I was downsized on Thursday.

[HAZ-Matt]

I think the real Snuffalofogus that lives on Sesame St. would be more neighborly.

[BLLDOGG]

Originally posted by Snuffalofogus:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Stefan:
Yes, I have now officially become a statistic. You hear about unemployment in the news but it never really applies until it hits home and slaps you right in the face.

I'm not going to disclose details here... but twenty very talented and well-paid people were laid off on Thursday, rumor has it that there are ten more coming next week. At a company with 150 employees, that's quite a bit.

I did receive a decent severance package which will tide us over for the next two months or so. First thing I did was go to the Virginia Employment Commission and register for unemployment insurance benefits. I get my first check in three weeks. I did qualify for the maximum (point for Virginia) which was $326 a week but that's still not very much--that's $8.15 an hour take-home, equivalent to someone making $10 an hour gross. But it is better than nothing. By my math, if I don't make the same amount I was making ($43,000) by January 1 we'll start to see a slide in our quality of living.

Though I would love to blame the layoff itself on Bush, I really can't. The layoffs were because of overoptimistic sales forecasts that resulted in a $20 million revenue shortfall. Spending was also out of control. It was mindless management--not a bad overall economy--that caused this first round of layoffs.

It is, however, Bush's fault that the unemployment rate in general is this high. I don't doubt that I'll find a new job in the next few weeks but there are a LOT of skilled people out there that are looking for work. I'm competing with people much more talented than I am to get the same pay I was making. Though the layoffs weren't the poor economy's fault, the fact that I will very likely take a pay cut just to get a job again is.

My second major bone to pick is my health insurance. I can keep my current plan for up to 18 months under COBRA laws... but the company is no longer subsidizing it. Now my monthly premium will be going from $15 to $288. I'm f'ing better off going with a private insurance company. So not only have I lost my job but I've lost my insurance and have incurred an additional $150-$200 a month expense.

But according to Bush, nothing's wrong with the American health care system. "The American health care system is the envy of the world." Yeah. Your world. :rolleyes:

If he were here in my apartment (that costs $1,725 a month) I'd ***** slap him.

So I guess I'll just see what happens. There are a lot of positions open on careerbuilder.com and all the other major sites but there is a surplus of supply with workers and a shortage of demand in terms of jobs. I'm being pitted against people with 10+ years more experience than me who are desperate for work so they'll sink to my pay level. So what must I do to compete and actually get a job? Sink to the pay level of a college intern, I suppose.

I don't have my MBA or CPA yet, I can't be picky.

Screw the Bush Administration. I'm sure his corporate CEO buddies are laughing because they can get slaves like me to accept less pay and therefore richen their own fat stock options. But one day I'll be there with them and I'll smack them all down.

Done ranting now. Back to www.careerbuilder.com.

sucks you were laid off, but instead of *****ing about it, you should be focusing on getting another job.

quit blaming others for your problems. </font>[/QUOTE]even though your comment is harsh, its basically true. stefan, your a bright man. spend all your trying to find a job instead of trying to find a way to blame bush [img]tongue.gif[/img] j/p

[L32Projekt]

Oh, one other point about the health care being free in other nations, especially Canada. I've heard while it's cheap (outside of you giving up most of your wages in taxes) is that it's sloooowwwww. I've heard people complain about how long it takes to get a CAT scan up there. Just what I heard, not trying to start a riot but thought it should be taken into consideration.

[MustangEater8251]

Hey Stefan, beyond all the issues we may disagree about they are happening.

You post alot about how bad the real estate is in DC, I know DC is the worst right now, but smallest thing being $350k? Thats pretty crazy. hate to say it but thought of relocating? I mean I coudl see staying because of your job, but looks like you might have the ability to relocate.

If you move to Orlando, I suggest avalon park, housing out there is appreciating 12-15% a year, heck our townhouse that hasn't even had the foundation poured yet, if it was sold in february, there woudl be a $30k profit, just with the recent BIG jumps due to time it takes to get land rezoned.

[Snuffalofogus]

Originally posted by Snuffalofogus:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Stefan:
Yes, I have now officially become a statistic. You hear about unemployment in the news but it never really applies until it hits home and slaps you right in the face.

