Waiting for the guillotine today

[jswordy]

The worst part of this layoff/termination thing is to see folks leaving that conference meeting room crying and whatnot, and here I am still waiting to go in there and get my severence package. So far, of all the folks going in, no one has come out with a job. We're talking some with 30 and 40 years seniority. I've been here 19 myself. I understand they want us to work til September, then we'll get a severence package.

Baaaa! I'm just waiting my turn to go through that door ahead. Baaaa! Baaaa!!!!



How can I laugh at a time like this? Because I have something of a PLAN!

 

[ffemt128]

Good luck with that, it's always good to have a plan.

 

[keena]

Got some dirt on the boss eh?

 

[g8keeper]

good luck, jim.....damn, i know that waiting must be awful....but i hope your back up plan works out, IF need be.....fingers crossed, my friend...

 

[Rocky]

I feel for you, Jim. In the last few years of my career I was with a company that went through lay-offs just about every year for the last 6 or 7 that I was there. Sweating it out became a way of life until I got through the last one in 1998. I went home and said to my wife that I thought it was better for me to choose when I leave the company so I took early retirement in early 1999 and left the area for a more vibrant one. It was a good move for me.

Best of luck to you. I hope everything works out to your advantage.

 

[JohnT]

The worst part of this layoff/termination thing is to see folks leaving that conference meeting room crying and whatnot, and here I am still waiting to go in there and get my severence package. So far, of all the folks going in, no one has come out with a job. We're talking some with 30 and 40 years seniority. I've been here 19 myself. I understand they want us to work til September, then we'll get a severence package.

Baaaa! I'm just waiting my turn to go through that door ahead. Baaaa! Baaaa!!!!



How can I laugh at a time like this? Because I have something of a PLAN!

Huntsville? Is this related to the NASA cutbacks?

 

[tonyandkory]

Geeze that sucks!

Hope it all works out and may the Shwartz be with you!

 

[jswordy]

It is related to Advance Publications cutting the daily papers in Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile and New Orleans to 3 days a week. They will now be weeklies. 75% of the staff in Huntsville is being laid off, probably the highest percentage of any of the papers involved, because printing of this paper will move to Birmingham.

It is a rough here today but I am still smiling. I am so very happy I was ready for this coming and I think I have several future plans to work with. Many people chose to flagrently kiss up and were in denial right up to their meeting today. I knew there was no reason to kiss up. These kinds of moves are done to a template based on age, salary and available open positions, and people either fit it or they don't.

Ironically, I worked at a paper in 1989 as circulation director. That paper was bought in aleveraged buyout and I had to fire half my staff bby their template. Now soon I will be able to say I have been on both sides of that table.

 

[Flem]

Good Luck! I hope your PLAN works out for you.

 

[Bartman]

It's a rare opportunity you have to know what is coming and to be able to reflect upon it, if only for half a day or whatever. It seems kind of like seeing the trigger of a gun pulled and knowing the bullet is going to hit you, but being able to see it in slow motion as it approaches. I suppose that's a little melodramatic, but I'm sure it's a big deal to you.

 

[jswordy]

It's a rare opportunity you have to know what is coming and to be able to reflect upon it, if only for half a day or whatever. It seems kind of like seeing the trigger of a gun pulled and knowing the bullet is going to hit you, but being able to see it in slow motion as it approaches. I suppose that's a little melodramatic, but I'm sure it's a big deal to you.

Not that big a deal. I have been preparing financially for 4 years. I have identified a business niche in my local market. We'll see what happens from here. I am STILL waiting to be called in! But everyone around me in my division is chopped, so as they say down heah, it's all over but the shoutin'.

 

[DoctorCAD]

My sister works in the newspaper industry. 7 years with no raises and some cuts. She has been waiting for 6 of those years for the very day you are describing. She gave up worrying about it, not good for your health (mental of physical). If it happens, it happens.

Her plan is to start a kennel and train dogs, she has been doing that on the side for many years.

I might have to buy her house from her so that she can get the financing she needs to start the kennel. Not too bad, at least it is in Florida.

