Worst time to get fired

[soccerdad72]

I chose "other" because I got laid off 2 weeks after I closed on my house.

Years ago, while movers were in our house packing up our furniture to move into our new house, I grabbed the newspaper to find a headline talking about my company laying off like 30% of our staff. A couple days later, I found out I was one of those RIF'ed.

 

[jliehr]

These were college jobs, had left for winter break and was scheduled to come back on 12/26. Ran off a slick road heading in and wasn’t going to make it in time for my shift, called in and was told over the phone that they had laid off a bunch of staff post holidays with no severance at all.

My next job was at a restaurant and 2 years later I worked New Years Eve until about 1:30 AM or so, woke up at 7:00 am getting a call from my then girlfriend asking if I knew what happened, turns out the restaurant closed for good that night as I left as the owners sold the prime real estate and cashed out and took out an add in the local paper thanking everyone for their 50+ years in business. They called us in later that morning to explain and at least gave us a couple of weeks pay.

 

[bcla]

Voted "other".

I've been laid off twice a couple of weeks after vacation and once right before. With the former, there were extenuating circumstances with one (9/11) but it certainly didn't make the layoff any better.

I have another "other". I got my 2 month notice when my wife was about 6 months pregnant. I was there for years. Our company brought in someone to reduce the budget and I was worried to some extent. My manager (worked remotely) called me directly to tell me the bad news. Then the director of my group came to me to apologize. Everyone knew that my wife was pregnant and he said that he tried to fight hard to keep me there, and that he couldn't sleep for days knowing that I'd be gone. I don't believe it was an insurance related issue either as I ended up getting COBRA to access our benefits. We weren't that large so no way were we self-funded. However, we had a pretty good group plan.

There were a few awkward moments. Once I brought my wife in after hours, which wasn't a problem. She'd actually worked at my company part time, so a lot of people knew her. The former CEO (became COO) saw me and wanted to apologize for the layoff. It was really odd when the new CEO saw me one morning and just casually asked "So how's it going?" I don't think he knew who I was, even though he had been the one calling for my layoff.

However, I was there for that 2 months just doing a few things. It was well understood that I would be looking for a job, so I could even go into a conference room to handle a phone interview. I've been in a few cases where I knew it was going to end (a couple were contract assignments) and it gets kind of odd knowing that you still have to show up even if they didn't really expect anything.

 

[dclpluto]

I think it would be worst if you had just come down with a serious illness, whether cancer, Covid, whatever. The combination of stress from being ill, losing medical coverage and losing income would be incredible.

if you had a serious illness. Common sense will be to keep your insurance and pay the cobra.

 

[design_mom]

I got laid off right after Christmas (between Christmas and New Years) once and that sucked... but I did have a nice Christmas and I hadn't spent so much that I couldn't pay my bills. I agree that right before Christmas would be worse because it would ruin Christmas (but it would give you a chance to make "adjustments" to your spending on gifts, I guess.)

I once got laid off while ON vacation. That was the worst (so I voted "other.") And, the message sounded so friendly that I assumed (incorrectly) that my boss was calling with a quick question about a project. "HI Kim. I hate to bother you on vacation, but please give me a quick call back as soon as you get this message. Thanks! Talk to you soon."

She was not a good boss. And the news was given with such a cheerful (callous?) attitude, too. "There's been a 'reduction in force.' Several in our department were affected including you. I'll e-mail you the separation info -- and I need you to sign the form that says I told you and fax it back. But then, go enjoy the rest of your vacation and we can talk about it more on Monday." Um...

 

[fla4fun]

if you had a serious illness. Common sense will be to keep your insurance and pay the cobra.

If you can afford to. The last time I was out of work, I had to move back home with my parents because it took my entire unemployment check each month to cover Cobra. I was out of work 9 months, and unemployment only lasted 6 months (this was before Florida reduced it to 3 months) so I had to borrow money from them for the remaining time after my savings ran out. I was very lucky I had that option. I would not have it now, and neither do many others. I haven’t had to look at the marketplace for insurance, but I hope they have options that cost less than Cobra, and that allow for pre-existing conditions.

 

[bcla]

I got laid off right after Christmas (between Christmas and New Years) once and that sucked... but I did have a nice Christmas and I hadn't spent so much that I couldn't pay my bills. I agree that right before Christmas would be worse because it would ruin Christmas (but it would give you a chance to make "adjustments" to your spending on gifts, I guess.)

I once got laid off while ON vacation. That was the worst (so I voted "other.") And, the message sounded so friendly that I assumed (incorrectly) that my boss was calling with a quick question about a project. "HI Kim. I hate to bother you on vacation, but please give me a quick call back as soon as you get this message. Thanks! Talk to you soon."

