Relief and Sadness

Today was a very sad day for some 40 of people where I work. They were laid-off today. Fortunately, I was not one of them. Despite my relief for being "safe." I cannot help but feel a great deal of sadness for all of those people.

I was in their shoes about seventeen months ago. It was a terrible feeling. For me, I felt like a complete failure; that I had somehow caused the layoff. That simply was not true. I was laid off because business was bad - non-existent really. The owner was getting away from Technical Writing and into Information Management. She had a tough decision to make, and I was on the wrong end of that decision.

Today's layoff was a similar situation. People were laid off because business is not what the share holders would like it to be. Good people lost their jobs because of that. I feel terrible for my unemployed colleagues and their families. It is a crappy time to be unemployed - not that it is ever really a good time.

Good Luck to all of those affected by today's layoff.