Laid Off - Heading to a New Day

Thursday I got laid off. This came as a total shock to me, although probably it shouldn’t have. I was told, don’t know if this is true or not, that I was just the first of a small group that was being let go. I was talking a vacation day (comp time) Friday, so I was first in line. Everyone who gets laid off, gets laid off on Fridays, or so I am told. Except me. So when is a three day weekend, not a three day weekend? When it’s the start of an extended lay off.

Not extended, because there is going to be no recall. Now my side efforts are building, but not making money yet. We are close to breakthrough on a number of projects, so I can hope that perhaps soon, I won’t need a traditional job at all. Time will tell.

The funny thing about the layoff is that I had joked with Deb about quitting and going to the unseminar in Texas with her. I said let’s live on the edge, I’ll just quit and go with you. I also had a dream that I was going to be laid off. I should trust my instincts.

I was already putting in applications prior to getting laid off, so perhaps I did know that it might be coming. I had been handed the job of safety manager, which I had emphatically told them I did not want. I told them that when I was hired. I told them that at my review. Then they gave that position to me, on top of the training job. Same pay, of course, as they said and others have said to me “You’re lucky to have a job.” Well, that’s done with now.

I don’t have sour grapes. I offered to do training for them as a consultant, and I think they are going to take me up on that. Of course it depends what they are going to pay me whether I do it or not, but the bridges aren’t burned. Walls turned sideways are bridges. Have you ever heard that saying? It’s a quote from Angela Davis. I am looking at this as a bridge for sure. A bridge to a life I’ll be more happy in.

It’s also said that when a door closes a window opens. I have always been a glass is half full kind of guy. How many more clichés can I throw in here?

If anyone knows of any training gigs, let me know. I can teach OSHA stuff, Forklifts, Cranes, Communications, MS Office. Most of those I have certificates to teach, with the exception of office, but that I have been using effectively for many years and can teach basics of it very easily. I am mostly looking for consultant type work. One time or repetitive gigs, and I am also open to a ‘real job.’

Life is good.