Have you or your SO ever been laid off?

[bbbamI]

A question to the group...... If my portfolio drops another 30% - 40% and I decide I need to go back to work, will that count as being laid off from being FIRE'd? Or will that be getting fired from being FIRE'd?

I think that will mean going up in smoke..........

 

[whitestick]

I guess I was really unlucky or a terrible worker, not sure which.
Was laid off from Electrical Union in late '60s, Large telecom company early '70s, Mega-Corp (telecom division) early '80s, Mid-size telecom late '80s, and once from Mega-Corp IT services in late '90s, after which I was rehired two days later into different division - same company and subsequently RE 2007. Longest time off was 3 months in early '80s but due to severance, actually turned out to be 2 weeks on non-pay. Never was able to draw unemployment due to finding a replacement job before became eligible. Without exception I can state that every single time I came out better for it, with ultimately a better career move, and more money. There are silver linings on those dark clouds. At least that's the way it worked out for me.
Oh, and those lay offs don't include the ones in my younger days when I was doing crap jobs, and not really trying. Statement above held true for them as well.
Guess I was just a really bad worker or something.

 

[chinaco]

DW - Never. But now ERd. But she took a package partly because she feared it might happen.

I have never been laid off... but I have change jobs over my career several times. I left one company about a year or two before they were purchased... If had still been there when they sold out... I would have lost my job.

 

[donheff]

I got laid off in Houston in 1973. I decided to move back to Chicago where I was still enrolled on the substitute teacher rolls and the school janitor rolls so I didn't even have to do a job search. I liked staying on those rolls while I bummed around scuba diving and periodically working - it enabled me to look stable on my resume

 

[Fireup2020]

Dad was laid off from Aerojet in the 70's...I barely remember that...

 

[retire@40]

I've been trying to lay myself off for a few years with no success. Maybe if I sell my business to someone else, they can lay me off.

I haven't collected one penny of government money in my life. My guess is I'll have to wait until I'm 62 when I start collecting social security.

 

[Rustic23]

Do you consider a froced retirement a lay off? example: most military officer 04 may retire at 20 but if he does not make 05 must retire at 22. I would say he is laid off. This might change some of you answers.

 

[HFWR]

Eight or nine times, maybe more... It's hard to remember the 70s...

Twice by three different companies...

 

[Martha]

My spouse worked on Great Lakes ore carriers. He would get laid off each year at the end of the season.

 

[Nords]

Do you consider a froced retirement a lay off? example: most military officer 04 may retire at 20 but if he does not make 05 must retire at 22. I would say he is laid off. This might change some of you answers.

I don't remember the details, but I remember there being significant concern that we had to file for retirement (effective as of the mandatory date) or risk being "fired" with separation pay. It was probably an urban legend buried in Title X legislation and the post-DESERT STORM drawdowns, but I wasn't going to test the system.

I filed for retirement about five minutes into the one-year window. The week before terminal leave, when we were told that my relief wouldn't show up for at least another six months, my XO offered to ask that I be granted a two-year extension. IIRC that required the assignment officer to literally submit a request to Congress, but by then the submarine force was realizing that they'd cut a bit too deeply and they were desperate. I choked out an apology, got off the phone, sat around for five minutes laughing, and finally calmed down enough to thank him for the offer... but no thanks!

So technically I FIRE'd before I was [-]fired[/-] retired.

 

[noworkethic]

1969 - will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights. Anyone remember that one. -

Unclemick-

I left Seattle in 1973 and those signs were still up. I remember a seeing a billboard sized one on Pacific Highway as I was driving out of town. BTW, my dad was also working on the SST when it was canceled

 

[DangerMouse]

I've never been laid off, however my husband has been a few times.

The first was back in 91, however this was a stroke of good luck as he had been planning on resigning to take a year off and travel around Europe. So he managed to get a handy severance for that layoff.

He has also been let go a couple of times as a consultant. However, he has been fortunate in that he is very good with people so normally once someone finds he is available he has been able to get a new position without having to interview. It's the old who you know not what you know in his industry.

 

[Midpack]

DW twice, but she found work quickly both times. Me, not yet...

 

[Koolau]

I've never been laid off (or fired - small case)

Oh, that's good news.

No, that's bad news. My Co. felt free to insist I take any assignment. Even one for which I had no schooling, training, aptitude or interest - and be graded against those who had all the above.

Oh, that's bad news.

No, that's good news. That's when I decided I would retire as soon as I possibly could.

Oh, that's good news.

No that's bad news. Once I actually settled into the new job and decided to make it work so I could become FI, they put me in a job I not only was good at but liked - and I decided to stay.

Oh, that is bad news.

No, that's good news 'cause the same company then felt justified in pulling the fun job out from under me and giving me an even worse assignment than the original "bad" assinment. (we can do that 'cause we don't do layoffs!)

Wait. That sounds like bad news.

No, that's good news 'cause by then I was FI and the next week I was FIRE'd



Only wish this story could have happened sooner (especially the FI part). Once you're FI, the rest is good news.

 

[freebird5825]

I've never been laid off (or fired - small case)
Oh, that's good news.
No, that's bad news. My Co. felt free to insist I take any assignment. Even one for which I had no schooling, training, aptitude or interest - and be graded against those who had all the above.
Oh, that's bad news.
No, that's good news. That's when I decided I would retire as soon as I possibly could.
Oh, that's good news.
No that's bad news. Once I actually settled into the new job and decided to make it work so I could become FI, they put me in a job I not only was good at but liked - and I decided to stay.
Oh, that is bad news.
No, that's good news 'cause the same company then felt justified in pulling the fun job out from under me and giving me an even worse assignment than the original "bad" assinment. (we can do that 'cause we don't do layoffs!)
Wait. That sounds like bad news.
No, that's good news 'cause by then I was FI and the next week I was FIRE'd

Only wish this story could have happened sooner (especially the FI part). Once you're FI, the rest is good news.

what an excellent post. i think you captured the craziness that all w*rkplaces have.
in my case, the dreaded "other duties as assigned" in my j*b description rapidly became nightmares. all because i wouldn't sign off on things i knew were wrong and very close to illegal.

