I have been working at a company with a good manager, good coworkers, and opportunities for continuing education. It was nice.
I recently had a good annual review. All positives. For the first time in years I was feeling stable and hopeful about the future. Finally felt like maybe I could get a house. Maybe I could finally relax.
This weekend all tech workers were asked to work to handle and test important tech work. When I discovered about the weekend, I cancelled my weekend plans. The issue seemed important and I wanted to be a team player and not leave the testing to the rest of my team. Instead of going out, I sat at the computer to work.
Then this morning I was, along with multiple others, laid off. It was a shock. I am still reeling. And I am once again worried for my future. I was assured the lay-off was not performance based. But that doesn't really make me feel better. It says that no matter how hard I try, no matter how many good reviews I have, if the company feels like it then my job is gone. I have always known this. I just finally really felt good about where I work.
Instead of planning for a nice fall vacation or deciding upon what fun activity to do this weekend, I am once again reaching out to contacts, trying to make new contacts, brushing up my resume, and applying to jobs. All, according to the company's canned speech, through no fault of my own. Another victim of the economy.