Hello Goodbye

Nine-thirty Monday morning. My boss's boss was on the phone and wanted to speak to me. When? "Now would be fine."

No good could come from this. He was based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and had no reason to be in California today, especially since he has only one employee out here - me.

My heart racing, I proceeded next door, and entering into his guest office heard my boss (also Charlotte-based) on the speakerphone. At that point I knew: my 28 year career at MegaBank (sic) was at an end.

Sure enough, hewing to the classic format, he monologued about the extreme financial difficulties (last quarter the bank earned many billions) that led to this decision. Some roles were being deemphasized and outsourced to India, but the good news is I had 60 days before this took effect so that I could train the people taking my job.

Most of the rest I didn't catch - I felt like an observer seeing this happen, like watching a movie, my eyes and ears way ahead of my brain in registering my termination. Instead, I was getting snagged on little irritants: he mentioned my "27 year career" and the possibility of being "bridged to retirement and a full pension" (they threw out pensions 20 years ago here). At least if they were going to lay me off I deserved a veteran Grim Reaper not an amateur!

I broke it to my family next. It was not totally unexpected - working in a large organization it seems like there's an annual wave of layoffs - but up until now I had been one of the lucky ones. So although they were surprised, they knew it was one of those things that could happen eventually.

From a family standpoint the timing is awful. My oldest son, 18, is going to college this fall, and immediately realized his first choice school would no longer be feasible financially. My younger son, 14, is quite excited to enter the private high school that all his classmates are going to. The combined education bills we are facing will make this the most expensive four years of our lives. My wife has a part-time job with no benefits, so we are dependent on my no-longer-existent job.

Normally a sound sleeper, I lay in bed totally awake, overwhelmed with scenario after scenario running through my head. I got up, watched TV for awhile, but nothing helped until my brain finally gave up around 3:30 AM.

Technorati Tags: layoffs, outsourcing