Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["David Wagoner" <dbwagoner AT yahoo.com>]

I've been laid off from two computer companies in the last year and a half
and never got "The Video".  The first company was located in DC and I was
still living in RTP so I got "The Phone Call" from a normally cheery
recruiter.  Well she wasn't so cheery during "The Phone Call".  I actually
felt really bad for this poor girl having to call so many college students
and inform them that their dream job offers were revoked.

So I decided to stay in RTP and work for a local computer company with more
stability (I know, stop laughing).  Six months into my exciting new job I
got a tap on the shoulder by my Director who said "Do you have a minute to
talk?".  Of course I was ready to talk because I was two months overdue for
my promised job review and salary raise.  For a split second I thought
things might actually be going my way.  That all changed when we passed my
Director's office and entered a conference room full of people I didn't
normally meet with, including the Director of HR.  A brief glance at the
stack of folders with names on them on the table alerted me that I would not
be getting a raise that day.  Instead, I got "The Talk" (please, someone
help me come up with a better moniker than this...it's been a long day-
"Cattle Killing", anything more true to reality).

"The Talk", delivered by our HR Director, went something like this:

"The company is undergoing a transitional downsizing, and that involves you.
Blah...blah...[hands out folders to us].  Now, the company is offering you
two weeks severance pay and two months of COBRA insurance coverage as well
as an outplacement class to help you all find new jobs [read "We want to
minimize unemployment expenditures"].  Now in some cases like this you would
be escorted out of the building by security be we didn't feel that was
necessary so you all have boxes waiting at your desk and we ask that you
leave the building by 4PM (that's 45 minutes away)".  A few people,
including myself, who could muster up enough composure to ask questions
regarding severance did so and it was over in what seemed to be no more than
7 minutes.  Upon returning to our desks we noticed that no one else was
around.  We later learned that all the surviving employees were called for
"A Meeting" and herded into a building across the street so as to "let us
leave with our dignity".  Seriously, this was completely an effort to shield
them from the trauma of seeing friends and co-workers crying and packing up
their belongings.  Lastly, as I left the office with boxes in hand, I had to
step around a maintenance worker who was squatting in front of the door
changing the locks.  Good thing there was a bar about two blocks away.

You would think that after all that I would be very angry.  Many emotions
come to mind but anger is not the predominant one.  Again, I really felt
sorry for my Director as she cried while trying to explain to me that I was
not on the top of the list but many more people were cut than she expected.
I think experiencing a layoff is like experiencing any other traumatic
event, you can never be completely indifferent to it, but the first one is
certainly the hardest.

Without naming either company, I can report to you that the second company
has since changed their layoff practices.  Now, an employee is visited
one-on-one by their manager in private and given the news.  I'm not sure if
this really eases the pain but I do applaud the company for changing their
ways to what they believe is a more humane termination.



David B. Wagoner
Oracle Database Administrator
dbwagoner AT yahoo.com <mailto:dbwagoner AT yahoo.com>




-----Original Message-----
From: Childers.Paula AT epamail.epa.gov
[mailto:Childers.Paula AT epamail.epa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 4:22 PM
To: InterNetWorkers
Subject: [internetworkers] "getting the video"


Hey-

I know we've all heard about the new layoff technique of herding you into a
room, playing "The Video" telling you you're laid off, and then the escort
out of the bldg--- but has anyone on this list, or anyone you know,
actually experienced "getting the video?" (as a variant of "getting the
shaft?")  I've a friend who's a scriptwriter, and she'd very much like to
talk to someone about such. And no, she's NOT making one of them! I think
she's mostly artistically intrigued, in an appalled sort of way.
If this is you I'm talking about, please email me, and I'll put you in
touch with her.

Thanks-
Paula C.
guvmint contractor, hopefully never to "get the video."


---
Come and play at the InterNetWorkers Web site!
http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
You are currently subscribed to internetworkers as: dbwagoner AT yahoo.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
$subst('Email.Unsub')



_________________________________________________________

Do You Yahoo!?

Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com