She was not a good boss. And the news was given with such a cheerful (callous?) attitude, too. "There's been a 'reduction in force.' Several in our department were affected including you. I'll e-mail you the separation info -- and I need you to sign the form that says I told you and fax it back. But then, go enjoy the rest of your vacation and we can talk about it more on Monday." Um...

I read the book The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. The subject there wasn't quite losing a job but when the families of test pilots received the news that their father/husband had died. It had to be a man, and it had to be someone coming straight to the door of the family. Whenever that person drove by, people were hoping that it wasn't for them.

That being said, any time I was ever informed that my services were no longer needed, it was always with seriousness.

 

[kdonnel]

The company I previously worked for had annual layoffs sometime between Halloween and Christmas.

I survived for 25 years. Saw many people get let go.

My number finally came up last year at Halloween. It certainly put a damper on Thanksgiving. Luckily I got offered a job the week before Christmas and really got to enjoy Christmas and New Years.

A follow up thread could be: When is the best time to get a new job?

 

[RogueX]

My husband was let go from his job at a moving company just days after our daughter was born prematurely. She was in the NICU for a short time and I was recovering from the emergency c-section in the hospital when he got the news. I had been on bed rest most of my pregnancy with complications, so the majority of my salary was lost and I later found out that my immediate supervisor was trying to find a way to get rid of me because I had passed the FMLA covered amount of time.

Fortunately, a friend of my husband's had just gotten a new job flyimg for a different company and strongly recommended him for his replacement. Two weeks after he was flying for traffic reports.

 

[Micca]

I had to fire someone under some dire circumstances. He had just gotten divorced and was in the process of having a new home built. Firing someone is an awful thing to do and I hated doing it under the circumstances, but unfortunately he made a major blunder at work.

 

[tvguy]

I got let go on December 17th, 4 months after my oldest started at a private (expensive) University. One of the worst feelings I have ever experienced.
Company had been sold 7 months earlier, I was number 56 out of 58 that were let go out of 110 employees. But I can't complain. I got 32 weeks severance pay. Within 3 hours I had a tentative job offer at a competitor......I had to wait for the HR person to comeback from vacation to setup the drug test. I got let go on a Thursday, and started my new job the next Thursday.

 

[ronandannette]

I chose "other" because I got laid off 2 weeks after I closed on my house.

I work in residential construction and I can't even count how many people I know of who have been laid off just shortly before they were to take possession of their new homes. I'm not sure about there, but in Canada most mortgage rules generally require there be no material change in circumstances between the time of approval and the time the funds transfer. In other words, the buyers no longer qualified for their loans and therefore didn't get their houses.

I had to fire someone under some dire circumstances. He had just gotten divorced and was in the process of having a new home built. Firing someone is an awful thing to do and I hated doing it under the circumstances, but unfortunately he made a major blunder at work.

I hire-and-fire too, and it's impossible not to "know too much" about individual employees and their situations. It's a gut-wrencher every time and really, there are few work-a-day people that aren't devastated by job loss. Even those employees that I'm glad to see the end of, for professional reasons, I feel terribly bad for personally.

 

[Kittyblue]

I suppose I'd rather know before Christmas, in case I'd need to budget gifts or cancel travel plans.

 

[bcla]

I hire-and-fire too, and it's impossible not to "know too much" about individual employees and their situations. It's a gut-wrencher every time and really, there are few work-a-day people that aren't devastated by job loss. Even those employees that I'm glad to see the end of, for professional reasons, I feel terribly bad for personally.

I had a part-time/summer/college job. I didn't have a full course load at college so I might once or twice a week there during the school year and 40 hours during the summer. I also worked there a few months between finishing my undergrad and grad school.

However, there were a couple of firings. These weren't layoffs. They weren't termination due to poor performance. They were flat out firings for doing something incredibly stupid. Once the boss found that one of our sales guys mentioned that a competitor was cheaper. Everyone found out about it before the guy who got fired, and we all made sure that we weren't around to witness it.

Another time a coworker had brought a woman into the office after clubbing. Apparently they used the sofa that was in the boss's corner office. Then the boss got in early the next day, saw something on the sofa (I won't get graphic) and then found something in the bathroom. He then went down to ask for the after hours check-in to see who might have come to the office. He found out who it was and then had his firing prepared. Again, nearly everyone around the office found out about it but him, and we all knew to get out early so we didn't have to be around. I heard that later he came back once to visit, but he was tipped off that the boss wouldn't be there. During regular working hours it was easy to just get in and out without any entry controls.