Don't let the bastards get you down!!! Go in there and open with a joke, that will kick their butts!

 

[Rocky]

Jim, you are in one of the toughest industries that there is today. With the internet and all the other means of getting news and adverstising, newspapers across the country, large and small, are down-sizing. One thing that I am sure you realize is this is not personal and believe me, as one who has been on the other side of the table laying off good employees and friends, it is very hard for them too. I will never forget one incident that happened to me. It was after I had let go about 25 people from my department with varying reactions from yelling and swearing at me to crying. I was talking to a very good, young person and laying out the facts to him, trying to "maintain his self-respect" as the HR people had counseled us and he put his hand on my arm and said something like, "I understand what is happening here and why. You don't have to go through all that with me. I just want you to know that I learned so much working for you and I really appreciate everything you did for me. This company has been great and I will never regret working here. Good luck to you." and he got up, we shook hands and walked out of my office.

The point of this story is I don't remember who the people were who swore or who cried but I will always remember this guy and how he handled it.

 

[jswordy]

CHOP-CHOP! 19 years of making money for people in New York City, down the drain!



Time to make money for OL JIMBO now.

My last day will be 9/30.

 

[Sammyk]

Hopefully as one door closes another one will open. It did for us when we sold our nursery garden center in MI and moved to NC. After the market crash on 9/11 we had to go back to work and out of retirement......

 

[jswordy]

Jim, you are in one of the toughest industries that there is today. With the internet and all the other means of getting news and adverstising, newspapers across the country, large and small, are down-sizing. One thing that I am sure you realize is this is not personal and believe me, as one who has been on the other side of the table laying off good employees and friends, it is very hard for them too. I will never forget one incident that happened to me. It was after I had let go about 25 people from my department with varying reactions from yelling and swearing at me to crying. I was talking to a very good, young person and laying out the facts to him, trying to "maintain his self-respect" as the HR people had counseled us and he put his hand on my arm and said something like, "I understand what is happening here and why. You don't have to go through all that with me. I just want you to know that I learned so much working for you and I really appreciate everything you did for me. This company has been great and I will never regret working here. Good luck to you." and he got up, we shook hands and walked out of my office.

The point of this story is I don't remember who the people were who swore or who cried but I will always remember this guy and how he handled it.

You aren't saying anything I don't know. Those of you who are in biz, I ask you, who invests millions in order to produce a product and then gives it away for free? Yet that is exactly what papers have done on the Net. They have ruined themselves.

All that aside, this decision taken today is a business decision that is unrelated to the current economy. It is by far and away so distant from what other papers are doing now that it can be seen as revolutionary or de-evolutionary, depending on viewpoint. Other papers near here are preparing to move in, as mine voluntarily gives up a big chunk of its core biz to move to something it THINKS will work out.

After 9/30, I have no worries about that anymore. Thanks for all the kind words today, everyone. Now I have advice for you: NEVER be loyal to a company. Never.

 

[SarahRides]

Stay positive Jim and hopefully that attitude will help you find something bigger and better! Good luck!

 

[Wade E]

I agree with you Jim. If you can get away and make more money for another place do so as the minute your current boss is loosing money he isnt going to be worrying about your paycheck, just his!

 

[Bartman]

Now I have advice for you: NEVER be loyal to a company. Never.

What if it's your own company? ::

Seriously, though, I think there is still a place for loyalty, so long as you know who is really in charge and how the company really operates. When you don't know who your boss's boss is and no one will or can tell you how the company actually makes money, it's time to jump ship. On the other hand, changing times sometimes means the most employee-focused employers and businesses simply can't stay around forever. Loyal employees who try to make it work for each other (rather than for the company itself) may end up losing their jobs due to no evil or greedy intents.

The thing about capitalism is that there has to be some risk of failure for all kinds of ventures - none of us like the idea of 'too big to fail' do we? Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.

 

[TxBrew]

Now I have advice for you: NEVER be loyal to a company. Never.

I wouldn't say that, it depends on who owns the company. Loyalty to a company can earn you a lot of rewards like equity.