ead79
<font color=#FF0066>Disney Bride!<br><font color=v
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2000
- Messages
- 10,436
...and I am so sad. I was downsized, not fired, but I still feel as sad.
Here is the deal, as best I understand it from a few different sources. I started working for the company about 18 months ago. It had a 40% turnover rate, but lots of that seemed to be disgruntled employees. As I discovered through the course of working there, lots of those disgruntled employees became disgruntled from being treated unfairly. I worked as a marketing assistant alongside 2 other marketing people. Then last spring one of the marketing people quit. Well, she hated her new job and came back to the company the very next week. Before I knew it, they had promoted her to marketing coordinator and given her a raise! Now, this blew me away because (and I promise I'm not exaggerating) I did double the work she did, and I did it in half the time. Oh well, that bothered me, but I continued on trying to do a good job. I got a new boss, who was really nice, but had requirements that were a little too high (she wanted me to do the work level of a marketing manager, when I was just an assistant, not even a coordinator). I had a review from her that was glowing, but she still wanted to wait a bit before promoting me to marketing coordinator. I kept on working hard. Fast forward to last week. I wrote her a memo for my HR file that responded to her job guidelines for me to get a promotion (I basically outlined that I had met every requirement for the promotion). She seemed to agree with me, but she said that she wasn't allowed to make any promotions/changes in the marketing department until upper management released the results of the HUGE strategic planning session (that they had promised would be done back in December). She said to just hang on until the end of this month, and she would see what she could do. Now, on to what happened yesterday. I go to work as usual, then the HR lady calls me into her office. When I get there my boss is in there with the HR lady. I can tell right away that my boss looked petrified and sad. She starts off telling me that they had released a tiny part of the strategic planning info to her, and the company had decided to eliminate my position. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I didn't see this coming from a million miles away! Then they tell me that I have been downsized, that I was not "fired for cause" so it wasn't performance related. Gee, that makes me feel great (note sarcastic tone of voice). As it turns out, my boss (who I do like) didn't even know that she was going to have to let me go until that very morning. I actually felt sorry for her, as they didn't give her the choice of which marketing person to let go. My boss knows that I do twice the work of the other marketing girl, and I'm really quite sure that if it were in my boss' hands, she would have downsized the other girl. I am heartbroken of course. I was way overqualified for my position as it was, and now for this to happen makes it worse. What made it the very worst of all was how I was treated. The HR lady said she wanted to help me pack my stuff (oh yes, they were kind enough to boot me right on out on my backside), which really made me feel like a criminal. What was I going to do, try to steal my computer or something?!?! If you know me at all, you know I would NEVER do anything like that no matter how they treated me. My boss and her boss are furious! They can't believe that upper management just decided this without their input, and they can't believe that the result of the much-touted strategic planning session was deciding to downsize. My company made a profit last year, so it's not like they are hurting and need to downsize. Upper management just needed to make some changes in the way they did things, but I guess it's easier for them to let people go than to be mature enough to make necessary changes themselves. It would appear that my boss and her boss are strongly considering resigning, and this situation may be the final push in that direction.
On a personal level, this of course stresses me out. My DH is still in school, so I was the primary bread winner. Now we don't have enough to pay the bills. I am blessed beyond all comprehension with a wonderfully supportive family however. My grandmother has loaned us money that will keep us afloat for a while. I am hopefully getting an interview for a marketing position at my dad's company in the coming weeks. I am just really hurting right now, but I am refusing to have a pity party. So many of you have reminded me what's really important. I will be fine, I will be able to pay my bills. I have a loving husband, family, and most importantly a loving Savior who has a plan for my life. I just could really use some extra prayers right now, and I knew where I could find some--my wonderful DIS buddies.
Forgive my long, rambling post. (With special apologies to Pop Daddy.)
Here is the deal, as best I understand it from a few different sources. I started working for the company about 18 months ago. It had a 40% turnover rate, but lots of that seemed to be disgruntled employees. As I discovered through the course of working there, lots of those disgruntled employees became disgruntled from being treated unfairly. I worked as a marketing assistant alongside 2 other marketing people. Then last spring one of the marketing people quit. Well, she hated her new job and came back to the company the very next week. Before I knew it, they had promoted her to marketing coordinator and given her a raise! Now, this blew me away because (and I promise I'm not exaggerating) I did double the work she did, and I did it in half the time. Oh well, that bothered me, but I continued on trying to do a good job. I got a new boss, who was really nice, but had requirements that were a little too high (she wanted me to do the work level of a marketing manager, when I was just an assistant, not even a coordinator). I had a review from her that was glowing, but she still wanted to wait a bit before promoting me to marketing coordinator. I kept on working hard. Fast forward to last week. I wrote her a memo for my HR file that responded to her job guidelines for me to get a promotion (I basically outlined that I had met every requirement for the promotion). She seemed to agree with me, but she said that she wasn't allowed to make any promotions/changes in the marketing department until upper management released the results of the HUGE strategic planning session (that they had promised would be done back in December). She said to just hang on until the end of this month, and she would see what she could do. Now, on to what happened yesterday. I go to work as usual, then the HR lady calls me into her office. When I get there my boss is in there with the HR lady. I can tell right away that my boss looked petrified and sad. She starts off telling me that they had released a tiny part of the strategic planning info to her, and the company had decided to eliminate my position. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I didn't see this coming from a million miles away! Then they tell me that I have been downsized, that I was not "fired for cause" so it wasn't performance related. Gee, that makes me feel great (note sarcastic tone of voice). As it turns out, my boss (who I do like) didn't even know that she was going to have to let me go until that very morning. I actually felt sorry for her, as they didn't give her the choice of which marketing person to let go. My boss knows that I do twice the work of the other marketing girl, and I'm really quite sure that if it were in my boss' hands, she would have downsized the other girl. I am heartbroken of course. I was way overqualified for my position as it was, and now for this to happen makes it worse. What made it the very worst of all was how I was treated. The HR lady said she wanted to help me pack my stuff (oh yes, they were kind enough to boot me right on out on my backside), which really made me feel like a criminal. What was I going to do, try to steal my computer or something?!?! If you know me at all, you know I would NEVER do anything like that no matter how they treated me. My boss and her boss are furious! They can't believe that upper management just decided this without their input, and they can't believe that the result of the much-touted strategic planning session was deciding to downsize. My company made a profit last year, so it's not like they are hurting and need to downsize. Upper management just needed to make some changes in the way they did things, but I guess it's easier for them to let people go than to be mature enough to make necessary changes themselves. It would appear that my boss and her boss are strongly considering resigning, and this situation may be the final push in that direction.
On a personal level, this of course stresses me out. My DH is still in school, so I was the primary bread winner. Now we don't have enough to pay the bills. I am blessed beyond all comprehension with a wonderfully supportive family however. My grandmother has loaned us money that will keep us afloat for a while. I am hopefully getting an interview for a marketing position at my dad's company in the coming weeks. I am just really hurting right now, but I am refusing to have a pity party. So many of you have reminded me what's really important. I will be fine, I will be able to pay my bills. I have a loving husband, family, and most importantly a loving Savior who has a plan for my life. I just could really use some extra prayers right now, and I knew where I could find some--my wonderful DIS buddies.
Forgive my long, rambling post. (With special apologies to Pop Daddy.)
Glad you have such an upbeat attitude and a great support system.....that really helps!!
The guy who told me is about 6'4" and a good bit over 200 pounds. The chances of me trying to hurt him were pretty slim.
What were they thinking? Well, it's their loss.
Once again, there's always next year!
