I told my boss to fire me today.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

…half jokingly.

Like just about everywhere else, our company has done several rounds of layoffs. We’ve gone from 42 people at our peak (in our little division) to 20.

I’m closing on a condo in about a month. If I lose this job - well, that will be trouble. So today I told my boss.

“Look - if you start hearing from above that more need to go and that I’m on the list - for pete’s sake, find a reason and fire me BEFORE I close on the condo. Then I can simply back out and lose only the earnest money.”

He laughed. I did too. But I meant it. Damn, I hate these rolling layoffs.

2

I too am thinking of buying a place; that’s why I went and had a very frank conversation with my boss in which I told her one thing and asked her two questions. I told her I was thinking of buying a house. I asked her: (1) Is my performance meeting your expectations, such that all things being equal I can count on continued employment for performance-based reasons? (I have only worked for this company since last August.) (2) Is the company doing well enough, such that I can count on continued employment for economic/company health reasons? I felt pretty sure of both answers (mine is, fortunately, a fairly recession-proof industry and I’m pretty good at guaging my own performance), but if the answer to either question had been “Well, no,” I would have postponed my plans.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that buying a condo when my company was experiencing rolling layoffs would be far too much of a gamble for me.

3

There are a few factors:

  1. I’m buying this condo from one of my bosses. My business manager.

  2. I’m getting a really, really good deal. Like $55k less than what he paid back in 2004.

  3. Said business manager has told me and my direct boss - "look, you’re both highly valuable because you’re so close to the commercial end of things. You do R&D, but you also do technical support, sales, and production support. I think your jobs are safer than mine.

That said - yeah, I’m pushing all in on a marginal hand. Worst case - I buy the place and then immediately get laid off - well, I hope my parents can keep me afloat.