Vacation last week,then...

[ga41]

Been working for the same company for 3 years now, moved 5 hours away for the job, going great, even recent letters to the CEO about what a great job I had been doing by customers. Got a call last Tuesday while on vacation from my supervisor who had been with the company for 8 years and was the area supervisor...we both were fired even though the official company position and statement was my supervisor had left to pursue other opportunities.... Wasn't the greatest job, but 50k with benefits was working ok...oh well ,maybe I can go back to being self employed...say a prayer friends

[WILCO]

maybe I can go back to being self employed...say a prayer friends

Will do. Hang tough.

[twc1964]

That really bites! Good luck to you in the search bud.

[HollandNut]

feel your pain , been here 22 years and if the feds approve our merger with our biggest competitor ( they are 1 and we are 2 ) , who knows what will happen next , hope they don't approve the merger

[shoot-n-lead]

Will send a prayer for you.

[Artful]

I wish you well and hope your next position is better pay and more fun.
And it does suck - what kind of self employment did you have before?

[ga41]

I wish you well and hope your next position is better pay and more fun.
And it does suck - what kind of self employment did you have before?

for the first 20 or so years, insurance and securities, then spent about 15 years ( some of at the same time as the insurance etc) European import parts internet business and german import repairs, specializing in BMW ( my shop)

[Frank46]

Hang in there. And really sorry about the job, seems to be very commonplace in today's labor market. Sort of know what you are going through. Worked at the same place for 26 years and was told the company was downsizing. They really weren't but a sale of the site was in progress and they didn't want anyone to know. Transferred to another site and different department. Stayed there until I had the time to call it quits which I did and probably the best move I ever made. Took a beating on my pension but sometimes money isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Frank

[MrWolf]

Damn that sucks. Prayers everything works out for ya.

[starmac]

What sucks is they tell you in the middle of vacation, that sucks, the least they could do is wait till you got back, and let you enjoy the vacation time.

[Artful]

Well health insurance is hot now, you may want to go back into that.

[dbosman]

I wish you well on your job search or small business endeavor.
Keep in mind your current job is looking for the new one.

Good luck and good wishes.

[frkelly74]

What sucks is they tell you in the middle of vacation, that sucks, the least they could do is wait till you got back, and let you enjoy the vacation time.


Well that is what happened to me. We got back and there was a message on the machine asking for the credit card and keys to the company van after finishing up the loose end jobs and by the way , no more paychecks. I have to say , it is not better. Both are a real blow.

[Pb2au]

Wow, what a kick in the pants....
Good luck moving forward sir, chin up and keep the determination.

[blackthorn]

Now there's an employer that needs a big fat dose of UNION shoved down his/her (want to be PC here) throat. Sorry to hear of your problem, but things seem to happen for a purpose only sometimes that purpose is not immediately apparent. Hang in there, things will get better.

To some companies, especially multi-national ones, employees are simply a number. When they decide to down-size no thought or consideration is accorded to the people who helped make the company successful over the years. Several years ago I spent much of my time working with folks that had been displaced by large plant closures. In those cases, even though we were provided with 6 months notification of the closures there were countless problems (including psychological) experienced by the displaced employees.

[Hickok]

Prayers for you and your family.

I have been through the same thing. Big companies don't care about people.

Had a real good supervisor who told me, "Companies don't care how good you are at your job or if you have 40 years experience. All they care about is a piece of paper that says you are certified in this or that."

[.45Cole]

In engineering school I had to take extra modules about personal/career development, and maybe for a more rounded person (only engineers and business students). We had the two X-VP's of IBM tell us that 10 years ago the average tenure was 15+, now it is 5+. They said keep moving from company to company and don't get stagnant or you will get passed by. I have been with the same company 13+ years, and nobody sees this as a plus on my resume. Times change.

[firefly1957]

Prayers that it will work out even better for you.

[ga41]

update, after 4 months of searching. I am accepting a job in Columbus Ga starting 9.15, it will require a move of 200 miles. I will stay with my folks, who can really use the help while my wife stays in Huntsville area until she can find a job and we can get the home packed up and we find a place to live. thanks everyone

[OBIII]

Prayers and best wishes to you. It's not just the large companies, though. Even small ones can have people rise to a level where they have the freedom to exercise their vendetta's. Hang in there and keep fighting. Current govt. wants you to give up.

OB

[BrassMagnet]

update, after 4 months of searching. I am accepting a job in Columbus Ga starting 9.15, it will require a move of 200 miles. I will stay with my folks, who can really use the help while my wife stays in Huntsville area until she can find a job and we can get the home packed up and we find a place to live. thanks everyone


It's good to hear that you found a job. Is it better than the old one or just a job?

