Monday, January 28, 2008

Not your typical Friday morning...

Last Friday:

5:30am - Owen woke up, we got up, breakfast, etc. Checked email and schedule for day
7:00am - took Owen to school, made tea, sat back to computer.
8:00am - responded to emails, chatted with a few people.
10:00am - first call of the day - during which, my boss pinged me and asked if we could chat at 11. Since I knew we had to do performance reviews before the end of the month, no big deal. Also, the guy showed up to fix the leak in the sunroom (my office)
11:00am - both my boss and my second level boss are on the call. With me. Alone. Ruh-roh. That's not normal.
11:05am - yadda yadda, budget cuts, yadda yadda, 50% reduction, yadda yadda, redeployment action. Wait, stop - what was that last part again?
11:06am - that crashing thudding sound was my heart and my stomach falling through my body to the floor, and about 10 foot through the ground. I'm getting redeployed - meaning, I gotta find a new job/home in IBM.
11:25am - some maniac is pouring water on my roof trying to find a leak and I've got to find a new job. Looks like a lot of people from my group are in the same boat - no specifics, of course, but with a 50% funding cut...
11:30am - Shock. Horror. The leak is in the shingles, not the sunroom. I have a wife, a two year old and a 3 month old to provide for. SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT.
12:00pm - my second call of the day, and I don't think I hear 3 words of it. Chatting with some people in the same boat - most of their reactions are the same as mine. "YOU TOO? WTF? OH SHIT!"
1:00pm - comfort food for lunch - bugger the diet for a meal - El Pollo Loco burritos are the ticket.
2:00pm - have updated my skills and resume. Ok, let's start casting the net.

So a couple of hours of dismay and misery - followed by a weekend of assertion in casting a wide, wide net across 11 years of contacts. 200 emails sent - 37 no longer valid (i.e. not in the company anymore) - see what happens on Monday morning.

More to come as the great job-hunt continues...

4 comments:

Leetie said...

(((HIGGY!)))

Kristin said...

Holy crap, man. That sucks.

Anonymous said...

((((((HIGGY!!!))))

Anonymous said...

Bummer. Sorry to hear this. Sounds a bit like what was happening at our place. Shower leaking through the ceiling and finding out I will be getting a pink slip. Have to wait and see what the budget holds for rehiring. All the best with the job search.