So, pretty much right after I posted, my boss came in and asked me to step into his office.
That was red light number one. We usually just yell from one office to the other if we need anything.
Then when I come in, he asks me to sit down. Red light number two. I don't think anyone ever sits down in anyone else's office.
Then he shut the door. That's when I pretty much knew I was getting fired.
Or laid off. Or whatever you want to call it. Basically they said they really didn't have enough work for me. True enough. I mean, Killoggs bears witness to the amount of work I do not have to do there. He said they would pay me my next few pay periods. I don't know exactly what that means, they were very vague about it. And then he said not to feel like I needed to come in the rest of the week and, as a matter of fact, not to feel like I needed to stay the rest of the day.
Wow. So up until that point I did really well, but you know, fuck if exactly two tears didn't spill out of my stupid eyes. I'm pretty sure everyone that I know in real life on Killoggs has seen me cry at least once. I cry at almost all movies. But I have never cried at work. And you know what? I've never been laid off either, come to think of it. I've always been the one to leave. So this was kind of new. And I'm PMSing and I just turned 28 and you know, life hasn't been the greatest. Still. Only two tears. One for each eye, then I pulled it together.
I spent the morning DELETING ANY TRACE OF KILLOGGS off my computer. And just deleted all of my personal files. Uninstalled the various messenger services and e-mail alerts. The usual. I had a lot of personal stuff, so I asked if I could fed ex some to myself, which my boss was fine with. Then my other boss came in and asked if I could take a break for a minute and get some tea with him downstairs. Okay, whatever.
So he orders his tea and asks what I want. I didn't want anything. I'd just had coffee. So he says how they've been putting this off for a while because they like having me around the office, whatever, they're lazy and didn't feel like going through it, all that stuff. Then he says the girl who originally had my job is moving back. She wants to start a family, maybe go back to school. So this job is now perfect for her. Even less hours than I have now and ... well, she doesn't have my crazy liberal views, she grew up where they live now, they started the company with her and quite frankly, she's much more interested in their line of work than I am. I can't say I was suprised. I always wondered what would happen if she decided to move back.
He goes on about how this probably isn't a bad thing for me, I would probably be better off at a real company where I could get real benefits and actually have real work to do and I've probably learned everything I can learn working with them, maybe now I can persue 'this acting thing' full time. The silver lining speech.
They want me to come in another day this week to show the other girl anything that's changed. So I guess I'll do that and figure out exactly how much severance I'm getting, if any.
Tonight, after martial arts, I will probably drink a 40.
brandon [email] said at 2:51 PM 03-20-2006: Ouch. Man. Well, I know I don't need to tell you this, but trust me, immediately get back on the horse, Meredith. Getting laid off is so extremely depressing and the depression can cause worse problems. There's no shame at all in going back to the temp route. Hell, it'll pay the bills and provide more flexibility for the acting. Was it Craig who said: "I'm currently unemployed and drinking a 40?" that quote comes up a lot. Anyway Craig is a very bald and very wise man.
meredith [email] said at 3:05 PM 03-20-2006: Yeah, I'm already back with the agency that gave me this job in the first place. What sucks is I'll probably have to start working 'normal' hours for less pay now. Ah well. Anyway, the agency was kind of indignant at how they had let me go and still had all my files, so they immediately threw me back into rotation. Hopefully something will come up by next week.
brandon [email] said at 3:19 PM 03-20-2006: Well, that's cool. Weren't you pulling benefits from them before? At least you won't have an interruption in health and such. You're very much a candidate for unemployment benefits. In fact, you're pretty much the poster child, though that might become complicated if you're working elsewhere and receiving benefits. But, given that you weren't fired for performance or not doing your job, it's worth checking out.
meredith [email] said at 3:25 PM 03-20-2006: Well, I'm buying my own health coverage, which I'll probably just have to suck up and keep doing since the possibility of getting injured in martial arts increases monthly. This agency gives you health if you temp a certain number of hours for them steadily for six months. Last time I got a permanent job before that happened. But yeah, it's a possibility.
brandon [email] said at 3:29 PM 03-20-2006: Well, at the very least, read up on unemployment. And go ahead and make your unemployment application here.
