The Few. The RIFed. The Lucky?

Monday arrived after my few days of recuperating from a massive dizzy spell. I only had a couple more days on the job.

I checked my emails to get caught up and listened to a few voice mails. Nothing was urgent.

I always got in earlier than anyone else on my team – and for that matter anyone else in my department. It was a trade-off I’d made a long while back so that someone from our team was on-site and available to our customers in the early morning hours. I also got to go home a little earlier.

Frankly, I kind of enjoyed the solitude of the early morning in the office. I seemed to get a lot more done during that first couple of hours than I ever did the rest of the day. There just were not any distractions at that time of the morning.

Someone, our department AA I guess, had left a few boxes in my cubicle. That was a sure sign that the word obviously was out that I’d be leaving. I couldn’t bring myself to start packing just yet.

So I did what I do on the job – made a few calls, answered some emailed issues, checked to see what problems had arisen during my absence.

People started trickling into the office. A few stopped by my cube to ask how I was doing. Most also knew about the layoff – RIF was the polite term, Reduction In Force. Whatever. It still meant my job was going away.

I saw my boss that morning once he arrived. He gave me a thick envelope that contained some preliminary details about the RIF and information about the severance package. Not all of the dollar figures were ready yet, that would depend on some things that would happen over the next couple of months. But the board of directors did set up a generous package.

Back in my cubicle I had a visit from a friend. Get this, he was upset and angry that he hadn’t been laid off. WTF? OK, I kind of got it. The severance package was generous. More than I would generally have expected.

My friend talked with me a bit worried about the changes that many expected to come with the take-over. Most of the changes would be in the culture and climate and nobody was happy about that from what I had already heard.

Also, a number of people I worked with had originally worked for the corporation that took us over. They had left for a reason and were none too happy about working for them again.

It wasn’t my last visit during the day from friends who were unhappy and upset that they had to stay.

Then someone else who had been RIFed stopped by. Other people had been dropping in on her and grousing like my friends had about not getting laid off.

By the end of the day it seemed that those of us – about 100 in our department – who had been RIFed were considered “the lucky few.” Most of those staying were envious and vocally so.

It seemed strange – lose your job and everybody envies you.

In the end we were the lucky few. As it stands, if someone is laid off now they won’t get the kind of package we did.

It was enough that I paid off my car – two years early – paid off my credit cards and I still had more than enough to live on for several months. I event took my wife to Hawaii for a vacation.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to squander it. I’d like to have something still in the bank once I find a new job.

However, it has been nice to have the buffer. A comfort zone if you will that allowed me to take off some time and enjoy a long vacation.

I’ve worked since I was 9 years old. Some odd jobs at first, then mowing lawns, and then holding a paper route. Later worked as a bag boy in markets and also even worked as a part-time janitor at my high school. That is 42 years in one job or another.

I can’t afford to retire but at least I’ve been getting a little taste of what it could be.

So maybe we were indeed the “lucky few.” I still hear from friends at the old company. They still are unhappy, uncertain, and upset.

However, the “package” is not going to last forever and they know it. So their fear now of being laid off isn’t about just about losing their job. Their fear is more about how they will survive without the same kind of safety net we “lucky few” got.