I'm not going to disclose details here... but twenty very talented and well-paid people were laid off on Thursday, rumor has it that there are ten more coming next week. At a company with 150 employees, that's quite a bit.

I did receive a decent severance package which will tide us over for the next two months or so. First thing I did was go to the Virginia Employment Commission and register for unemployment insurance benefits. I get my first check in three weeks. I did qualify for the maximum (point for Virginia) which was $326 a week but that's still not very much--that's $8.15 an hour take-home, equivalent to someone making $10 an hour gross. But it is better than nothing. By my math, if I don't make the same amount I was making ($43,000) by January 1 we'll start to see a slide in our quality of living.

Though I would love to blame the layoff itself on Bush, I really can't. The layoffs were because of overoptimistic sales forecasts that resulted in a $20 million revenue shortfall. Spending was also out of control. It was mindless management--not a bad overall economy--that caused this first round of layoffs.

It is, however, Bush's fault that the unemployment rate in general is this high. I don't doubt that I'll find a new job in the next few weeks but there are a LOT of skilled people out there that are looking for work. I'm competing with people much more talented than I am to get the same pay I was making. Though the layoffs weren't the poor economy's fault, the fact that I will very likely take a pay cut just to get a job again is.

My second major bone to pick is my health insurance. I can keep my current plan for up to 18 months under COBRA laws... but the company is no longer subsidizing it. Now my monthly premium will be going from $15 to $288. I'm f'ing better off going with a private insurance company. So not only have I lost my job but I've lost my insurance and have incurred an additional $150-$200 a month expense.

But according to Bush, nothing's wrong with the American health care system. "The American health care system is the envy of the world." Yeah. Your world. :rolleyes:

If he were here in my apartment (that costs $1,725 a month) I'd ***** slap him.

So I guess I'll just see what happens. There are a lot of positions open on careerbuilder.com and all the other major sites but there is a surplus of supply with workers and a shortage of demand in terms of jobs. I'm being pitted against people with 10+ years more experience than me who are desperate for work so they'll sink to my pay level. So what must I do to compete and actually get a job? Sink to the pay level of a college intern, I suppose.

I don't have my MBA or CPA yet, I can't be picky.

Screw the Bush Administration. I'm sure his corporate CEO buddies are laughing because they can get slaves like me to accept less pay and therefore richen their own fat stock options. But one day I'll be there with them and I'll smack them all down.

Done ranting now. Back to www.careerbuilder.com.

sucks you were laid off, but instead of *****ing about it, you should be focusing on getting another job.

quit blaming others for your problems. </font>[/QUOTE]a wee bit of both. like i said, loosing a job sucks, but pulling the whole "its bush's fault i lost my job" card, got on my nerves. stefen is a cool guy, and i respect him, but that bush think just pissed me off.


[img]redface.gif[/img]

:edit, why did i quote this? this was intended to be a response to pheonixs post

[Seppo Kaitainen]

That sux Stefan.... But I have been there done that. Though I was out of work for almost a year. Lucky I had been saving because I wanted to marry the girl I was dating.

[imported_admin]

The health care issues here could easily fill another thread with 10 pages of debate so I'll ignore that part for now, though I do think that I have a right to be upset about my COBRA cost being $288 a month for coverage that's really lame anyway. I've done my part, I work hard, I pay my taxes, since I got this policy when I started at this employer in January of 2003 I've been to the doctor ZERO times and have cost them NOTHING. Doing my part is all I can do to keep costs down.

Originally posted by Snuffalofogus:
loosing a job sucks, but pulling the whole "its bush's fault i lost my job" card, got on my nerves.

With all due respect, perhaps you should have read my post instead of skimming it, jumping to conclusions, jumping all over my ***, and taking my words out of context:

Originally posted by Stefan:
Though I would love to blame the layoff itself on Bush, I really can't. The layoffs were because of overoptimistic sales forecasts that resulted in a $20 million revenue shortfall. Spending was also out of control. It was mindless management--not a bad overall economy--that caused this first round of layoffs.

