The "Kick" and The Kaboodle

I LOVE JOBSCHMOB..... Without it, my family would be soooo sick of hearing my "woe-is-me" that they would put me on a block of melting ice and float me somewhere off the Alaskan pipeline.

Here's my schmob:

My job was basically OUTSOURCED right from under my nose. The strangest thing is that I had a Sixth Sense that this was happening. I was told by friends and family to not think the worst. "Girl, don't worry. You're valuable... the job and the world is lucky to have you".

Still, I couldn't turn a blind eye to the closed door meetings that my boss and some of the "new staff" and a "consultant" were having. I was not a part of those meetings --- except this one time when they wanted me to join them with a timeline for my projects so that I could share with the newly hired "consultant" the volume of work that I do in one year.

I was told that this is my time to shine. That ALL staff are are being asked to meet with the consultant and do this "little excercise" so that our company can PLAN better and meet our deadlines. (Between you, me and GOD, I NEVER had a problem making my "deadlines" nor have I ever received any complaints). To me, this "little excercise" of sharing systems smelled like a room full of bad feet!

Still, I kept my friendly face and left my attitude in my purse. I was the POSTER GIRL for Good Employee and wore my crown of MISS TEAMPLAYER USA.

After this meeting, the "distance" from the boss, directors AND the consultant went to a whole new echelon. I felt like a ghost at the company. In looking back, I believe that I went through basically a month of erratic behavior. THEN out of nowhere.... the boss picked up this habit of yelling ---- YELLING ----- at me. Email memos from the boss and directors were being sent to me daily and bcc-ed to others. I was being chastised in these emails for things that made absolutely no sense --- and still don't. My boss sent a nasty email to me and copied others --- and I reponded and clearly proved that he had been misinformed. He agreed. Meanwhile, the orginal RANT email from him still exists with a copy to others).

Don't get me wrong --- I am an EXCELLENT worker. YOU would be fortunate to have me at your company. I'm fun, caring, dependable, responsible and get the job done with EVERYONE coming out smelling good, feeling good and looking fine.

I felt that if I spoke up about how I was being treated, things would get worse. So, I kept my mouth closed and decided to crank up my productivity level to an all new ultra-super-sonic high. I thought things would get better when they are reminded just how damned good that I am.

My "new energy" resulted in another directors meeting to discuss my yearly schedule -- this time, with the consultant taking notes and asking for copies of things. I was complimented left and right. It felt like a ticker-tape parade was gonna breakout in my honor at any given moment. I didn't gloat. But honestly, this is how I like to be treated -- with respect, recognition and dignity.

So here, I sit on a beautiful afternoon. I'm at home. The consultant and his team are doing 80% of my job. The rest has been divvied-up amongst the company's remaining back-stabbers.

I should get over it and move on ... but I'm still so frikkin' angry. I keep going through all the shouldah, wouldah, couldah. But no matter how I spin it, things still would have turned out this way. OUTSOURCED.

POST A COMMENTlabtech(05/07/2008)
Yep, it hurts like the dickens, doesn't it, getting cut like that. I wish I could tell you that someday you'll get over it - but I still remember getting laid off from a job I loved. Treat the next one as "just a job" - even if you're there for 25 years - and never invest any personal feelings in the workplace. Those rats are all out for the bottom line, and someone's nephew will take your job over in a heartbeat. Keep your chin up, sister - the best revenge is getting back out there and doing well.

CK(05/07/2008)
One of the first signs is when you get pulled into meetings that you normally don't go to, second sign is when you became invisable to everyone and not being in meetings that you normally go to. What comes to mind is "WARNING WILL ROBINSON! WARNING! WARNING!"

I know that you have a time of mourning (just like death) but you have to get this OUT of you faster than pea soup and Linda Blair. Get a hold of you former co-workers, bosses, and anyone else up the food chain and get a letter of recommendation! Swallow your pride, get your chin off the ground, hold your head HIGH and ask! What's the worse that can say? - "No?" So what! At least you tried! See if there is a severence package if it's not too late. And do the same thing with any former clients!

