Getting Laid Off
Sadly I’ve been hit with a layoff, but since the whole company is closing its doors, am I really being laid off or just out of a job? Anyway, this is only the second time I’ve been laid off, the first being back in the 80’s working for Teleflex in NH, and believe me, it was the best thing that happened to me at the time. This layoff, well, it sucks.
I know a lot of people have been affected by layoffs recently and it sucks for them as well, but at my age, it really interrupts life and the plans I had for the future. If you’ve read through my blog you know I was in the process of getting an RV so I could travel around the country more and potentially work from the road…it was a plan anyway. This blog was started to document that journey and now a big part of it is put on hold.
When I started this blog it was about documenting my camper journey as so many have done before me, but over time I realized as a single man, the stories of my life would be lost and so this blog started to become more about my life than just one piece of it, but back to getting laid off.
I am fortunate that I didn’t lose my paycheck immediately. There’s a New Jersey law; this is where my company’s corporate office is located, which went into place not too long ago that if there are mass layoffs, employees need to be paid for 90 days after the notice, then severance would kick in after the 90 days. What’s that mean for me? Well, I get paid thru July 26, then I get one additional week of severance. When I heard this, the shock of potentially losing the paycheck immediately was softened, but this would mean I needed to get my resume/portfolio in order to try to get a new job.
When you get laid off you go through a wave of emotions especially if it’s not expected like the 1,000s of people who have been let go last and this year. In this environment, it seems like I’ll never find another job. When I go to apply and see that already 200 people have applied how will my resume get noticed? I often wonder why? But I have to now, I sadly can’t retire and the bills still need to be paid.
I finally contacted Escape Trailers to let them know about my situation and they were completely understanding and so I put in a postponement until next year. This should give me time to get a new job and figure things out more.
So what do I do with my days? So far not a lot, just saying. I literally have no work to do but need to log in every day to check email and if there are any chats with the team, but I have been mostly lazy. I think a bit of depression has set in, hopefully working through it as I do need to get my resume out there. When I quit Kohl’s in 2021, it took me 9 months to find a job and that was definitely in a better job environment.
Well, here’s hoping something will come about sooner than later and to whatever my next adventure will be…can I just retire already? The question I have is, are blog posts allowed to be this short?