I spent the last 10 years as a social worker and it was absolute hell. After getting a Master’s degree, my clinical license, paying off my loans this year, and spending the last 7 years at the same job I had finally had enough. The nightmares, therapy, medications, anxiety, etc that came from that job finally pushed me to be ok with leaving it all behind. It was affecting my friendships, my marriage, my free time, my motivation, my physical health, and everything else that made me who I was. Most of all, my dream is to start a family in the next year and I knew that I was not in the right place mentally to be the Dad who I want to be.
So I made the decision. I was going to leave my job, cash out my months of accrued pto, leave my pension to rest until I retire, walk away from my federal benefits, and not look back. I needed to get myself back on the good side of life. About 7 months ago I heard from a friend who works at a software company who said they may have an opening coming up that would be a good fit. The job was something new, something I’d have to spend some time on learning the ropes, but something that I could manage and eventually grow in. The job took months to actually open so I pushed through my previous job, dreading every morning, but holding out for this new job that seemed perfect. Finally it opened, I applied, went through 5 interviews, and started.
I truly loved it. I was working from home and set up a new home office. My wife also works from home and it was nice to be with her and my two senior cats. The company offered unlimited PTO, 12 weeks of parental leave, all kinds of insurance, and best of all I really felt like I fit in with the team. My friend who brought me on to the company was my boss, my coworkers were supportive, and I was getting the hang of the job. Every job I’d ever had was incredibly toxic, but I finally felt like I could breathe here. I took a 20% pay cut to transition but it was worth it for my mental health.
This morning I see a short meeting scheduled with my boss. I hop on the call and also on the call is the VP of our team who I had not yet met. He proceeds to tell me that due to budget issues they had made the decision yesterday to cut 10% of the company including me. Last on, first out. I was literally laughing when he first said it because I was sure it was a prank until I straight up asked him if this was a joke. I had been there one month to the day. My health insurance just kicked in 4 days ago. I had just initiated a 401k rollover. I had moved around my house to build a nice workspace for myself and it was all gone. An hour later I was locked out of their system and got an email explaining the details of my severance.
Now I’m out of my field of experience and out of my entry job in my new field. I feel so angry and hurt that I could explode. More than anything I’m afraid that after the severance runs out I won’t be able to provide for my family and pay the bills. I had worked my ass off for years and pushed through the worst kinds of shit to avoid a situation like this ever happening. I would’ve never left my old job if I thought something like this could even be on the radar. Not many skills yet in the new field and physically sick while thinking about going back to my old job.
I don’t even know if this sub is the right place for this, but I just had to scream this into the void somewhere. What better place than a sub that highlights how companies don’t care about you. Thanks for reading.