Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We certainly did.  I have a four day weekend thanks to the holiday.  We're not big on the whole after Thanksgiving shopping though.  So the next few days will be spent doing some things around the house and just enjoying hanging out.  :)

We do plenty of shopping for Christmas, but most of it is done online after spending time surfing around for the best deals.  We're pretty good when it comes to spending money.  We always do our homework and make sure we're getting the most for our money.  And whenever we can take advantage of saving money we're all over it.  Here's an example, the gas station where we like to get our gas has a rewards program.  We used to only take advantage of gaining points via our gas purchases at the pump.  Not anymore.  They also offer gift cards and when you purchase a gift card you also get extra reward points.  So now, we can get the points from the gift card in addition to the points we gain when we actually use it at the pump.  It sounds trivial, but it adds up.  There are several different gift cards we could exchange points for, but we pretty much always use it for free coffee.  For every month's worth of gift cards we buy (which we'd spend anyway on gas) we get about 7 free coffees.  Not too shabby and a nice *free* treat for us. 

Jane

Happy Holidays?

I'm not really looking forward to this week of work.  It will be nice with the holiday and a short week.  But it also means family will want to talk about what's to come.  I haven't really got to the point where I'm ready to talk about it with family.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate their concern.  But it brings a bunch of questions that I'd rather avoid, for now at least.  But I will be happy about spending time with family.  One thing I've realized through this all is that work isn't first in life, it may win Miss Congeniality at best. 

On the job hunt front, nothing has really come up.  I applied for a few external positions but haven't heard a damn thing.  A shame, I pick up things so fast and I'm so good with data, someone will find that.  :)  I'm still looking though and am hopeful something will turn up.

Jane

What to do next?

It been a pretty somber week in the whole facility.  It's interesting though, attendance is high.  In a facility where there's 150+ employees and our work here isn't highly skilled.  Our attendance has usually been a problem.  Not this past week.  The management team keeps spreading the "positive" part of knowing there are 6-9 months.  That only helps on the chance of finding another internal position.  Then if there is an interesting internal position, there's our recruiting process.  It's painfully slow.  Even when we post entry level positions, from the time of interview to first day of work can be a month or longer.  That's just crazy.  I get the part that it does take time to do the drug test and the background check can take a while.  But geesh. 

The senior "leadership" team who delivered the fateful message mentioned it was because of cost and efficiency savings.  They said they were concerned for everyone and would do what they can to help employees find other positions, help with resume writing and interviewing skills. I see it just like the big tobacco companies.  They'll put on the warnings, have anti-smoking campaigns for the young, but at the end of the day they still want you to smoke.  At the end of the day what the senior "leadership" team doesn't tell you is that you have no special treatment when it comes to internal positions.  You apply and all you have is to hope for the best.  Big companies like mine want you to be loyal to them, but there are only a few companies which are loyal to YOU.  And mine is not one of them.

Many can say I'm cynical due to my position with losing my job.  No, I've been pretty cynical to big business and overpaid executives for some time.  I put on a good front at work, an outstanding one I dare say.  Besides, given I have 6-9 months of employment left after giving years upon years of hard work and excellent performance reviews, I can be as cynical as I want.

Yes, it's bee that kind of day today.  Sorry.

Jane

Monday, Monday

For some reason, I'm not really looking forward to this week. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Call it intuition and I hope I'm wrong, but I keep having a feeling something else is going on. Well, in keeping with my attitude about this, it's outside my control, so no need getting really upset about it.

I had a really good weekend though. Looked for some new jobs, spent some time with the family and watched some good football today. Yes, I enjoy watching football!  I'm still going in tomorrow with just concentrating on work and doing what I can do to help my group be productive. 

Jane

Rainy Saturday

Up until today, I hadn't really told anyone of the job situation.  But I was talking to my mother on the phone and she asked how the job was going.  She knows I put in quite a bit of time each week and after I told her about the news she just said, well these things happen and time for another opportunity.

My mother shares my attitude of when things are outside your control, there's no reason to let it affect your attitude.  I've had some times this past week where when I think about the situation a little more than usual, it really pisses me off, lol.  I get really aggravated of the hard work and time invested in our work.

I started looking at classes at the local community college.  I figure it may be a time to looking into doing something new.  Something that actually interests me.  I have a couple leads, so we'll see.

I have a really supportive spouse during all of this.  My spouse kind of feels that I should just take the severance and move on to bigger and better, that this will be that kick in the ass I need to get out there and do my own thing.  Having support like that is priceless.

Jane

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

Well not really working for the weekend, but the title cracks me up, lol.  I'm going to try to disconnect this weekend and not think about what's going on.  Of course, I still have to spend time looking for a job this weekend.  But I'm going to do that tomorrow (Saturday) morning so I can then relax the rest of the weekend.

I've gone through and updated my resume and now I'm working on a more "personal" type of cover letter.  We'll see if I get any interviews.  *crossing my fingers*  For tonight, I'm looking forward to a nice dinner and movie with my spouse. 

Jane

Playing Hide And Seek, Mostly Seek

I keep checking the internal website for new job postings, but nothing good.  :(  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving so I can get away for a few days and try not to think about work!

Jane

To Look Or Not To Look?

That's the question for me lately.  There's a part of me who says I should be looking for something now (both outside the company and inside) so I can be safe and have a job and benefits.  But then there's a part of me who wants to just play it out and see what comes of the whole change.  Then at the end of our run either see what positions may be available or just grab my severance and take the summer off, lol.  We'll see, but for now I have time to think about it.  But I can tell I will be spending quite a bit of time thinking about this. 

It's only been a few weeks, but some of us are taking bets on who will be the first to jump ship.  My money is on one of the leaders.  :p  Me I'll be sitting in the band playing on the deck of the ship for a while. 

Jane

More Than A Feeling

When we were given the announcement of the closing, they told us everyone at our facility was included.  I'm beginning to get the feeling the top boss here is "safe".  Not that it really matters.  But why hide it?  There must be more of a master plan than they let on.

Jane

Not So Manic Monday

Mondays have been particularly tough since the announcement.  It's hard to stay motivated and focus.  Not just for me, I can see it in everyone else too.  This makes for some long days, that's for sure.

I think having 6-9 months before the official "close" is more of a curse than anything.  I mean, I'll keep busy and do my job.  I find the easiest way to deal with it, if you can call it easy, is to keep busy doing a lot of work.  It helps the day go by faster and keeps my mind off the elephant in the room.

I'm trying to find out some information from HR about what would be in store if I were to wait until the end and get severance.  Things like, if I have vacation and sick time, will I get paid out for both?  I want to stay with the company, but I'm the kind of person who does better with these situations when I have all the details. 

Jane

Welcome! Err, goodbye?

Welcome. Welcome to what could very well be the end of my career at my current company. You see, a few weeks ago we were told the Company was closing the facility where I currently work. I suppose we were all lucky in that they didn't tell us go to home right then and there. I've seen that scenario play out with others I know who worked for the Company. Not this time though, we were given 6-9 months time.  And no other information. Great.

So now the facility of 150+ employees, including myself have an uncertain future. And with the little information we've received so far, all we can do is wonder and hope for what's to come. All the vague notification gave us is more questions.

I figured what better way to chronicle my personal journey to unemployment. I hope you enjoy my thoughts and experiences and get a little insight to what happens when an average Jane could become unemployed. Please feel free to leave your comments and thoughts.

Jane