Well, This Is A Little Weird

Sorry to hear you were laid off. This hits home with me right now. I am watching things change where I am working at and seeing that my time is going to be limited along with most if not all of the people that report to me. Nobody is answering the questions that people are asking about the future. Every warning bell I know of is going off for me right now. I want to start looking but I know if they do a layoff they will give us some severance package. I am also expecting a bonus the first week of April. Figuring out the timing on all of this to find my jump off point and hoping to land something in the same pay range I am in with a looming crash in the economy are making this very difficult. I have 7 or 8 years to go before I can really think of retirement. I honestly am not the type of person to fully retire. I need some reason to get up in the morning. I had a period of time where I was paid for a couple of months between positions due to business changes where I was not working. I spent a ton of time playing guitar because I had just joined a new band and had 60 songs to work on. After a couple of weeks of that I got bored very fast and didn't have the disposable income to do fun things. That kind of showed me what retirement is going to be like. This has been very stressful and I have to endure this for at least 3 more months.
 
Ouch and ouch! Sorry to hear. Definitely not a good week.
I know the feeling of being in "limbo" and wondering what comes next.

On the bright side, you do have a severance to help bridge the gap and your finger will heal, so everything may feel off kilter at the moment, but things will work out for the better.

You'll find a new job and then look back and think, I'm glad that happened as I'm in a better position now.
Your finger, not so much.
 
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Sucks about the finger injury. I did that slicing into an avocado several years ago. As for the job, sounds like they did you a favor. It sucks being out of work, but if you were miserable, it's a good time for a change. Best of luck on the search, Alan.
 
First off, hope you find a suiting job in the near future that stays in your comfort zone.
I'm in the construction field here in Western PA - working for a medium sized general contractor (hospitals, big pharma, colleges), so if you're in that field, I might be able to find you some leads.

Secondly, those type of finger cuts seem like they take forever to heal and seems like you typically use the injured finger for everything on a daily basis.
 
Have you considered getting into luthiery? It's a very fun way to eat up many hours per day with hard work. And at the end you have something concrete to show for it!

Playing my guitars side by side with one of Paul's guitars makes me really appreciate the knowledge and skill Paul's team puts into their guitars.
 
Toolmaster Of Brainerd said:
Have you considered getting into luthiery? It's a very fun way to eat up many hours per day with hard work. And at the end you have something concrete to show for it!

Playing my guitars side by side with one of Paul's guitars makes me really appreciate the knowledge and skill Paul's team puts into their guitars.
Click to expand...

You build guitars out of concrete?!

Sorry not sorry.



















Runs and hides.;)
 
alantig said:
Years ago, I used to work with a woman at a previous company. We both found ourselves working at the same company again (meaning we were both at the same company, not the company where we worked together), and every time we'd see each other, one of us would say, "Are you still here?" And the other would usually respond, "I'm going to keep coming in until they tell me not to."

Well, yesterday they told me not to. Four months short of 25 years. For the first time in over 36 years, I is unemployed. Not a pity party by any means - I was already looking for something else because my particular job had changed very much for the worse over the past four to five months. So I'm not sad about being out of there. And because of my length (yes!) of service (damn...), I get a pretty decent severance deal, so I have no reason to panic. Unlike the previous time I got laid off - months after buying a house and getting married. So that's not a concern for now. All in all, I'd have preferred it happen a couple years from now, when I'd have been in a position to ride out the severance and retire. It's a bit too early for that. And I have some prospects, some at the same company - I usually don't burn bridges because you never know when you might work with someone again. So, as of now, all is very good in my world.

What's weird is knowing that I don't really have an agenda when I get up. I don't have to go in (which was a point of contention - long story), I don't have to sign on. No meetings. No deadlines. And it's not like vacation - it's open-ended. Just kind of a weird feeling.

I know what you're thinking - more guitar time! And I'd agree with you, except... Last week, after a dentist appointment, I went to my mother-in-law's to change an outlet for her. Whoever had painted her living room painted over the outlet and cover, so it was stuck and I had to pry it off. Scored it with a razor knife, pried it a little loose w/the knife, switched to a screwdriver, then reached to grab a second screwdriver - and remember when I'd had the razor knife? I forgot. Right into the tip of my ring finger, close to an inch long cut. No stitches, but it's still pretty tender, so playing guitar is a few days away. But I'll get there.

The downside for you all - more time for me to post!
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OOOUCCCCHHHHH!

If it makes you feel any better, I've done similar things. But it probably doesn't make you feel any better.

