I lost my job yesterday. Warning: contains pathetic whining.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Not many of you know me, but I’m feeling a little needy, so I’m throwing this out there. Respond as you wish: advice, tales of lay-off woe, tales of fab new jobs, tales of freelance work, even hugs. It’s all welcome.

I worked in educational publishing until yesterday.
The department in which I worked is taking a slightly different direction. I don’t fit in to their plans. Writing is being outsourced, so the department will consist of project managers and typesetters only. We had a highly individual house style, and I knew it very well and helped to shape it over the course of the three years I worked there. Knowledge of the house style isn’t so important any more, because new products are going to be further lines of practice exam papers and cheap books of class questions. Not much house style in there.

Maybe they’ll let me do some freelance work. Maybe they want to see the back of me for good. I’m going to call the department manager and ask him.

I wasn’t happy there anyway — I hadn’t been so for about 4 months. I wish I’d had the god damn ovaries to quit, instead of getting canned. I’d prefer to treat it as a resignation rather than as a dismissal - or perhaps ideally as a redundancy. The job that I was good at had changed into a job which I wasn’t so good at. I suppose one could interpret that as one’s job not existing anymore. As part of the settlement/comprimise process, I have to see a lawyer anyway to discuss my course of action.

I’ve been there for over 2 years, so I’m entitled to 3 months pay, which will amount to a little over £3000 net. I will continue to recieve royalty payments for the next 3 years, which should net me about £3000 a year, tailing off as my titles get replaced by newer ones. My partner still works at the same place. He works in Marketing, and his job is quite safe. I do want to get something soon, just in case the company does run into bad times. If he loses his job in the next 3-4 months, we could well be screwed. I need to check the terms of my mortgage payment protection. IIRC, it covers us for unemployment, but not for resigning, or for being sacked due to fault. That’s why I want to be able to claim redundancy.

We can pay the mortgage (£227 per month) and the bills, and I have enough money to continue my contribution to our joint account for several months. I won’t be able to save much/any money, or entertain thoughts of much discretionary spending (holidays, eating out, new shoes) until I get another job. I’m afraid I have to duck out of my patriotic duty to spend on the high street.
I don’t like having to lean on someone else, but that’s what life partners are for. Well, at least we’re still alive, and we have each other.

It’s the shame that hurts most. The shame of not having a job, the shame of losing a job because I’m too much of a creative and not enough of a business person. I can’t help feeling that it’s because I’m a stupid, irresponsible, childish loser.

I’m not an ‘anything’ any more. I was a ‘writer’ or an ‘editor’. Now I’m nothing. I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t know what I’m good at.

The economy of my region of England isn’t looking too clever, which doesn’t help. I hope we don’t have to move. There’s no way we can afford to live in the South East of England on the salary that a stupid twat like me would get, even if I found a job there.

2

Sad to hear this Tansu. Not being wanted doesn’t do much for the ego, even if your were unhappy in the job. Looks like you and your partner have some big decisions to make soon but in the short term:

There is no shame in being creative and intersting rather than some cynical money maker. Sadly education itself is heading the same way, with those who care about teaching and research playing second fiddle to suits who administrate or attend endless mneetings talking buisiness speak bollocks (bitter, Me?!);

get any old job to tide you over - looks better on the CV, whatever you do. If your finances can stand it part time is ideal since it gives you time to look around for <i>the</i> job, or investigate the idea of going freelance. I’m unhappy in my current job, but at least it’s secure. I’m planning on making the most of my time and their resources to update skills etc;

Hope you get a good deal out of the company. Sod 'em. It’s their loss. I realise this isn’t much comfort at the moment, losing your job is a bit of a body blow. I hope your prospects improve soon.

3

Aw, Tansu, you’re still a writer-- you’re just one looking for a job now.

Don’t worry about the economy not looking good. I’ve had the fantastic luck to grow up in an area where the economy was in the tank, then just as I moved to where it was booming, place A started to do well and my new home town got flushed economy-wise.

Being unemployed for this particular reason has nothing to do with you. You have skills, they can be used somewhere, you just gotta find a place where they match.

4

I hope you will find something even better, soon. Maybe you were meant to free-lance, and this can start you in that direction, and you can be your own boss. Good luck to you, ////Tansu\\.

5

We’re looking for a writer in Marketing and probably pay rather well. You’d have to move to the States, but that isn’t as bad as it could be. We could be in Iraq.

6

Thanks all.

Especially you, dropzone. You made me laugh. And you, Spider Woman. I’d always wondered what one of those eight legged hugs felt like.

On a positive note, it sounds like the publishing department would be really happy to give me freelance contracts.

7

I log on as soon as I get out of bed and put the ol’ espresso pot on the stove, so when I read the title of this thread I thought you said you 'd lost your dog.

Sorry to hear you lost your job. We had layoffs on Wednesday. “More than 10 and less than 20.” We have been getting e-mails from the VP telling us what a great job we’re all doing. We’re loading over 40 million lines of data per month, and have been for the past five consecutive months. Before that, we never loaded that many lines. Curious that at about the time we should be thinking about mid-year bonuses, and bouyed by the “attaboys” we’ve been getting, we suddenly are in a position that we have to lay off employees. We didn’t lose anyone in our department. (Well, there was one who works with Public Record data but not in our little group – and she spent most of her time chatting and then complaining about how there was too much work for her to finish it.) They layoffs came from the marketing depatment. Good news is that sales people can probably find jobs very quickly. Oddly, one guy who didn’t get laid off was the one I would have let go before either of the other two that I know personally. He must have his tongue down someone’s trousers. Marketing has five positions open, and I hope that the ones who were laid off can fill those.

I’m still hoping to either get a new job about 1,200 miles north of here, or to be laid off (with the not-too-bad layoff package). But I don’t want to be laid off until January.

There are many companies laying off people now, Tansu; but this is just temporary. The best of luck to you.

8

Could you explain what this means? I’ve heard the word used this way before, by other Brits, but I don’t really know what it means, at least in this context.

That sucks, Tansu. Hope something better turns up soon…

9

Lindyhopper Redundancy is the dismissal of an employee for the following reasons:

  1. The employer ends the business for which the employee is employed.
  2. The employer closes the workplace where the employee is employed.
  3. The need for that particular type of work to be done, either at that workplace or in the company as a whole becomes less.
    I won’t really know what option to take until I’ve spoken to a lawyer and found out what my rights are in each case.
10

Legally, why is redundancy the ideal option? What benefits does it confer?

Jeez, this is starting to sound like GQ.

11

If made redundant, one gets severance pay, known here as a redundancy settlement payment.

Also, the terms of my mortgage payment protection policy say that I’m covered for unemployment, but not for resigning or getting sacked (I suppose they mean getting sacked for poor performance, or for stealing toner or something).

I don’t know the full ins and outs of everything really.

12

Very sorry to hear it, Tansu. But please try to feel better about yourself and more optimistic about things. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of. You’re still a writer, you’re still creative, and you’re still wonderful and kick all butt. Things might suck now, but with a little time, they’ll be better. Really. You and your partner will be just fine.

The best of luck to you in finding a new job.