Life After a Lay-Off

#1
A couple weeks ago the company we all work for laid us off.

I'm not particularly bitter, and I'm not going to be specific about what company it is we work for, but let me just say it's a major international company that sells office equipment (particularly high-end copy equipment) and its names begins and ends with X.

It was suggested by a co-worker that we begin this thread as a group, all of us sharing the same screenname, to air our grievances and basically piss and moan about stuff until we officially leave next month. Basically, it's supposed to be kind of like group therapy.

I'll bet it's going to turn into a metaphorical ping-pong match of silly pedantic jokes, but we'll see.

I was asked to begin the thread because (1) I'm from Chicago and (2) I've taken improv classes in college. Neither of these facts has any bearing on our situation at all because (1) we're in Austin, Texas and (2) we work in customer service, but I don't want people hemming and hawing about our being here in case it's not funny.

We are bitter. We are very bitter. Not so much about getting laid off, but mostly because many of us do a lot of work for crappy pay. Some of us are contracted through a temp agency, and those are the people that will need to leave for good next month. Those of us who are perm (that's me!) will be absorbed into the collective of the rest of the company. I am told there will be no base pay increase, but we will take over the job of some hapless temp who will also be laid off because they don't want to kick out their loyal salaried employees.

It's almost 7:00 and time to go home. I'll leave this thread loose until tomorrow...maybe my loyal co-worker will continue...
 
#3
I don't really like talking about work, how about a thread about something else altogether. Maybe, old person fantasy lives. Like where you want to be when your 77, assuming you live that long. Like maybe renting an apartment in some big city. Your furniture is all at least thirty years old, you smell funny, you don't work and day to day life consists of mainly feeding the birds in the park or stalking the young girls in the laundromat. Or maybe living in some retirement home where you develope some washed out sense of community with your fellow seniors who have been forgotten about by their kids. Or maybe still really active, working in the company you started when you were just 35. Going to board meetings, making important decisions, but with that perspective of "I really don't give a shit anymore, because I'll be dead soon" I don't know, but something a little more interesting than work. What do you think.
 
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