....so now you know.

Well, well, well. Seems Mr. Hate has lost his job. Not right away, but as of December of 2011. At least they gave him some notice. More than I got when he fired me from my job as his wife and the mom at home.

I am going to be nothing but sympathetic, but only on the surface. Inside? Inside I want to say something like this:

So. Now you know. For 20 years and 1 day you chose to put your job ahead of anything else in your life. For 20 years you went beyond what you were asked, made them a priority, ate, breathed and slept for the company you loved. Time after time you put WORK ahead of your children, your wife, your family, your friends (remember the "softball game" incident? I do), the dog, for heaven's sake. You figured if you were loyal to them, they would be loyal to you. After all, they promised you they would be. They signed a contract with you. They provided your insurance, an office where you spent most of your time, and gave you an identity in the community.

And without even giving you a chance, just a lame "sorry" they cut you loose.

Did they give you an honest answer when you asked why? Or did they give you some canned answer about "Oh, c'mon, we all knew it was going to end this way someday, we both knew things weren't working...." even though you know in your deepest soul that you would have stayed and worked it out with them, if only they had tried to keep you? Did you get to find out from others that the company would have laid you off earlier, if only they hadn't had "the distraction of being an employer?"

So, how's it feel? Being discarded, judged as not worth keeping, dismissed? I am betting you don't like it much at all. You believed it would be your job forever, but it wasn't. Feel deceived yet? The company doesn't need you anymore, and without much reason they are letting you go. How would you feel if they spent your 401K behind your back, too? You know that life of retirement you were promised, and that you counted on? Kiss it goodbye. Enjoy the terror of nights filled with imagining your future collecting cans. Feel the angry knot in your stomach that you fear will consume you.

How does it feel to know that they just don't need you anymore? Would you like them to publicly blame you for all their problems? Planning on visiting your old coworkers every other weekend? How are you going to feel when you get replaced by someone else? Are you getting severance? Is it the minimum the state will allow them to give you? Feel THAT. Feel what it feels like to work really, really hard, and then get cheated out of any sort of fair settlement, due to their stinginess. Listen to them defend their actions with statements like "well, we needed some place to work" and "our decisions are no longer any of your concern." Enjoy the humiliation of walking into a room full of people who are still employed, and having them give you that small, weak smile of sympathy, while all the time you KNOW they are thanking God it was you and not them. A particular joy will be when you and the employer have to sit down with a list of things from your work area and divide them up. Feel the injustice when they, a million dollar company, insist on taking your compost bin, when they could have easily bought one themselves. Yes, you will be able to find it funny, because it is just SO ridiculous, but mostly you will just be scratching your head, baffled at what has become of the company you thought you knew. Where did they go? At what point did they stop making any sense, or lose all perspective? You will never, ever get the answer to that one. Ask them anything you want, and everything you need to know. Most of the answers they give you will be outright lies. Be ready - when you confront them on it, they will snort back "get a life" at you, and it will feel like a slap.

Do you feel scared? Do you feel confused, not knowing who you are now, what the heck happened that suddenly you are out on the street with no safe place anymore? Do you jump every time the phone rings, wondering how you could have put so much faith in a company that you now realize never really had your back?

And you know that guy that just showed up? The one they looked directly into your eyes and SWORE was not really the reason you are getting laid off, he is just a friend, he is just helping out with finances, etc.?

He's fucking your old boss.


How does THAT feel, Pet? (And, by the way, that all started before you were actually finished your job.)

Go ahead. Moan to everyone about how unfair this is. Cry yourself dry in your rage, terror and hurt. And watch people alienate you. Wait til all your friends judge you, and you find out they are saying, behind your back, how they totally understand it, and you never seemed happy there anyway, so the company really had no chance but to fire you. Join a support group for other folks who have been laid off, and see how it feels when you find out every single person there got a better severance package than you. See how you feel when your old coworkers all get invited over to the new office, and they gather to celebrate the new digs. Feel left out, much? Feeling the loyalty of your old friends, or betrayed?

I realize that you losing your job puts all of us in a precarious position, but seriously? Right now I feel like you have been served a big heaping plate of karma.

It could not have happened to a more deserving man.