They recommend filing on the first day after you've become unemployed.
meredith [email] said at 3:39 PM 03-20-2006: Yeah, that's another thing, they were paying me as a contract worker although I had no contract... but to the IRS I am self employed. Does that factor into me collecting unemployment?
brandon [email] said at 3:47 PM 03-20-2006: Weird. Probably it will have some effect. Do you have some savings? You might want to blow a hundred bucks and have a short talk with a labor lawyer.
myriam [email] said at 3:07 PM 03-20-2006: Actually my advice is to temp the absolute maximum hours you're allowed to work while on unemployment, and meanwhile suck up all the unemployment for the full 6 months worth. First of all, they owe you that much, especially since they gave you no fucking warning, and secondly, UNEMPLOYMENT RULES and you will have time to head over to your agent's every damn day until he puts you in a commercial!
myriam [email] said at 3:09 PM 03-20-2006: Not that I know of. It varies state by state, I believe, but typically it's 6 months extendable to 9 months. Or it used to be, at least. I have coveted this possibility for so, so long.
ed [email] said at 3:15 PM 03-20-2006: I was on unemployment. It wasn't a lot of fun, but it wasn't horrible, either. I had to document applying for a certain number of jobs every week, and I collected about 60% of my previous wages. They don't let you stay on it for a very long time, or at least they didn't let me. I think it was like 3 months.
courtney [email] said at 2:59 PM 03-20-2006: Yarr. Sorry to hear this. Those circumstances suck... did you know that this girl would have her job back if she ever moved back? Sounds kinda screwy to me. That doesn't violate any of your rights, does it?
I agree with Brandon, just get back up on the horse... and I stand behind doing the temp route, that's how I got the job I have today.
And sorry to push your post down the page, I was drafting mine at the same time, whoops.
meredith [email] said at 3:06 PM 03-20-2006: No, it was never said that if this girl came back then I would give the job back to here. They are making it sound like they're letting me go because of not having enough for me to do. And making it sound like she will mostly work out of her home or something. I don't know. I would have been more than happy to work out of my home, but ... whatever.
anthony [email] said at 3:01 PM 03-20-2006: From your previous posts about this job, it sounded like one shitty and unprofessional work environment. Good luck and good riddance.
Shell said at 3:16 PM 03-20-2006: Unbelievably unprofessional. It also sounds almost planned as a "bad boss, good boss" thing :(. Since I am a Pollyanna, I have to agree with Anthony : You will be better off away from that particular job. Who knows what adventures await you?
myriam [email] said at 3:26 PM 03-20-2006: ha ha ha, the first one is exactly my silver lining about not being paid from work: the sudden immunity to bums! One cranky day I actually said to one of them, YOU HAVE MORE IN YOUR CUP THAN I HAVE, PERIOD! I always wanted to ask them if they were offering to me. "Oh, is that all for me?! THANKS!"
carla [email] said at 3:48 PM 03-20-2006: I'm sorry Meredith! I know what a strange feeling this can be, especially when you don't see it coming. But at least you know that it was them and it wasn't you.
Perhaps this is some weird blessing in disguise....
ed [email] said at 5:34 PM 03-20-2006: Perhaps this is some weird blessing in disguise....
YES.
Not to get all morbid, but when I got laid off in June 2002, it was one of the low points in my life. The unemployment and low self-esteem were horrible.
But I got to have time. Tas, my darling kitten (okay, she wasn't exactly a kitten any more) died in July of 2002. I got most of her last month to spend a lot more time with her, and held her and petted her and cried my eyes out as she breathed her last.
Barb passed away in February of 2003, so I got to spend a lot more time with her in her last 8 months.
As painful as those memories are, the hidden blessing was the time I got to spend with them that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Sheesh. I meant this to be a cheer-you-up, glass-is-half-full response, Meredith. I hope it comes across that way. What I'm saying is, I wouldn't trade that "unexpected time off" for anything in this world.
meredith [email] said at 3:53 PM 03-20-2006: So, I just e-mailed them to give them my contact e-mail and to tell them that I forgot to remind them that today is Paul's birthday. One boss wrote back to say thanks and then said that he realized they never took me out for my birthday lunch and did I want to go tomorrow. And also, not to worry, they would understand if I would rather not.
meredith [email] said at 7:21 PM 03-20-2006: So to add to my joy, I just got my tax return back. I owe about $3,000.
