I’m 33 and this is a first for me.
Still a little numb. If it was just me I wouldn’t care much but there’s a wife and a toddler and house we just bought in August.
I’ve been going to law school at night. Finishing this semester put right at the halfway mark. One option would be to switch to full time and live on shudder student loans for the next year and a half.
Or hit the job market tomorrow and hopefully find something that still lets me go to night school.
December 20th though. Ouch.
Fuck. I’m so sorry.
That’s awful! Your boss must be all nerve and no heart.
Try to give yourself time to process this. Hug your family. Hug yourself.
I am sorry to hear your news. Sending supporting thoughts your way.
Ouch. What kind of an arsehole lays people off right before Christmas?
Chin up dude, as trite as it sounds it could be a lot worse.
Ah, I’m so sorry!
Thanks guys. Gave us time to go see Santa at the mall before the snow hit.
I’m sorry to hear that Folly. Good luck to you. It’s quite scary out there right now.
Maybe someone knows this question about unemployment. I’m in Illinois.
If I got ‘laid off’ today, but am still receiving wages until Dec 31st, do I wait until January first to file for unemployment or do I do it tomorrow?
I had to lay my brother off. I did it right before Thanksgiving (thus right before Christmas). The company is out of money so he was better off getting unemployment than not getting paid by us.
It fucking kills me, every day. That and the fact that I don’t get a paycheck either and can’t collect unemployment. But I’m just the asshole who laid her brother off.
That shit happened to me too, not this late in December, but it was still pretty early. Sorry it happened to you.
File for unemployment on the very first day you can. Getting unemployment takes some back and forthing to begin with, so you need as much time as you can get. Whether or not you’re eligible will be determined by state law, and I don’t know if your state will determine it by last day worked or last day paid. Go by the book and don’t volunteer any information.
Hang in there, and I hope it all works out for you.
That sucks - I’ve been there before and hear whispers it’s not far off now.
One thing that helped me through my layoffs was FWIW: “it’s not your fault, it’s your turn.”
Sorry to hear it, Folly. That’s definitely the Christmas gift that nobody wants. There’s probably a good quip waiting to be made out of this and those White Elephant/Dirty Santa type gift exchanges, but I can’t quite come up with it.
Job hunt and hobnob like mad over the next few weeks and if nothing promising turns up, you’ve always got the law school thing to fall back on.
Why not enjoy some cathartic boss-bashing in the meantime? Tell us all what kind of a black-hearted scum-sucking asswipe made THIS decision five days before Christmas. Was it inevitable, due to the economy? Or something more sinister? Feel free to refer to your boss (or the responsible party) as Mr. Burns.
Stay the course.
The timing is pretty cold-blooded, IMO.
Hope things work out OK for you.
I have to be careful as I could probably easily reveal enough to pin down my identity as it is a somewhat unique company.
Not that I’m very interesting or anyone would really care.
I was laid off with about fifty other people apparently. If I were to guess I’m thinking a list has probably been kicking around some committee for a month or two. The company business is very cyclical and there are these seasonal (for lack of a better term) layoffs. I wasn’t caught up in the last one but was in this one.
What is pretty annoying though is in the last monthly group meeting they were telling us how much more financially stable the company is then has been in the past and how awesome that is and how much cash they have on hand.
And it’s a private company, so its not like they have to justify profits to the shareholders or anything. bleh
The last 2 times my husband’s been laid off (he has wicked bad luck choosing companies - most of the folks he’s worked for are shut down now or hanging by a thread) it’s been at the end of the year. My mother’s getting force-retired (as in, you retire and get some package or we fire you, your choice) and today was her last day.
It seems to be a “wrapping up the year” thing, but the timing sure does suck :-/
At least on the bright side you’ll be paid up through the end of the year, and since it was a lay off you’ll be eligible for unemployment. So financially you should be doing ok for a while, hopefully.
Good luck finding a new job and with night school.
Ah, 'tis Dark Santa taking things away for Christmas…
Don’t take it too hard, Folly. At least the world didn’t end! Just enjoy the unexpected break and spend some time working out what your best options are.
Honestly, it’ll all work out. And you’ll probably get to have more sex!