gossip

[iamom]

Just heard the news that my previous company, the one from whose decks I leapt when I switched to my present employer last fall, has just closed its doors and suspended its operations indefinitely. I called the president, my old boss, to offer my condolences, as it were, and my moral support. He seemed to appreciate that. I'm sure if I was one of the employees who got laid off yesterday I'd feel angry at him, but having been out of that rat race for so many months has made me detached enough from it to feel compassion for him. I'm sure he's pretty wiped out right now, physically and emotionally. He sounded that way on the phone, anyway, and he sounds a bit resigned to his fate with this business. Namely, that he's out of business, and probably personally on the hook to his creditors and the bank for a lot of money. That kind of feeling can't feel anything close to good. He's probably having terrible sleeps, if he's sleeping at all. He was a night owl and workaholic before this happened anyway.

I caught up with a few fellow ex-employees today to compare notes about the whole thing, and we all agreed how relieved we were not to be there anymore. It felt like it was a sinking ship even before I left, and I'm sure it has only come to feel worse in the past few months. Always unfortunate to see the little guys get taken by surprise and laid off without any notice at the last possible moment.