[BrassMagnet]

In engineering school I had to take extra modules about personal/career development, and maybe for a more rounded person (only engineers and business students). We had the two X-VP's of IBM tell us that 10 years ago the average tenure was 15+, now it is 5+. They said keep moving from company to company and don't get stagnant or you will get passed by. I have been with the same company 13+ years, and nobody sees this as a plus on my resume. Times change.

My Grandfather worked for Firestone making tires. Retirement age was 65 and early retirement at greatly reduced benefits was 62. Grandpa watched them fire an old man less than a month before he turned 65. Grandpa made a mistake and mis-read a mould number at 59. Now you know where some of their tire sales come from! He sweated it out until he could do the early retirement at 62 and was afraid he would get fired before then! He habitually arrived at work an hour early so a flat tire of freeway traffic jam wouldn't make him late.

My Dad got a phone call while visiting my Grandmother for Christmas. A co-worker told him not to spend every penny in his pocket because they might be closing the mine. US Steel spun off the mine as US Steel Mining Corp and my Dad commented on the name change on his pay check. I told him he was losing his job and get prepared. It took a year or two, but it did happen. Somerset coal mine was the most productive coal mine per employee according to my Dad. It was a union mine. After a ten year closure, it re-opened as non-union and all of the coal goes to china now.

One of my buddies left a federal job because the manager had a vendetta against an employee with health problems. The last straw was firing the ill employee a week before he died.

The work place has never been fair. The work place has never been secure. One of my favorite sayings is "if a person with lesser skills can do your job, they will be hired for less pay to replace you." All of us older guys, and gals, need to keep that in mind. We tend to get paid more than our younger co-workers and we are more vulnerable to this than they are.

No job is safe. No job is secure. The only long term future you can count on is one you provide outside employers, and possibly, outside retirement savings.

[ga41]

I was self employed for about 30 years and with all the garbage I put up with, I said at the time, " The gov really does not want anyone to be self employed". Now more than ever.

Job is better in that I "feel" I will have more input to the owner /ceo. Not as good in that I will not have a "wing man" as I had before. Gross pay is better, but not much, benefits, not as good. I will be an hour away from aging parents (75-80 age) and a grandmother who will be 101 in Nov. I will miss the Huntsville area as it is a good place with good folks, but there are good folks everywhere

[searcher4851]

Happy to hear you found something in these difficult times. Good luck.

[DeputyDog25]

You will be in our prayers for sure, but always remember this, when God closes one door, He always opens another for you.

[John Allen]

Boy that sucks. Good luck.

[Lee]

9.15 per hour? Thank our gubmint fer that! I guess that's better than nothing. Although not as good as what Osama and Moochelle will get on the talking circuit!!!!

[ga41]

no , next day at work is 09/15/2014..... 9.15 an hour would be a no go...thankfully better than that... ANYWAY, very interesting news today about the former employer, the junior partner of this 12-20 million dollar a year profit company had his brother quit the company and he is taking many employees with him... The brother that is the jr owner owns 49%, wonder how all that is playing down in the big city...

[jcwit]

I feel for you fellows who have lost your jobs.

I also find that is odd that employer always wants a 2 week notice.
I've been retired now for 12 years, but I discovered in my 30's when I wished to change employers I was gone.
The employer never gave the guys on the floor any notice.

[MaryB]

American workers are disposable these days. Get hurt they fire you, sick they fire you(once federal FMLA benefits expire). Downsizing is decided by penny pinching accountants who don't have a clue how the business works. Glad I retired early(disabled), no more rat race, no more back stabbing to look good to the general manager(coworker routinely bypassed our boss and tattled, classic brown noser who was useless as a worker). Sure I had my income cut in half, I made do and get by.

[ga41]

My victory years ago , I was working as store management at CVS, I was the guy that was sent to stores where the mgr just got fired for whatever and it was also a huge mess in every sense of the word. The district mgr had me in his crosshairs and everyone in the district knew it. I had run the largest store (24/7 store ) through the Christmas season successfully after the mgr had gotten fired for sexual harrassment ( i personally witnessed this bum in his methods and that was his downfall). Anyway , they let me "stay" as a assistant and brought in a whipper snapper who was a sellout to the DM to get me gone. I was fortunate enough to secure a job, took a week's vacation to pack and get most of our belongings moved. Went back in casually on a Saturday, handed my resignation...last day was the following Tuesday...the store mgr hotshot was scheduled to go on vacation the following Saturday. He called another mgr and bragged that he had gotten rid of me and the DM owed him.....Joke was on him, he was gone within 6 months

[BrassMagnet]

I am glad that you found a new job and that it might be better. Sometimes it takes a while to decide if a move was up or down. Let's hope this move works out to be a move up.