Laid off and dumped in 7 days

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

One week ago today (last Wednesday), I woke up, and went in to work. It was a day like any other at the ever-struggling 3DO company, where I had been gainfully employed my entire adult life. I started work there May 31, 1995, right out of college. That’s 7 years and 363 days of employment, in an industry (video game development) where average employment tenure is less than 2 years. At around 4:00, a company meeting is called. And the company is filing for bankruptcy. Do not pass go. Do not receive your past 10 days worth of pay. Do not have access to your PC any more. Goodbye.

So I’m unemployed, for the first time ever. I’m on unemployment insurance! Woo-hoo! Being a liberal for all these years is finally paying off!

(To be honest, I’m in fine shape, financially. And I have many many contacts and leads for getting a new job. So I’m just going to take a couple of weeks off and then hopefully find a new job relatively quickly. But it’s still a big shakeup, emotionally.)
Fortunately, I had one thing to salve my wounds, namely, my burgeoning email romance with a lovely young Doperette, who will remain anonymous, from southern California. We’d been emailing for almost 6 months, and our email conversations had been incredibly intense and wonderful. As an example, here’s parts of an email she sent me in late April:

I mean, that’s some pretty intense stuff. And it makes a man feel good to get an email like that, let alone many over an extended period of time.

We had reservations to meet IRL for the first time this coming weekend. (Rather expensive reservations, I might point out, although that’s neither here nor there).

And today I get an email from her saying that she’s still in love with her old boyfriend and she can’t continue things with me.

Sigh.
Deep sigh.

I knew that chick was trouble the moment she admitted she had never seen either Lord of the Rings movie. I mean, in this day and age, that’s just not right…

2

Damn buddy. I normally don’t drink, but I’d take you to get totally 'faced if you lived around me. I feel for ya.

3

That’s a cryin shame MaxTheVool… I’m feelin for ya out here. Keep your head up though, I think you’ll be on your feet in no time. You’ve at least kept your sense of humor, which is apparently far more important than anything else you’ve lost in this thread. :wink:

4

Hey Max. Sorry to hear of your woes.

I agree with Sqube. With your sense of humor intact, you’ll find a good job and a fast woman (or is that a fast job and a good woman?) in short order.

Just recently in another thread someone said that every single time they’ve been laid off, they have been able to improve their career so go get 'em, tiger.

[sub]Mebbe if you wear that Straight Dope t-shirt you got for Christmas, you’ll impress the employers and wimmen even more! :D[/sub]

5

Go see a Stanford baseball game. They’re playing a Southern California team, so the series could serve as a kind of metaphorical thing. And they have nachos!

6

I’m really sorry Max, but I’m certain you’ll overcome all of this and move onto better things. For what it’s worth, I bought a 3DO multiplayer back in the day. It was a pretty cool system for its time. Is Trip Hawkins still with 3DO?

7

Max, I’m lonely and in need of male companionship; you sound lonely and in need of female companionship. How about we try to make each other feel less lonely for a while? (You do know I’m female, right?) Yes I’ve seen the first Lord of the Rings movie; more to the point, I’ve read the books and can tell Boromir from Faramir.

Be well, and good luck,
CJ
(formerly cjhoworth)

8

Max, so sorry to hear things have gone bad recently. But with an offer like that from the lovely Siege, things are sure to look up soon!

9

That rots, Max; I’m sorry for your sucky luck. Why is it that when it rains, it pours? Somehow I think things will pick up soon for you, and you’ll be better off then you were before!

10

Max, I’m sorry! :frowning: I bet there’s someone out there, like seige, who has appreciation for Lord of the Rings, and you will be :slight_smile: again.

11

Well, I did my part by buying Might & Magic 1, 2, and 6-9, for what it’s worth.

Good luck to you–seeing the response you got from your voicemail, there have to be some Doper ladies who are intrigued…

12

Max, I recommend the following steps:

  1. Buy a bottle of your favorite liquor.

  2. Get totally shitfaced.

Not that it’ll help or anything, but I’m not really know for the quality of my advice anyway. I feel for you man. Good luck on your future job hunt.

As for the thing with the lady, what were you thinking? No LOTR attendance? That relationship was headed no where fast. :stuck_out_tongue:

13

It sucks in general - you don’t want those things to happen to anybody.

It sucks even more in specific - I am sorry you are going through this.

Sounds like you have very marketable skills. Go through whatever mourning you need to, then pick youself up and soldier on. (yeah, I know, screw the pep talk - go have a drink, okay?)

Best of luck.

14

I saw this coming ever since the cryptogram puzzle in Might & Magic 2.

Best of luck to you, Max.

15

Dude. Roadtrip.

16

Max, that’s really hard. You have my sympathies - I’ve been through the layoff wringer too, and it’s no fun.

I’m also sorry to hear about 3DO - that’s one of my favorite suppliers, er, companies. I’m a big fan of all the Might and Magic and Heroes of MM series games (yes, we bought all of them, some of them more than once, so we’ve been trying to do our best).

Best wishes to you, and I hope things turn around on both fronts.

17

I second the road trip recommendation.

For what it’s worth.

18

Wow. Your ex sounds a lot like my ex, the former Most Wonderful Man In The World - he took me out for dinner on my birthday, promised to love me forever, and four days later informed me that I had less than a week to move out. Then gave me all this crap about how if I didn’t have dependency issues I wouldn’t have gone back to my parents’ house. HELLO, where was I supposed to go on that short notice? This was one week before Christmas, 2001. We were supposed to go to his brother’s house for Christmas dinner, when we planned to talk to bro about using bro’s enormous backyard for wedding the following summer. Were it not for the fact that we both saw the first LOTR together and he’s presumably seen the second, I’d wonder if he’d had an operation and moved to SoCal since we last saw each other. (There were things about him that made me wonder…) At the same time my b*tchy former boss was trying to make me be the 3rd person she pushed out of our department since she took over the year before. Worked eventually. But - what Ruby said, even though I’m temping now, I’m up for a much better paying job that I’m about 95% sure I’m going to get. And going through psycho roommate issues (as elaborated in another thread). But what the hell, there’s this cute guy from New Zealand who sends me dirty pictures, so I must be doing something right.

Hang in there. Toss back a few - or I’ll toss back a few for ya, I’ve got a bottle of really good tequila at home - and hey, as long as you’re taking a couple of weeks off anyway, I think the road trip idea sounds pretty good. I went to Atlantic City with a few girlfriends around what would have been the 3rd anniversary of our first date, and while Atlantic City is pretty much a toilet, it helped me make a few decisions about where I was headed when we got back.

19

Sorry for your crappy luck, but I would offer one suggestion: Keep private emails private.

20

Hmmm… let’s see, I could:

(a) Respond thoughtfully and graciously to the many fine suggestions you wonderful folk have sent me

or

(b) send a flirtatious email to siege.

Gee. That’s a poser :slight_smile: