My layoff story

[XanaDUer2]

Been reading on reddit all the horror stories of highly-paid jobs like IT...paying 150k or more a year. A salary I could dream of. I've been sitting here today, thinking of my layoff that upended my life and still negatively reverberates thru my current life.

In 2005 , I finally secured a dream job being a hospital librarian for a big 54k/yr . I was shocked by the generous pay! I'd been working so hard training and interviewing and taking courses applying for jobs...landed it. I was the only person doing my job for 3 hospitals, got teriffic ratings from doctors, my boss.

A new Ceo came in. He bankrupted a community hospital in CA that closed. Locals came out to denounce him. so of course he failed up with a huge salary, house, and
country club membership as part of his compensation at my hospital in the SE. After 5.5 yrs of hard work, I was called in by my kind boss and told i was being let go. I started to cry. They'd escort other staff off property, but I asked to leavr immediately. I never kept any personal items at work, so I just grabbed my purse and walked. They laid me off right b4 the holidays in the middle of melanoma treatment. Four months later, I got a comparable job and lost 25k in salary, Id gotten a big raise bc they didn't hire a 2nd librarian.

I left there after a yr. Found out my replacement would be laid off due to a hospital merger. These places do not gaf whose lives theyre destroying. Took my last job became disabled. If I could have kept my good job still, Id have a large 403b and prob my own condo. Almost bought. Would have lost it. The number of ppl laid off was small. But I was the only one in my dept given the hook. I was the only person doing my job for 3 hospitals. My life was great, then it all went to shit in 5 minutes. I should let it go, but I'm still bitter. I mihgt not be sitting here disabled if that didn't get done to me.

Again, they can destroy workers' lives and not even think of it. I got small severence. American dream. I did all the stuff Americans are told you do to succeed. And it was all bullshit. My story.

[MotownPgh]

1. Many of us have similar

stories. I've never recovered financially, my loss was in 2008, and don't currently have health insurance but I'm not bitter. I guess I feel these things are parts of the ups and downs of life
Nothing is promised.

[Think. Again.]

2. Thank you for testifying to the hell that is laissez-faire capitalism....

...and thank you for a perfect message...

"I did all the stuff Americans are told you do to succeed. And it was all bullshit."

[XanaDUer2]

3. All bullshit

I thought I was going to die from melanoma.

They laid off another man whose wife was having surgery.

Oh yeah, my testament. The ppl who made the decision I'm sure never thought of me or how this destroyed my work, hopes, and dreams.

[CousinIT]

4. " I did all the stuff Americans are told you do to succeed. And it was all bullshit. My story."

You are not alone in that situation. The system, as George Carlin said, is rigged. The billionaires own and control it all and they don't give a flying shit about the rest of us.

[XanaDUer2]

5. They couldn't even let the layoffees have the holidays

Mine was Nov 11, 2010. I kinda divide my life to before and after that date.

No clue of the CEO is still there. Maybe retired, but I'm sure everyone who told my boss is rolling in it.

So glad I had nothing personal. Id have to find a box, load it up...my library was a place employees congregated, so I wasmt going to sit there on display as the asshole who got cut. I wanted off the property asap

[CousinIT]

7. I don't blame you. And don't wonder if the CEO made out like a damn bandit.

He did, no doubt.

[XanaDUer2]

8. Oh yes

The CMO that was protecting the library always said patient care trumps price. And he didn't like the direction the hospital was taking. To add insult to injury, the hospital was adding a major cardiac unit. My boss thought things were going great financially.

Once the CMO quit, my days were numbered, I just didn't know it. Everyone heard about the layoffs and were scared. CEO would have staff meetings. I don't remember what he said. Staff were scared and angry and mentioned his failure in California. A COMMUNITY HOSPITAL CLOSED under him, stranding residents wo nearby healthcare. I guess that's a plus in Georgia

[TBF]

6. the billionaires that basically own everything in this country

do not care at all about any of us. they don't understand that the majority of us were not born with trust funds, we have to work very hard to just put away a little savings while paying for everything else along the way. we don't have parents writing rent checks etc. out initially so we can "get started".

and I don't even buy that "laissez faire" capitalism is the problem. the problem is capitalism, period. it is a system in which there needs to be a bottom to exploit, in order for there to be just a few to reign at the top. that's an inherently unfair system. the next question is "well which is better" - coming from folks who are paid by billionaires to prop up the status quo. my answer is "let's try something new". the super wealthy in this country don't want anything new - they like things exactly as they are.

