Well, the title says it all really. Sixteen of my dearest co-workers were laid off today, and the rest of us will be gone by the end of the month. My employer's contract with the big company we do customer service for has been terminated. We've been their customer service from the beginning. We originally worked directly for them, but they decided to contract it out and we all got hired by this contacting company as part of the deal about 10-11 years ago, and we've provided excellent service that never stopped with that transition. Until now. They've decided to go with a company that has 10k employees as opposed to ours that has 100 employees.
This company has been a part of our lives since forever. They make our favorite hobbies, and we both volunteered for them in chat rooms and at conventions before the full time CSR job was ever created, and I was lucky enough to be in place for that. We were even hoping that my husband would be able to get hired on at my work when they started hiring again. So, now that dream is gone as well.
I don't know what we're going to do. My husband works part time. He looked for work for 3 months, and this is what he could find with 20+ years experience in retail management. I have 12+ years experience in online customer support and social media moderation. I'd like to think there's lots of jobs for that kind of person out there on the Internet, but honestly, there's not a lot.
I want to believe I'm tough and resilient and will come back from this stronger and find an amazing job making way more money etc. But I dunno y'all. I haven't had to look for a job in 20 years, and back then, it wasn't a case of "find a job or lose everything, including health insurance". This is a level of stress I was absolutely not prepared for today.
This company has been a part of our lives since forever. They make our favorite hobbies, and we both volunteered for them in chat rooms and at conventions before the full time CSR job was ever created, and I was lucky enough to be in place for that. We were even hoping that my husband would be able to get hired on at my work when they started hiring again. So, now that dream is gone as well.
I don't know what we're going to do. My husband works part time. He looked for work for 3 months, and this is what he could find with 20+ years experience in retail management. I have 12+ years experience in online customer support and social media moderation. I'd like to think there's lots of jobs for that kind of person out there on the Internet, but honestly, there's not a lot.
I want to believe I'm tough and resilient and will come back from this stronger and find an amazing job making way more money etc. But I dunno y'all. I haven't had to look for a job in 20 years, and back then, it wasn't a case of "find a job or lose everything, including health insurance". This is a level of stress I was absolutely not prepared for today.
Patti I have no words, I am so sorry. You are an amazingly strong woman, if anyone can turn this around you can. You & your family are in my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jane. I hope you're right.
DeletePatty, this sucks. I don't want to sugarcoat it. It's awful and I'm so, so sorry this happened to you. I just went through a terrible 16 months--no job losses, but one huge catastrophe after another that ate up money. I understand how devastating and overwhelming these unexpected life events can be. You will come out the other side and be okay, but it's a slog, as you well know. I'm thinking positive thoughts that your husband's hours will increase and you will find something quickly.
ReplyDeleteHi Crystal. Yeah for real. I'm over the initial panic mode, and just trying to take this weekend to focus on family and then Monday work on my resume, and actually look at what our options are and how we want to live our lives from here on out. I've got to find the silver lining here. I feel like I've lost a piece of myself.
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