When I left my law practice to go into the ad music biz, a friend took me out to lunch. I could see he felt really sorry for me, because his first question was, "So, how does it feel to be a bum?"
 
alantig said:
Well, yesterday they told me not to.
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Dude, that sucks, but I bet you'll find something else soon enough, and it is likely to be "better" even if just because it will be different from the last job. A friend of mine had an excellent analogy, IMHO: imagine the job you have is annoying but not soul-crushing, like an itch on your arm. So you scratch that itch, but it persists. For the first while, it is just you scratching an itch, but eventually you are drawing blood and getting down to the bone. Change jobs, and you change the location of the itch. Now it isn't any "better", but it is different, and at least you have a while before you draw blood...

I've not had many instances of being let go, and it is indeed a bit weird and like your earlier instance you alluded to, can be panic-inducing. Glad you aren't in that situation this time around.

And hopefully that finger heals quickly and you can get back to shredding/noodling!
 
Thanks everybody for the support. The days have gotten a little less weird. I think going from "this is what today is" to "oh no it isn't" last week pretty well threw me for Tuesday, but I've adjusted to it. My ever supportive wife came out about half an hour after I got the news and said, "God, I'm already tired of carrying your ass." So there was that.

The finger has mostly healed - it's more a mental thing now. I haven't gotten over thinking "this is going to hurt" every time I go to bend a note. Maybe by this weekend.

I was talking to my dad before Christmas about retiring, and about someone saying they didn't want to retire because they thought they'd be bored. I said I have enough hobbies that I should never be bored. Hell, if all I did was just change strings on my guitars, that's enough to keep me busy for a while. My dad's been retired over 20 years, and he said, "When you retire, you'll find yourself so busy you'll wonder how you had a job." So far, that's been true. But it's been a ton of doctor and dentist appointments. Thankfully, that slows a bit after this week. I've also tackled a couple things around the house that I haven't wanted to spend my weekends on, to which my wife said, "Look at you trying to be all manly and stuff."

Honestly, when I thought of the possibility of this happening to me, I thought I'd feel worse about it. I'm chalking that up mostly to the job situation, but honestly, I think this is going to be good for me.
 
alantig said:
Thanks everybody for the support. The days have gotten a little less weird. I think going from "this is what today is" to "oh no it isn't" last week pretty well threw me for Tuesday, but I've adjusted to it. My ever supportive wife came out about half an hour after I got the news and said, "God, I'm already tired of carrying your ass." So there was that.

The finger has mostly healed - it's more a mental thing now. I haven't gotten over thinking "this is going to hurt" every time I go to bend a note. Maybe by this weekend.

I was talking to my dad before Christmas about retiring, and about someone saying they didn't want to retire because they thought they'd be bored. I said I have enough hobbies that I should never be bored. Hell, if all I did was just change strings on my guitars, that's enough to keep me busy for a while. My dad's been retired over 20 years, and he said, "When you retire, you'll find yourself so busy you'll wonder how you had a job." So far, that's been true. But it's been a ton of doctor and dentist appointments. Thankfully, that slows a bit after this week. I've also tackled a couple things around the house that I haven't wanted to spend my weekends on, to which my wife said, "Look at you trying to be all manly and stuff."

Honestly, when I thought of the possibility of this happening to me, I thought I'd feel worse about it. I'm chalking that up mostly to the job situation, but honestly, I think this is going to be good for me.
Click to expand...
Good to hear things are getting more clear.
 
alantig said:
Thanks everybody for the support. The days have gotten a little less weird. I think going from "this is what today is" to "oh no it isn't" last week pretty well threw me for Tuesday, but I've adjusted to it. My ever supportive wife came out about half an hour after I got the news and said, "God, I'm already tired of carrying your ass." So there was that.

The finger has mostly healed - it's more a mental thing now. I haven't gotten over thinking "this is going to hurt" every time I go to bend a note. Maybe by this weekend.

I was talking to my dad before Christmas about retiring, and about someone saying they didn't want to retire because they thought they'd be bored. I said I have enough hobbies that I should never be bored. Hell, if all I did was just change strings on my guitars, that's enough to keep me busy for a while. My dad's been retired over 20 years, and he said, "When you retire, you'll find yourself so busy you'll wonder how you had a job." So far, that's been true. But it's been a ton of doctor and dentist appointments. Thankfully, that slows a bit after this week. I've also tackled a couple things around the house that I haven't wanted to spend my weekends on, to which my wife said, "Look at you trying to be all manly and stuff."

Honestly, when I thought of the possibility of this happening to me, I thought I'd feel worse about it. I'm chalking that up mostly to the job situation, but honestly, I think this is going to be good for me.
Click to expand...
Good to hear.
Retirement isn’t boring.
 
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