Well, I’ve been hating the workplace for awhile now, so it’s not like I’m heartbroken or anything. Dare I have hope that being laid off will turn out to be a good thing? I don’t know. I don’t really care about anything right now.
I had my suspicions something was up. They’re forcing my immediate supervisor to retire at the end of the month. I just thought perhaps they’d wait to swing the axe until after the holidays. No such luck.
I’ll be able to keep up my standard of living for…oh, I’d saaayy…three months or so. After that, who knows. I’ve never had difficulty getting a job before. Two or three interviews and zap! I’d be hired. But I’m not a spring chicken anymore, and this economy… Well, let’s not get depressed before I’ve even begun to look.
And speaking of depression, I’m hoping Cobra payments aren’t too onerous for me to make sure I can keep my supply of magic happy pills (Cymbalta). I don’t even know how Cobra works. I’ve never been on it. Plus applying for unemployment. There’s a new adventure to look forward to.
And so I bid farewell to twelve years of laboring for the pinheads who tossed me out today. I suppose I should be grateful they thought enough of me to give me severence pay. They didn’t have to, as I understand it. Thank you, kind pinheads. Of course, if you hadn’t been pinheads, you wouldn’t have overreached yourselves on those loser projects down in Florida, and I’d still have a job.
Job searching has changed so much in the last twelve years, I don’t even know if I’ll be doing it right.
Don’t feel that way! You will bounce right back. I wish I could promise you that, but I know how you feel. I didn’t get layed off, but when I transitioned from student to non-student, the university was going through budget cuts and entered a hiring freeze. To go to Benefit eligible employee from student employee required a hiring process of sorts, or at least was covered in the hiring freeze. I was given a temporary position for 6 months, at which point we moved out of state. Either way it was a layoff of sorts.
I don’t know if it makes you feel better or not, but while it might be hard at an older age (even if it is illegal to discriminate based on age AFAIK), at least you have experience. That is hardly obsolete.
You and me both. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.
My dad was laid off not very long ago too. It took him a long time to find a job, because yeah, it can be tough for older jobseekers. But when you find an employer that wants you, they’ll really want you. Your experience will be invaluable. Best of luck.
Cobra’s not super evil, but it is annoying. You’ll pay for both your portion of your monthly insurance plus the fraction your employer was covering. Most employers cover half of your monthly bill, so without your employer, your bill will double. A pain, but usually manageable.
What you need to watch for is the possibility of your employer going under completely. The Husband’s former boss did. So, long after he left the company, we got a note from Cobra saying that his medical coverage had been retroactively canceled by three months, which was the last time his former employer had kept up on benefits payments. The reason Cobra can keep you on your insurance at a given rate is that it considers you part of the group plan you originally signed up on, even when you’re physically and socially separated from the group. So, when the boss failed to make payments, the group plan was dead and our coverage went with it.
So, Cobra is ok for a bit, but find a way out of it soon.
Your shrink probably gets a ton of free samples of Cymbalta from the company, and he/she might be willing to dole some of those out to you if you explain your situation.
If you end up not taking COBRA, call around to price your meds. Prescription pricing is actually competitive, even within a single chain. When I was without insurance, I found Walgreen’s to be the most expensive, followed by Target. I ended up getting the best price at a small, independent pharmacy. While pricing Chantix (which isn’t covered by the insurance I now have) I found my locally owned grocery store chain was the cheapest.
Also second talking to your doctor and seeing if they have samples.
You should get information from your employer about COBRA. Involuntary terminations are subject to a special bill right now that will reduce the cost. In my case (I recently voluntarily left a job), they told me that if I had been fired, the government would cover 80% of the cost of COBRA premiums for a set amount of time. This would have been less than what I was actually paying while employed (50%).
They are required by law to give you COBRA information, so make sure to review it.
Cobra cost me about $1000/month after I had been paying around $280/month for the same insurance (yeah, I worked for a pretty good company). It was a stretch, but not keeping it was not an option since I came down with Ramsey Hunt or Bell’s Palsy or some damn thing one week after I quit my job.
Thank god we had just sold our house; every bit of the profit went for health insurance.
Hope the company doesn’t go away. Mine did in 2002 and so no COBRA for me. After being declined for private insurance by every company licensed in the state, we gave up and just moved overseas. Now we have cheaper private insurance, a lower cost of living and lower taxes.
Of course, I can’t visit the USA without going insurance-less since our policy is valid everywhere in the world except the USA.
I am so sorry to hear this. I’ve been laid off since May and it really is tough finding a job. I’m a mature woman, no college, and there’s just not much out there.
Best of luck to you. May you find the perfect job quickly.
