To add to the already 1,001 stresses of my life, we had a second round of layoffs yesterday. We have now gotten rid of 20% of our company.

Now since the first round of layoffs, a common topic of conversation has been 'Who's next?' Many theories were thrown around, and we had a couple names on our list of people we though would go, and people who we wanted to go.

Often I think about my position here, and how valuable it is to the company. Considering that my group has been the big moneymaker for the company, I would like to think that my job is pretty secure. I also suspect that my job is not in peril, since I broke the news to the company that I'm moving to California and they offered for me to keep my job while I'm out there. If I was in any way close to being on 'the list' they would have let me go in a heartbeat.

I think the biggest shock yesterday for me, and the rest of my team, was that they fired my manager. Not the manager that took away our music, laughter and fun - he was let go in the first round of layoffs. This was the manager that had turned my team around for the better. The manager who worked his ass off to get me gigs and to make sure that everything ran smoothly for me. The manager who stood between me and the clients so I didn't have to deal with a lot of red tape, who emailed me 30 times a day with my things to do, just because he knew I would forget, but he did it in a non-nagging way. The manager who actually had regular weekly meetings where we got praise and good vibes, rather than being reprimanded and told that we weren't working hard enough.

*sigh*

I really liked this guy. He was probably the best manager I've ever had (sorry Norm!) In a meeting once, my team actually told him that we were so happy that he came to our company. He was making things happen. He was making me happy to be at my job. He understood how tiring the traveling was making me and did everything he could to make it easier for me when returning to the office.

It was a shock to see him go, and even harder to understand why. I wanted to yell at someone 'Why!? Why did you let him go?' Why someone who had made such an impact on our group, and to the company in general, was let go. But upon hearing the reasons, well, they made so much sense and no sense at the same time. Times are hard, I know that. The computer software industry has become so fickle lately, and companies everywhere are suffering. It just sucks so bad that someone who had made such an impact on us would be let go.

Several other people were let go, but we had pretty much known that they would be the next ones out. My manager was a surprise. An evil, twisted surprise.

Dave Berry, you were the best. We'll miss you and we didn't want you to go.

So now, we just sit in a daze. There's a million things to do, but without my manager here, everything is so uncertain. Sure, someone has been appointed a temporary manager to handle our affairs and customer relations, but it's going to be a tough transition.

Tough times ahead, my friends, I can just FEEL it.

Posted by Yano at July 15, 2003 09:11 AM

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