[XanaDUer2]

9. Yeah, being escorted off property

By the friends the guards would have been the chefs kiss. Like i said, cried, then said i was leaving the property asap. And i did. I still remember my shellshocked walk out to my car.

Got home around 11 am and SO wanted to know why I was home so soon. I said ive been kicked out and its over. He was blase but what to say. I spent days listening to that Donnie Darko song, depressed, but I needed health insurance with melanoma. So back scouring want ads for a niche job hard to get.

[XanaDUer2]

10. Oh, and the building was huge

Could be seen from afar. Its logo was a heart. So, I got to see the big-ass heart tower everytime I left the house. I lived nearby. That was fun

[slightlv]

11. If you ever figure out how to get rid of the bitterness,

let me know! Mine was around election time, 2018 (gods, I can't believe it's been that long!). I am disabled. I worked for DoD, doing a job I loved, and that was appreciated by the soldiers I served, both in country and in Iraq/Afghanistan. I'd worked it for just a few months shy of 20 years. It was so involved.. so intricate... I actually wrote an SOP before leaving, so whoever took the job after me would have something to go by. Turned out to be over 100 pages long, typed. Did it like a Dummy book. Coworker who's still there kept a copy, in case she had to pinch hit.

All I wanted was a two-day remote telecommute. But we lost our tech supervisor, and the supervisor who was left was conflict avoidant. Our big department head was very old school, anti-telecommuting, so although other departments were given free latitude, I couldn't even get it with it a doctor's note! So, I ended up retiring at my next lupus flare.

I was lucky in that I -could- retire, altho it was early retirement. I kept my healthcare until I could get on medicare. But since I've been retired, my disabilities have gotten worse. I am SO bitter about the way it all went down. You see, whether I was sitting at home behind top notch computer equipment, or sitting at my office desk with connections that rarely worked well, I was on WiFi, working from the Cloud. Not being able to telecommute made NO logical sense!

And then, to boot, here comes Covid and EVERYONE was telecommuting. I'm 68 now. Thought I'd found a remote position a couple of years ago. Turned out to be a scam, luckily I was tech savvy enough to figure it out. Even went to the police about it. Now, I'm so turned off from the online job ads, and no one wants to hire someone my age, like me. period. And I haven't figured out how to get rid of the bitterness, or what to do to bring joy in my life... other than my critters. We don't have enough money to travel, because hubby's job was cancelled just before my salary was slashed by 2/3's when I went DoD from contracting. We were lucky to hang on to the house!

Mine wasn't due to economics, like yours was... but it was politics that did mine in. The fact I am female just made it easier for them in that environment, even though I am a veteran. I echo your sentiment that it's all bullshit. I fought the patriarchy for 20 years in that job, but in the end, it still got me.

My heart goes out to you. I can empathize so much. You do everything right, and it still doesn't work out. The American dream that I've called the American Nightmare for years now. {hugs}

[XanaDUer2]

12. I went from worrying how to flick a cateye liner

To worrying about incipient homeless ness. The latest problem is persistent abdominal pain for 17 days my dr is sure is constipation.

I often wonder had I been a man would I have been laid off, but emotionally, I can't even go there. I just cannot. Starting 25k dental work. Yrs of savings gone.

I dont think I'm ever not going to be bitter, and I guess I'm hurting myself. The previous CEO they muscled out told us wed always have our jobs as long as we did ok, and I thought Id lucked out. My coworkers were wonderful. Most library coworkers are not. Dirty little secret.

I'm so sorry. I'm 58. Did get Medicare. Finally. You were very kind to make a manual. So, my hospital merged with another one, and now they have librarians again. Like I said, very bitter, scared, depressed.