Back on the Roller Coaster

We had a bombshell dropped on us earlier this week.

The Webmaster called me on Monday afternoon and told me that he’d been laid off.  It was a team and company-wide cutback, so he was not the only person to go.  Ten others from his area were also cut and laid off.

And that sinking feeling that I hate with a passion crawled into my stomach, and will probably stay there for a bit.

I guess we’re going to be putting the economic recovery to the test.  Last time the Webmaster was out of work, it took 3 months for him to find something.  That was three years and eight months ago.  I knew his job was never a guaranteed one, especially at the rate that the health insurance industry has been changing in the last few years, but he was always busy and doing well and liked his job.  That, of course, means nothing when higher-ups look at numbers.

His team, especially his former partner at work, were – how shall I put this? – a leetle upset.  Especially when Monday night came around, and the Webmaster’s partner was coming back from vacation, and something needed to get done, so, even though he’s been laid off, the Webmaster was still technically on-call – except he had no system access.  Kinda hard to fix anything with no system access.  He tried his best to help, and was a whole lot nicer about it than I would have been.  This highlights the problem, though – when you have two guys who can do the job, and you let one go, is the one left ever going to be able to catch a break again?

My gut says that the company is going to find very shortly that letting the Webmaster’s job be eliminated was a HUGE mistake.  But he won’t be around to see it, probably.

He’s already been in contact with some recruiters and has been updating the resume and the LinkedIn profile, friends have offered suggestions and contacts, and, most importantly, people are praying.

In the meantime, the Webmaster has been hired as Thumper’s chief ice cream and popsicle feeder.  He pays in hugs and kisses, but that won’t keep the fudgesicles coming.

Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.  The Webmaster did receive a nice severance package, so we will be okay for a little while.  In the meantime, though, his job is to find a new job – and to keep the ice cream coming.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2014 at 12:50 am and is filed under Announcements, Children, Husbands.
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