 

[Bimmerbill]

2002, LU, the bursting of the tech bubble.

 

[Gotadimple]

Once, in my first job after college, which wasn't even a full time gig. Found a more permanent position about 5 months later (Seattle was still suffering with the lights out in the early 1970's).

Although, I was hopeful of a second opportunity for reduction in force after about 15 years with the employer I found in the early 70's (mostly because it was a very rich benefit!). But it didn't happen, I had to quit instead -- it must have been that I didn't screw up enough to make the list -- or the RIF package was more $$$ then they wanted to spend.

I offered myself up for layoff mid-year last year (for similar $$$ reasons). Again, not screwing up enough didn't get me what I wanted. So I retired mid-year this year instead!

Where there is a will, there is a way!!!

 

[Gardnr]

Once, back in Oct '01. Laid off from United Airlines in the aftermath of 9/11. I did some sub-teaching and drove a school bus to help make ends meet for a few months, and then went on long active duty orders as a reservist. Ended up staying on orders for 6 years and retired this year. Went back to United this past summer and I'm getting laid off again in January. I'll get a whole month and a half of severance pay.

I'm going to FIRE (or semi-FIRE) after that. I'm planning to do some part time/occasional work of some sort for a while (over the next few years) to pad the wallet a bit more, but we can live on my pension on a modest budget for a modest lifestyle. But I need some more fresh money to stick into this market! Hopefully by that time it won't be doing it's apparent disappearing act every time it goes in.

I may go back to the flying game years from now when recalled, but I'll make that call at that time. Probably not, but who knows.

 

[harley]

Back in '86 I was so PO'ed at my MegaCorp that I was walking around telling people that if they offered me a six pack of beer as a seperation package I'd take it. They actually offered a really nice RIF package so I volunteered. Rejected. I was denied the opportunity to be laid off. It was humiliating. I tried again twice over the next 5 years. No go. By then, of course, I had enough seniority that retirement with pension and benefits was a distant but real possibility so I had to sweat the next half dozen layoffs. Finally in 2006 I had held on long enough to qualify for the bennies with the extra year of service they threw in with the RIF. So I volunteered again. I had to really work it and be obnoxious as hell, but I managed to get laid off and have been FIREd ever since (mostly). Sweet! I swear I worked harder to get laid off than I had been to stay.

This is not to discount the trauma anyone who has been laid off in less desirable circumstances feels. Even after demanding it, I felt a bit disjointed when it actually happened.

 

[chris2008]

I was on the layoff list twice, one time because the company moved and another one for downsizing. But both times I saw that coming and had just secured another job, so I made an offer to the old comp they could not resist and got a nice compensation on top.

 

[simple girl]

DH got laid off once in 1996. I was a full-time student at the time, so no income from my side. Eeeks! However, it ended up being the best thing that ever happenned to us. DH decided to finish his master's on a full-time basis. He had a severence package which lasted around 9 months, then got a TA position which paid his tuition completely plus gave us a stipend. We took out student loans and lived on macaroni and cheese and hotdogs for a few years. Ah, the good old days, LOL!

All this led to him getting into a new career path which he likes much better, and also led to a lot of adventure/travel in our lives.

It also taught us we can roll with the punches and do anything, as long as we are together. And, it taught us that sometimes really good things come out of what your originally thought was a really bad situation.

 

[Dreamer]

I voted that I had never been laid off. However, I was RIF'd while working for the Federal Gov. I worked my job on Friday and they had a new job waiting for me on Monday, so I did not count that as being unemployed. I started working for the gov as a GS-2, Step 1 not to exceed 90 days. I left a full-time state job (OH) to take the temporary job. I took early retirement from the feds 32 years and 8 months later. I guess it was a good decision to go with the feds, but I am still amazed that I left a full-time job for a NTE 90 day job. Its amazing what you will do when you are young!

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

1969 - will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights. Anyone remember that one.

I was there, Unk. It was real.

 

[davemartin88]

Twice, from General Motors in 1974, was working on the assembly line but thank goodness, i was let go and joined the Air Force or I may have stayed there!

Most recently, laid off from Verizon (MCI) on 10/3, better terms this time so decided to retire but have a job offer I'm considering, related to telecomm but not for a telecomm company. Won't know for sure if this pans out until early December. Really mixed feelings because I really like being retired but my plan had me working for a couple more years so may go back in order to stay on the same track!

 

[joesxm3]

I wasn't exactly laid off - it was more like fired.

I was working at Seven-Eleven as a clerk and also working at a Volkswagen dealer in the parts department because I was too loyal to my friends at Seven-Eleven to quit while they were short handed.

The guy from Southland Corporation came over and fired everyone in the store except for one guy because they thought that someone was stealing.

When I was called in to be told I was so relieved to be going down to only one job that I smiled, thanked him and shook his hand. You should have seen the look on his face when I did that.

Ironic thing was that unless it was the manager stealing we three workers knew that none of us were stealing so it would have had to be the guy that they kept.

I also had a period where my little start-up company ran out of money and stopped paying me - but I was dedicated enough (aka gullible enough) to keep working without pay while I did contract work. I guess that is sort of like a layoff.

By the time of the big programmer layoffs and downsizing I had switched to contract work. That turned out to be a benefit because they usually had to hire contractors after they realized that they layed off too many programmers.