Next get your resume ready if you haven't already (NEVER get caught without an updated resume!). If you need to write one then go to the local Library and READ, READ and READ resume books! And if that is not enough go to the local bookstore and do the same! At least at the bookstore will have the latest and greatest available books!

After you are done with the resume, ask others (friends) to review it and any input that they have. Explain to then to be as critical as they can be and not being 'nice' because 'nice' won't help you get a job! But remember this - you still need to get your resume out there ASAP. There may, and will be newer additions and improvements to your resume so don't stress over perfection (except for spelling and grammer).

Also checkout the books that I have recommended in the past - they will help in marketing YOU! Again, the library and bookstore come in handy.

As to help you with your resume - I would recommend Resume Maker Professional Ultimate or Pro ($37.99 & $29.99 respectively) - but it is my opinion of WinWay Resume may be considered 'unprintable' for this site. Now granted that software can only do so much - hence the resume books to get the look and feel that YOU want to portray to the employer.

Last is dress - but you have to make that choice. Jewelry should always be kept at a minimum - guys too!

Best of luck on your job search. Just think of this a a new project - a project of 'you!'

BonusOnus(05/07/2008)
One thing I know is that if, out of the blue, your superiors ask you to train a person to do your job, you're gonna be replaced. Either laid off or replaced by an outsourced company.

I got laid off once and I saw it coming a mile away. We hired a junior person and I was in charge of training her. I trained her on the product, the tools, etc. and she was working on some areas that I was not working on. We weren't overlapping. But then a few months later, I noticed that she started working in the areas I was supposed to be working on. And my Director asked me to train her some more (wait, I thought I already trained her).

When my Director asked me to copy all my source code to another directory, one not in my workspace, I knew that was the end of the line for me. I actually went to my Director and confronted her and told her that I knew a layoff was coming and that I was on the list. She denied it and just said that this was to reorganize the code line.

I became more insistent and tried to negotiate a severance package. She got scared and called an HR person and the HR person threatened to fire me if I told anyone that there'd be layoffs. I told my Director that I'd like to get this over with, that getting laid off sooner rather than later would be best for me since it would just be over with rather than be hanging over my head and causing me stress. I also asked her what she wanted me to do in the next couple of weeks to make things easier. And she asked me to make sure my junior partner could do my work (hint hint).

I started preparing - updated my resume (but this was 6 months after 9/11 and the dot com bust so no jobs out there). I cleaned out my cube of all my personal things and asked an IT guy to copy all my personal emails to a DVD so I could take it home. He asked me why I was doing this and I just told him that I wanted to archive my emails.

I cooperated and didn't cause a stink. The Director appreciated it and even though I was laid off in April, they kept me on the payroll (but no salary) so I'd vest my last grant of stock options. She was nice to me and she actually laid me off in person one day before the official layoff. She went to HR with me and I turned my badge over and signed the release paper for my severance. The next day, the people who got laid off weren't treated so personally.

But it came at a price - the IT guy who helped me burn the DVD got laid off too. He was shocked he got laid off. He got mad at me because he said I should have told him a layoff was coming. I told him I couldn't because I was threatened with termination. The layoff was a surprise to him and the pressure of it caused his pregnant wife to go into labor early and cause medical problems.

To this day, I feel really bad about this.

Dumber than a Catbox full of sh*t(05/08/2008)
CK--as an English teacher much appreciate your allusions to --especially iconic pop culture:)

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JobSchmobber Community Comments

Dumber than a Catbox full of sh*t (05/07/2008) This is awful! I'm sorry. Although everyday I have to live with the fact that I am a more pessimistic-as opposed to optimistic--person. But I am grateful for my pessimistic bend because it keeps my suspicion alive and allows me to try to stay ahead of the game. Trust your gut. Unfortunately, had you trusted your gut feeling you would have been at least able to limit the info and/or your tips and/or tried-and-true ways of getting things done well that only someone who has done the job would know. Do not trust the higher-ups at Work. Promise this to yourself.