I can't decide what to do about this lunch thing. On the one hand, free meal and perhaps I can talk about the severance I'm going to get. On the other hand, awkward and I may cry.
I got charged $840 for 'self-employment' tax. Which before they said they would pay, so I feel like I should at least ask for that.
ed [email] said at 8:04 PM 03-20-2006: I can't possibly see how this can be correct.
I work for a lot less than market value (as I assume you do), and have for three years. I have gotten at least 900 bucks back every year at tax time.
Sounds like either your employers were dicking you around (oooh, THERE'S a unique concept) or the IRS is dicking you around (another inconceivable concept). Get an accountant to look at the numbers for you. If you can't find one locally who will do it on the cheap, let me know. I'm friends with someone down here who took care of my tax situation (she has done it for me in the past for whatever I felt like donating to Relay For Life) when I was too stupid to take care of it myself because I'd never had to deal with it before.
Rebecca Z. [ url ] said at 8:40 PM 03-20-2006: Yeah, they definitely need to pay that. That's nuts, Meredith!!!! This is a terrible/horrible/nogood/very bad day. You should move to Austrailia, Alexander. Check the url to see the story of which I reference.
Rebecca Z. [ url ] said at 9:08 PM 03-20-2006: And remind them about their mention of paying you a few weeks salary, because that will be very important as the days drip by during the employment search.
meredith [email] said at 9:40 PM 03-20-2006: An accountant actually did do my taxes this year. And he wrote off a lot of stuff for me in a *wink wink* kind of way.
Rebecca Z. [ url ] said at 10:45 PM 03-20-2006: It just sucks that all of this came at once. When it rains it pours. Obviously, you had less taxes taken out paycheck to paycheck, but now is not the time to worry about paying that amount. So . . . make them pay for that. And, don't worry about tears. I hate crying, but, sometimes you can't help it. It will help your cause with getting them to pay. I raise my glass of cheap chardonnay to you. We have lots left over from the wine party, so come over anytime! We can have a New Orleans day of drinking at noon and throwing darts and making the rounds of pool tables in the area.
art [email] said at 8:43 PM 03-20-2006: Meet them for lunch, but consider it a business meeting. Bring up the self-employment tax - show them whatever you have that says they owe $840.
kara [email] said at 3:57 PM 03-20-2006: weird.
I just left my office for the last time. I had been laid off from this job a few years ago.. it is a weird feeling.
I think everything will turn out awesome for you.
Sounds like this is an impetus for you to take a little road trip... ahem
craig [email] said at 4:10 PM 03-20-2006: That sucks, Meredith. I'm sorry to hear that! You should definitely drink a 40 tonight. I have no doubt that you will find a new job soon.
Just remember what is best in life:
Crush your enemies
See them driven before you
Hear the lamentation of the women
Rebecca Z. [ url ] said at 5:15 PM 03-20-2006: Hi, Meredith . . .
As far as the unemployment goes . . . file immediately, and based on the results, that will determine your temporary availability. At Manpower, we had a couple of people (Robert F, our musician, included) who worked part time with Manpower (no more than 20 hours/wk) until the unemployment determination happened. And once the determination is made, you can continue getting unemployment AND making additional part time cash with whatever temp agency you choose. Some temp agencies also offer benefits (Manpower, ie) so that's something to consider as well.
I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but . . . we should get together for lunch this week, since I'm also paddling in the unemployment boat!
reggie [email] said at 6:18 PM 03-20-2006: Dang girl. That's a bummer, or maybe it isn't? Bummer. Blessing. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart. Regardless, you'll figure things out fo' sho'.
brad [email] said at 9:19 PM 03-20-2006: I second Anthony's remark, good riddance to jobs you're unhappy with. I know you're career focus is acting, and the administrative type work (or something else?) is something you just do to earn a living. But be a little finicky with your next job choice, and get a good feel for exactly who you'll be working with before you say yes. And yeah, I know that's hard to do before you actually work there.
jake [email] said at 10:46 PM 03-20-2006: Shit, Meredith, I'm sorry. That's a crappy-sloppy way for them to do that.
Maybe you better pin them down on the length of severance, and other things, right away...They seem like the type of nice-but-negligent employers who will screw you further, at this point.
Some controlled and calm anger, tinged with sarcasm, might suit you to put them on the defensive? They ought to feel shitty about this.