It is, however, Bush's fault that the unemployment rate in general is this high. I don't doubt that I'll find a new job in the next few weeks but there are a LOT of skilled people out there that are looking for work. I'm competing with people much more talented than I am to get the same pay I was making. Though the layoffs weren't the poor economy's fault, the fact that I will very likely take a pay cut just to get a job again is.

I did not blame Bush for my layoff, I blamed him for not taking the proper course of action to reduce unemployment.

Unemployment is still very high and the Bush Administration has called the last year's economy a "jobless recovery". Define a "jobless recovery". It is "trickle-down economics" and it doesn't work. The theory is if you cut taxes to the extremely wealthy and massive corporations they will have more money to hire little people at the bottom like me and the economy will then recover. But that's in theory. In practice, corporate profits increase so the shareholders--the people who are already wealthy enough to have significant assets in stock--receive more. All it does is take money that used to be tax revenue and give it back to the wealthiest people in the nation, where it stays. If GM declares a 20% increase on their common stock dividend, how does that help the working class who doesn't even own stock?

The numbers don't lie. Unemployment is not dropping under Bush. Whatever voodoo economics the current Administration is following is not working.

Until unemployment reaches the "natural" level (around 4%, the point at which only frictional unemployment is present and not structural or cyclical) the economy will not recover.

So, like many, many other Americans, at the moment I am a statistic.

[MrCoffee]

Stefan that really sucks man, but after one short conversation with you any employer will see your potential. You're in the perfect area to start looking for a job. Even all the way down here at Radford we hear about how NoVA area has kept a steady increase in new jobs. Good Luck though man!

[JohnD.]

I was in the same boat 6 months ago. I know how you feel. I'm sorry this had to happen to you Stefan.

I too had to take a job making less money. I lost my job due to oursourcing to Japan. Go Bush.
:rolleyes:

[Christian]

Sorry to hear that Stef.

I read the posts of some of you guys and I pray that something like this never happens to you, beacuse you act as if it never can. "Some situations are just un-manageable"-taken from "The Knock Around Guys". How can you read his post and feel like he needs to focus on getting another job and not worrying about why "HE" feels like his job is gone-who thinks like that? Robots?

All too often some guys on this board really make me thank GOD that you are not in a political position to goven policies and changes for ANY group of people. Have some compasion and common sense to go along with you Bull**** views and statistics.

What different from this guys do you gentleman and or ladies do? You pay your taxes, insurance, mortage/rent and go to work every day.......then what happens if YOU loose your job, Oh' I forgot, can't happen to you. Get some life about yourself and thank GOD that you are only reading about it, rather than living it. Put yourself in others position and "bet everything you worth you loose your tie and your shirt". Jack asses

[Linxs]

Stefan,

I'm not getting into the Bush/Kerry debate ^^^. I'll just say, good luck and sorry it happened.

[Christian]

Originally posted by Linxs:
Stefan,

I'm not getting into the Bush/Kerry debate ^^^. I'll just say, good luck and sorry it happened.

x2

[crazyralph]

My old job was outsourced to Malaysia so there are many people who are going through what you've gone through. Just a question did you try to negotiate for medical coverage with severance? I did and was able to continue my coverage for 6 months. I still had to pay the small amount that I paid while I was employed, but it was a better alternative than COBRA. Anyways good luck.

[Antman]

Sucks dude

[TMGSIX]

Originally posted by Christian:
Sorry to hear that Stef.

I read the posts of some of you guys and I pray that something like this never happens to you, beacuse you act as if it never can. "Some situations are just un-manageable"-taken from "The Knock Around Guys". How can you read his post and feel like he needs to focus on getting another job and not worrying about why "HE" feels like his job is gone-who thinks like that? Robots?

Focusing on getting another job is exactly what he needs to do. What good will dwelling on the past due? There are countless jobs available in this country, the problem is the people that are laid-off are to proud to take a job that might pay less than what they are accustomed to. Instead they sit around blaming their current situation on someone else. If people would stop relying on others for their financial futures and start saving money instead of spending it on the worst possible investment, cars, then maybe a temp. layoff wouldn't be so hard to manage.
Anyway, sorry to hear you lost your job, and best wishes to you are your family