 

[starvenger]

However, I was there for that 2 months just doing a few things. It was well understood that I would be looking for a job, so I could even go into a conference room to handle a phone interview. I've been in a few cases where I knew it was going to end (a couple were contract assignments) and it gets kind of odd knowing that you still have to show up even if they didn't really expect anything.

Yeah the last few weeks at the end of a contract is weird. Some places want you to work up until the end. Other places ignore you even though you WANT to do something.

But to your other point, I actually spent two extra years at a job where another company basically bought us for the IP and most of us knew that we'd get laid off in due course. This was actually the job where I was laid off before my vacation.

 

[bcla]

Yeah the last few weeks at the end of a contract is weird. Some places want you to work up until the end. Other places ignore you even though you WANT to do something.

But to your other point, I actually spent two extra years at a job where another company basically bought us for the IP and most of us knew that we'd get laid off in due course. This was actually the job where I was laid off before my vacation.

Once I could have just sleepwalked through it, but I had at least a little bit of pride. I didn't want to leave on a bad note. I later found out that the owner of the company gave me a pretty good recommendation later on, so my dedication must have been apparent. I'd never been to the main HQ but worked out of a local office or from home. On the second to last day I checked our the weekly company presentations even though it was optional. I didn't really do much the last day other than just sit around the office. The final day is usually just a last hurrah.

I've never been through any kind of terminal where security was brought in to make sure that nothing was stolen or vandalized on the way out. I've heard of it happening, but never any place I was working. The mass layoff I mentioned earlier, with our 60 days notice period, if we had done anything crazy on the way out we could have been immediately terminated for a violation, loss of severance, and probably loss of that retention bonus were were offered for staying on.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Dh was laid off once, a month after we moved states for a company, in 2001. He worked for them in two other previous states, and had transferred both times at the companies request. The 2nd transfer was requested by the 3rd office almost a year prior; when the transfer was sent through, no one knew the 3rd office would be closing in 2 months, except for two guys higher up the food chain. Neither one knew anything about DH's transfer or any details other than 'that office eats money and spits out trash' (which is why they wanted DH in to help fix it). He got 4 weeks severance and cashed out 3 weeks of vacation. He took two weeks off and didn't do a thing, then started looking; found a new job about a week later.
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I was laid off once, after working for a company for abour 4 months, at the end of March 2009. They were downsizing and my boss could either take my position and stay, or she could go find another job, as her position was being removed. She'd never worked for any other company (started in high school, stayed through college, and worked her way up) so...bye B&B! Less than 6 weeks later....DH was laid off from his job....a job we moved to FL for, just over a year earlier. He was cut in the 5th round of layoffs for that company. Neither one of us could find a job, and if it hadn't been for his disability payments kicking, we would not have made it on our unemployment. Catholic Charities paid for our rent twice and electric once, and we used the food bank on several occasions. We qualified for food stamps for 2 months (took that long to get approved, because of so many people being out of work), and Medicaid for the kids.

I couldn't find a position anywhere. I tried everywhere, but even McD's and Walmart turned me down...the reason from the manager at McD's to me "you are too qualified for a regular position; and I like my job." Yeah, he was worried I would come in and end up taking over, lol. (Yes, I DID manage a McD's about 15 years before, but only as 2nd. ) The Walmart was brand new, opening up, and had over 10000 applicants for 1000-1500 jobs.

DH was out of steady work for almost a year but he found a contract position with a company that his company had used for software. All they could offer were part time contract spots, as they were also losing clients, thanks to the recession. The owner made sure our kids had a few gifts under the tree (as Toys for Tots and Salvation Army were struggling to get enough to cover the massive amount of people looking for help; we missed the cutoff by just a teeny bit), made sure we had food, gave us two company cell phones, and got DH a company car for 6 months with gas card, to get us by. He found a position in his field in March 2010, and introduced the new company to the software company that helped us out so much. as a way of thanks. They ended up with a new $$$$$$$ contract, and had to hire several people to work on that account alone.

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Any time is a bad time to be laid off. There is always something going on in one's life that makes the layoff inconvenient and/or life altering.

 

[mom2rtk]

You needed "in the middle of a pandemic" on your list. Any job loss in the midst of large scale national job losses is the worst. Because so many people are then chasing so few job openings.

 

[mom2rtk]

if you had a serious illness. Common sense will be to keep your insurance and pay the cobra.

Sure you would. But that's particularly challenging without an income.

 

[GreatLakes]

During or right before a major illness would be the worst but since those are rare I'd go with right before Christmas. I'd rather make it through Christmas happy and then get the news at the end of the year than the other way around. Of course I really don't want either.