but when I think about having to give up my dog or my prized Ibanez sitting in some storage unit ranging from 33 degrees to 96... :shock:
I don't know either shredd. I don't know what work your thinking of, or where you might think you can get it. So can't comment if you should 'relocate' . Alot of places say no kids too. Would you give up your kids jus' cuz it was hard to find a place that allowed kids?
I know there are storage facilities that offer climate controlled lockers. How common or how much more they are I don't know!
I use to have no worries! LoL Now I live in the inner city in an ever changing demograph, a move in the future is imminent, I did however keep my animals. no way would they go. In my world commitment and responsibilty mean something. Then again so did friendship and trust! <---- those last two put me where I am today! :oops: Stabbed in the back and broke! LoL Hang in there shredd how long you think it will take to get the income you desire should affect the level of rent you should be looking for.imo... I know it is freaky.. but calm down. take a step back. And think it out. Go find Jim and talk it out, relax, he's a good listener the first night. 8) Stay with him any longer than that he may cause you some trouble! :shock: So take it easy and vent all you need! heck for all we know the swine flu might take us all out! :twisted:
So my next contingency is to move to a somewhat larger town near here, which is still way less than 20K people and still in the middle of nowhere...gawd forbid I go live anywhere I might bump into Shania... :P
After that, I considered living in a small city in western CO; low rents, probably some kind of work to keep the cash flow going, a place to lay low while I see what comes together and what to do in life from now on.
Another option is to pack up my stuff and put it in storage (climate controlled if possible, though it's harder to find and usually quite a bit more expensive) and rove around a bit, go visit some people, see some places, have some experiences. This plan sounds like fun, but is constrained by having a dog to take with me and the expense (though this would be balanced off by not \"living\" somewhere...but that's a stretch, considering my dog. I don't know how well I could take care of him with nowhere to live.)
So...you can see the dilemma. Lots of big choices to make, very little time, lots of pressure. If I thought it would help, I'd be hangin' with Jim. But the day's gonna come regardless, and Jim ain't gonna help come deadline day...
BTW, you have my sympathies...I'm a little shocked that you got screwed by trusted friends into being broke. I hope it washes out for you.
errr...what I mean is that I'm not close with my family, which is spread out all over, and I have few friends who I could both ask and trust with my personal belongings or musical gear. This is one of the things creating panic in my current situation.
As far as my dog - I can only think of a couple of people I could let him stay with, but he's only six months old and I think it would be bad for him to have me disappear for weeks or longer. He's a real treasure and I adore him and I can't bear the thought of doing something I think would be bad for him.
You've made some really smart moves, especially the buying the house thing. Sounds like you've planned and executed well. 8) Keeping your employment and financial status's separate is very wise.
Myself...I've saved and invested very aggressively for the last 8 or 10 years, so I'm finally building up a \"nest egg\". But it came at a cost - my \"liquid\" savings are modest, although enough to carry me a short while, and I don't own a home, which would make this whole episode a lot easier to take.
This is why this is all such a panic. This has been a real eye-opener...chances are I'll find a way to have some sort of backup plan in place, in case something like this happens again.
When I mentioned travel, I meant just put all my belongings in storage and roam...go visit people and places and have some fun experiences.
But that would mean finding a place to safely keep a lot of $'s worth of musical gear (including instruments) and finding a home for my dog, who can't travel like that.
But I reallllly don't want to give him up. He wouldn't get put down - he's a purebred and I know people who would gladly give him a home - but I adore him and it'd really hurt to give him up. He's my only real friend, one that I can count on anyway.
Really sorry to hear about that. I was laid off back in December(oh yah, Merry Christmas to me) so I definitely feel your pain.
Could be an opportunity to change careers(if didnt like the last one). I myself am probably going to move to Florida where my son is going to be going to college(ahhh sunshine again). I have just begun the job search there--nothin' yet.
I truly beleive that everything happens for a reason. The last job I was fired from-I was devestated until I realized the next Job I got was alot more fun and had less back-stabbing going on.
I keep hearing that if your laid off you should look for somehthing in the field you love. I'm not sure what I qualify for in music business(so far I think its selling CD's at music store), but maybe you can look for something in that field. I told my wife I wouldn't mind being a roadie for some famous band--she gave me that \"yah right\" look. I knew a friend that knew a friend that was a roadie for Kiss and made about $30,000/yr back in 90's. After really thinkin about, Prob too much physical work for me.
It seems, as of now, when somebody does call me for a job oportunity I'm making more with unemployment than what they want to pay me. So its a no brainer there, but UE will run out--so I keep on trukin with the job hunting.
Anyway, keep your head up, there is someting out there. Good luck to you, prayers are with you.