A few months ago, an airline pilot made a bad decision. As a result, last week I got laid off. I blame the insurance companies.
Let me explain.
If I was an airline pilot, I’d place a pretty high value on being able to see. Visibility being, of course, recommended in trying to land planes and such. And so, were I an airline pilot, I would think twice, even three times, about having my eyes tweaked with lasers. But this is, in fact, what a certain airline pilot decided to do; he went in for lasik surgery to correct some visual defect or other, because, I assume, glasses and/or contacts were becoming too tiresome.
As it turned out, it was unwise. The pilot emerged from the surgery with perfect 20/20 eyesight… in daylight. However, at night, any light sources he sees have pretty little haloes around them. Which, while entertaining, isn’t a quality that inspires confidence in his ability to land a jumbo jet. So, our pilot is a pilot no more. And, this being America, he sues.
The surgery was botched, not by a doctor, but by a lab technician. The technician got a measurement wrong while getting the pilot prepped for surgery. But the technician doesn’t make much money, so the technician doesn’t get sued. No, the person being sued is the doctor.
The doctor isn’t just one doctor; the doctor is part of a big conglomerate of doctors, banded together to defend themselves against lawyers. They pay malpractice insurance as a group. And so, when this doctor gets sued, his malpractice insurance covers it. All is well, right?
Not exactly. You know how, when you get into an accident, the insurance company jacks your rates up? Well, guess what the insurance company did? Yep. Malpractice insurance for this particular conglomerate of doctors went from a mere three million bucks a year, to fourteen million smackeroos. Which is, of course, way too much for the group of doctors to be able to afford. So, they found themselves needing to cut costs.
Which brings me into the story. I was hired two years ago, as the computer tech for a large department in the hospital. What I walked into was a mess; nobody knew what to do in the (frequent) event of computer trouble, nobody knew what equipment to buy or from whom, nobody had any idea how to use the systems to do their jobs. There were three different networks for the three organizations in the hospital, the department had users on all three of them, and nobody could get any tech support. Meanwhile, the previous tech guys were two students who took it upon themselves to install Age of Empires II on all the machines in the Accounting section and invite their buddies over for late-night LAN parties. I walked into an office that was filled with a nightmarish jumble of cannibalized remains of antiquated computers, no records, no licensing, and no clue where to start. Meanwhile, someone had sabotaged the server so that when it rebooted, it tried to delete all the files from the hard drive…
I caught that, kept it from happening, cleaned up the department, doubled the number of computers, got prompt technical support in place, hired a student, got the machines at least somewhat secured, implemented a new structure for information sharing within the department, established contacts in all the different IT departments around the hospital, established a reputation for solving problems in an efficient, professional, and friendly manner, and got laid off.
No money, you see. Even though, when it was contested, the airline pilot’s lawsuit was shot down, we still have to pay the malpractice premium, and they’ve got to cut the budget somewhere. So, since I don’t make any money for the department, I have to go. Never mind that a hundred computers won’t maintain themselves. Never mind that they’re not going to be able to find anyone nearly as qualified as I am at anywhere near my salary when they do have to replace me. Never mind that the department was complete chaos before I got there, and that was with half the number of computers. Never mind that I save them at least my paycheck, and probably double that, every week.
None of that matters. They have to cut somewhere, and I’m it. Of course, they’re cutting other people too, and resources and budgets. The head of the department, a world-famous cardiologist (famous to other cardiologists around the world, that is) has volunteered to call anyone interviewing me with a glowing recommendation. My supervisor is at a loss as to how the department will keep running. Everyone is completely happy with the job I’ve been doing, and now I have to go find another job. And, judging by the paper today, things don’t look so good in that regard.
My supervisor is reminding me that I can be called back; he’s reminding me of this in desperate-sounding tones, making me think it’s more wishful thinking than anything else. I’ve applied for another position in the hospital already, and I’m waiting on that. But I’ve never been laid off before, and I’m not sure how to deal with it. I’ve been noticing some massive mood swings lately, and I haven’t been sleeping well. My boyfriend is being supportive and sympathetic, so that’s the one good thing in my life right now. But I just don’t know what to make of all of this; it’s so random, so arbitrary, and seems so wrong.
Anyone else in this position? Any tips on what to do, how to handle it? Should I wait, take unemployment and see if I get recalled? Should I take a job that pays less, if it’s offered, and wait that way? Should I just give up and move to Uraguay?
I’m baffled. And I blame the insurance companies.
