Unemployment

As most of you have likely already heard, considering that my readership consists entirely of my parents and a few close friends, I got laid off yesterday.

“Laid off,” is such a euphemism, but it’s probably the best descriptor of what happened. Basically, the company I worked for reorganized, which resulted in my department, and most of the departments on the fourth floor, getting shut down. 26 people were laid off, almost all of whom I have worked with in some capacity during the past five months. Ironically, the reorganizing the company did was exactly what I had many times suggested would be a better option, though I never said it to a higher-up–only my coworkers. Perhaps I should have?

But no. Because the thing is, while I liked my job well enough, and getting paid regularly was a huge relief, it wasn’t that great of a job. We worked long hours for far less pay than we deserved, and while my managers were great, their managers were shit. There were a lot of very smart, hardworking, kind-hearted people at that company, but none of them were in the upper ranks, which goes a long way toward explaining the general air of jubilation present when those fired met up at a bar to drink and reminisce. I have never seen so many people so relieved about losing a job. But then, I haven’t been around many people who were recently fired, so who knows? Maybe that’s normal.

As these things go, I’m in pretty good shape. I’ve never been one to live paycheck to paycheck, even on the tiniest of budgets, so I have enough saved to get me through the next few months without much stress. I’m a bit sad that I can’t afford to buy real presents for Christmas this year, though. I was excited for that. But what can you do, really?

In light of these recent changes in my life, I think a lot of other things are going to change, too. One of the biggest problems I had while working 50 hours a week, plus almost an hour commute each way, was that I didn’t have time to work on the things that actually matter to me–that is, my writing. By the time I got home, twelve hours after I left it, I was always too burned out to do much of anything except watch TV with my roommates, eat, and sleep. Now, I suddenly find myself with 12 hours of free time every week day, and I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with them, but I do know that this blog is going to be involved somehow. So you should probably keep your eye on it.

Aimlessly yours,
M.M. Jordahl

“Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.” -George Carlin