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how many layoffs you got?
10-04-2013, 03:45 PM
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#1
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Austin
Posts: 375
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how many layoffs you got?
I was laid off 3 times during my 18 years’ work in electronics design. All due to the companies folded. Actually, all the companies (7 of them) I worked for in the Silicon Valley do not exist anymore.
I am not worried at all, despite of my track record. Actually DW retired in 2008 when we moved to TX. She is taking care of the kids now.
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10-04-2013, 03:49 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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I was never laid off, except by former girlfriends.
But I didn't face the situation that people do now.
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10-04-2013, 04:08 PM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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One -- the last one in April after almost 26 years without missing a paycheck in software development and IT. I consider myself "mostly" retired, and anything I choose to do for a few hours and a little spending money is just a "hobby" and for something to do, not a j*b. I can easily leave it if it starts getting unpleasant.
If I can find a relatively casual part-time gig in desktop support and repair for a few hours a week, I'm open to it. But I will never work a full-time corporate IT gig again. Ever. Just knowing I can say that and be OK financially puts a big smile on my face.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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10-04-2013, 04:15 PM
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#4
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,514
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I was laid off twice, both times in college. The first time, working in the dishroom, I thought I'd have to quit school. The other guys on the line each gave up a day so I could stay on, even though they needed the work just as badly, or even more. Never forgot them, or that. It helped shape my views and made a huge impact on my life.
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10-04-2013, 04:16 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: North Scottsdale
Posts: 1,545
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Never had any myself. Had to layoff more people than I care to recall though. Happiest days were when I got to bring them back.
Have an ex wife that I laid off too. That one wasn't so tough.
__________________
FIRE'D in July 2009 at 51...Never look back!
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10-04-2013, 04:17 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,201
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Never laid off. One time Megacorp decided to move our office to the corporate headquarters but offered those who did not go a pretty generous salary continuation (severance) package. Only one person out of 35 moved and the rest took the package, mostly because they didn't want to move to NYC area.
Actually in the 34 years that I worked, I never had a day unpaid. I had a couple weeks off between the 3 employers I had during my career (4 weeks in total) but I double dipped and collected salary continuation (aka severance) from one employer and salary from another for a couple months which offset the 4 weeks unpaid between employers. Lucky.
I also never had to hire a direct report despite being in management for much of my career. i inherited a lot of good people and few of them left, some were promoted or transferred but their subordinates were ready to move up. Only time I had to fire someone it was where one of our managers resigned, I was appointed acting manager for his unit and had to deal with a problem employee that he was in the process of firing but I did the final deed (didn't like it either). I also had to lay off one person during my career. It was a bit unfair that he wasn't a bad guy - just the weakest link of the chain. I didn't like that either.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
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10-04-2013, 04:22 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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This reminds me. My father (steelydad?) was told he had to choose which of two smart guys to lay off. His choice was to retire himself
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10-04-2013, 04:26 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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That probably felt good -- not just because he could afford it, but because it may have saved a job for someone who needed it more.
I was on a team where two people shared the duties of what I did. I know the guy who also did this work needed the job a lot more than I did -- he had a couple of kids, he had a mortgage and other obligations.... none of which I had. So in reality, it was much better that I got whacked than he did (I think the decision on which to get rid of was a pure salary dump, no more, no less).
I would have felt guilty if I stayed on when he was laid off, because I knew hee needed the job much more.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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10-04-2013, 04:27 PM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cooksburg,PA
Posts: 1,873
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9?, yea that's it. 9.
A little more luck needed for ER with that track record.
ERed in 2007.
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Free to canoe
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10-04-2013, 04:32 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
That probably felt good -- not just because he could afford it, but because it may have saved a job for someone who needed it more. .
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That was his perspective. He was a good man and told me this while we were drinking one later Christmas.
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10-04-2013, 05:20 PM
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#11
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,155
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Retired once, quit once (when asked to be unethical), and was laid off once when company was sold.
I guess that gives me the whole spectrum, except for being fired. Boring.
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10-04-2013, 05:23 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
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0
Never laid off, never quit without a job or school lined up. Till I ERed.
MRG
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10-04-2013, 05:23 PM
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#13
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,890
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Laid off once (from my first real job out of graduate school). It was a small biotech startup and we just ran out of money.
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10-04-2013, 05:49 PM
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#14
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 586
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I never got laid off.
Did you hear about the manager who have 2 direct reports named Mary and Jack and he has to get rid of 1 of them. He was saying: "I don't know if I should lay Mary or Jack off".
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10-04-2013, 05:57 PM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,657
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Laid off 7 times myself, although that includes 4 times from one company who kept hiring me back. Finally left there for a job that didn't lay people off so often. Had to lay off people, sometimes including myself 9 times. Was impacted when other layoffs, not including any of my dept, happened while I was working 5 times. Left a company just a few weeks before an entire dept or division I was in was laid off, so just missed those, twice.
Life in computer technology has been tumultuous, so the idea of staying at a company 35 years to earn a pension would be unthinkable. Most of the companies I worked for no longer exist. All the places that laid me off are out of business. Almost all the companies I worked at didn't last long enough for a pension to vest.
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10-04-2013, 06:04 PM
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#16
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,020
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Never laid off but our office in Houston of 30 folks was closed and most folks laid off. I was one of only 2 that were offered jobs at other sites in other States. I took the job in Louisiana and was there for the next 15years.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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10-04-2013, 06:18 PM
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#17
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 241
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Never laid off, but I've been fired twice, and almost fired two more times.
__________________
MDJO
Retired at 59 1/2 and trying to stay that way.
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10-04-2013, 06:34 PM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,688
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Never laid off, but one employer did try to transfer me to our Bangkok office.
Unfortunately, for a while I had the job of telling people that they had no future with the firm and needed to move on.While there were some people I was glad to see the back of, there were times when it was an aspect of my job that I hated.
__________________
Budgeting is a skill practised by people who are bad at politics.
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10-04-2013, 06:41 PM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 5,830
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Laid off once, after 25 years with the same company, at age 59. I was thrilled, ready for FIRE, and received an extremely attractive package.
32 years in IT, 25 with the last company through three mergers, I forget how many industry downturns, and literally 20 years of downsizing. Most of it in management.
Changed careers, moved once (best move we ever made) and managed to remain grandfathered in a reasonably good DB plan. I consider myself to be very fortunate.
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10-04-2013, 06:49 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7,968
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Twice - 'will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights' and the second during the long grinding mutli-year layoffs post Challenger. Then I became 'an unemployed slacker' until I found this forum and morphed into a born again super duper ER.
Haven't worked since.
heh heh heh - ok ok some temp work about 1 yr total since 1993 - BUT nothing after 1997.
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