At the end of November, my team and I were told we were being laid off at the end of December. We were chemist's and engineers and were rightfully shocked as the business wasn't doing bad and our customers rarely had an issue that wasn't solvable by us.
We were given the option of trying to find a new job in the company, or take a week of severance per year worked. I was “fortunate” to have another manager want to steal me for his group in another location. I accept after much negotiation (they tried to demote me in title and negligible bump in pay, instead I got my promotion I was due for years and some extra pay, though still vastly underpaid as a chemist with my years of experience.) and take the week off between Christmas and new years after moving my lab to the new location.
I come to find out that many of the promises my new boss gave me are already falling through, and I somehow have to fit 3 whole labs into one tiny one and do the work of 4 people by myself with the help of one other person who already does a job that cover 80% of their time here.
It has been two days since I started in the new location and it is chaos that falls on only my shoulders to fix.
I really wish I took the severance and then the subsequent unemployment. The job market right now is slim pickings because of the new year and companies' fears of a recession.
I consider myself emotionally strong, but I broke down crying on my way to work this morning. Two days is what it took to break me here.