I went to lunch with a (former) co-worker today. Here’s some HUMINT.
Our former admin was called into the president’s office. He asked her which members of our team were “troublemakers”. She told him she was uncomfortable with that question and refused to answer. (She quit the week before eight of us were laid off.)
The president’s admin has an 85-year-old mother who just had a stroke and is dying. She’s had to take some time off to take care of her and her father (who is not taking her mother’s illness at all well). The president and a VP called her into an office. The president said, “I don’t trust you.” (What the… Huh?) They wanted to move her to a vacant admin position and get someone else to replace her. She was hurt and angry, so she walked out and phoned HR when she got home to tell them she quit.
The new manager of my (ex-)department is discovering how much work the “layoffees” did. She thought the department was over-staffed!
Scuttlebutt says that the ones who were not laid off last week will be kept on to train the replacements that will be drawn from the new VP’s former staff. It’s said that they will be laid off in April. We’re told are “positions are being eliminated”, but in reality they are hiring replacements from within the company (who happen to be “friends” of the VP).
One ex-co-worker who was laid off has a daughter whose next door neighbour takes care of the VP’s 13-year-old daughter. The VP drops her off early in the morning and picks her up late at night. The VP’s husband doesn’t work. He spends all day golfing. Their son is a goth. Sounds like this family puts the “fun” in “disfunctional”!
Anyway, it sounds as if the people in charge of the division are not very nice people.
I’ve had an interview in the other So. Cal. location. I thought it went well. I’ll either get hired and stay here for a while, or I won’t and I’ll move into my new house in Washington. I’ve also been in contact with the former department manager, who now works for Weyerhaeuser. He sent me an internl posting, and I’ve applied for a position in Federal Way. A bit far from the house, but it’s in the same state!
And my co-worker and I bought lottery tickets together. We really need to win the jackpot! I, because I can move north and never have to work again; and she, so that she can get out of that snakepit!
FWIW: My Magic 8-Ball said I’d buy my friend’s house. I did. It said I’d be laid off in October. I was. It said I’d win the lottery… 
