Laid off for the second time by the same company

Posted by Browncoat101@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 44 comments

I was a Sys Engineer, a title they gave me because they felt bad they laid me off two years ago. I leave tonight on an international flight because my birthday is in a few days (of course it is). Not looking for advice, I just want off this crazy ride, but I thought some of you might find it chuckleworthy.

The CEO started their bit about feeling so bad and I left the call. I’m sure you’re feeling awful with the severance package that’s no doubt triple ours, having been paid five times our salary from the start.

I wish I didn’t care about layoffs considering major companies are doing this every four or five months now, but living under the boot heel of capitalism threatening me on one side and companies throwing all their investment i to AI on the other has been not fun to say the least.

All the good vibes to my siblings out there still fighting the good fight.

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nagerecht@reddit

"Heel of capitalism"

If it weren't for capitalism you'd still be bound to working a piece of land for life as a serf, either under a feudal or socialist system. Hundreds of millions have left poverty behind thanks for capitalism, and here your are moaning about it when in really it's your fault for having been bamboozled by the same company AGAIN and not learning the lesson the first time.

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meikyoushisui@reddit

bound to working a piece of land for life as a serf, either under a feudal or socialist system

Can you explain what you think socialism is?

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Novuake@reddit

You can both recognize capitalisms good for society and criticise its modern and historical flaws.

There is certainly a balance between the shit show that is US capitalism and other more humane capitalistic countries into he world where people are more happy and treated better.

It's not an either / or and making it out to be that is part of the problem.

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Daidis@reddit

Goat farming with my dog sounds mighty pleasant

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Natirs@reddit

I hear North Korea has a banging economy. /s

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Stonewalled9999@reddit

When the place I worked for was sold we they asked us to donate gifts to the CEO who was leaving since the new place has its own CEO. Yeah, buddy made 800K a year and got 2 million severance he doesn't need my five bucks.

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Brilliant-Advisor958@reddit

Years ago the HR person came around the office(of about 50 people) looking for $20 from each person so she could get nice gift for the owner of our company, it was his birthday.

The same owner who said raises were impossible because of the economy but later that year did a 3 week African hunting trip.

I was like no. And she kept pestering me for a week before I snapped at her. And then she left me alone .

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vansterzzz@reddit

What the actual fuck? I would have sent a QR code for a money request.

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19610taw3@reddit

I never really feel bad when someone at that level loses their job.

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inucune@reddit

Every time they ask you back, add a 0 to the expected salary.

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draggar@reddit

I'm sorry to hear that, good luck. Try to keep your chin up, they can't take the sky from you.

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me

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asdlkf@reddit

Let's moon 'em.

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Vogete@reddit

Well now I gotta rewatch Firefly...

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Ssakaa@reddit

Well that's awful shiney of ya.

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Wolfram_And_Hart@reddit

♥️🧥

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SirLoremIpsum@reddit

My friend (not IT) is on her third at same company.

Acquired by bigger companh - laid off. Got $$. Found different role w parent.

COVID lay offs. Got cash. Found different role 6 months later.

General 2024 outsourcing lay off. Found different role before lay off happened.

Got paid 3 times tho haha

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Browncoat101@reddit (OP)

I’m about to have some many Macbook Pros, they won’t know what to do with me.

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Comfortable_Lead_561@reddit

Happy to send a prepaid shipping label if you need to get rid on an extra one.

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Secret_Account07@reddit

So here’s my thinking on layoffs.

Sometimes companies have to do it. It’s a reality and I get it.

But many times it’s just- hey let’s hire all these people and once this project is done if we need money we’ll just lay em off. We won’t tell them of course because these humans are just numbers on a spreadsheet. No humanity for them, their families, their insurance…it’s just wrong. But not illegal

When layoffs do happen and they say they feel bad I like to see if they put their money where their mouth is. If you give 1 year severance and a year of insurance you keep credibility with me. You put money associated with the “this is a hard decision” mentality

But as we all know that rarely happens.

Just treat people like humans. That’s all I ask

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Browncoat101@reddit (OP)

But then they would have to be intentional with hirings and firings instead of just chasing the money until the wheels fall off! /s

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RCTID1975@reddit

Hiring FTEs to complete a single project makes zero sense.

It's extremely expensive to hire and fire people, and the reason reason consulting is a thing

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Secret_Account07@reddit

Agreed

Most frustrating is when a big company comes to your city/state and gets a huge tax break for promising X number of jobs. Magically those jobs coincidentally get laid off soon after. Just had it happen in my state recently from a big F50 company

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latchkeylessons@reddit

I had this happen once many years ago. I was furious the first time and DGAF the second time because of it. The naivete was gone. All in all it taught me a lot of lessons that were helpful to taking care of myself firstly. Save that money - there are no promises out there.

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19610taw3@reddit

That's where I am now. Just went through PE buyout and my position was eliminated because of it. Despite us being told that our positions were safe ... nope, they had planned on eliminating us the whole time.

I had been through a PE buyout before and it was actually the complete opposite of everyone else' experience. And that , unfortunately, set unrealistic expectations for me. PE bought the company I worked for , decided that IT was both understaffed *AND* underpaid. Within the first month of their ownership, we all got like 10% raises and then they hired new people. That was a PE that was apparently interested in building up something rather than just pulling all the money out.

So when it happened this time, I just wasn't worrying about anything bad happening and just listening to them.

I had been saving up for some pretty big purchases. Thankfully I still had some inkling that something was off so I ended up not buying the stuff and put the money in a separate account.

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eggcountant@reddit

I always treat a change in ownership as being laid off. I was wrong once and when they realized I was about to quit they offered me an incentive to stay.

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Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

Go live under the boot heel of socialism and get back to us.

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Ath0m1x@reddit

Socialism is good, communism is bad, american.

Just FYI.

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assissippi@reddit

All in how it's implemented, both can be good and bad

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FrostySparrow@reddit

Or better yet, unionize!

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Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

That is also a valid option!

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Valdaraak@reddit

I don't see how that's related at all to this conversation.

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ddadopt@reddit

I agree with you that there is no point in adding politics to this thread, but OP talking about "the bootheel of capitalism" does tend to invite that particular response.

I feel bad for OP her, but it also sounds like the CEO was getting "laid off" too from his story, which implies the whole company is folding (actually, he says that in a reply) so it's kind of hard to understand him being salty at anyone in particular. They didn't single him out, everyone is out of a job.

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Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

Thank you for at least seeing the point of my comment. If mine wasn’t relevant, they should’ve left theirs out.

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enolja@reddit

Yeah but your comment also doesn't really make any sense even if it were a juxtaposition of some kind, the boot heel of socialism is higher taxes and more social services? The boot heel of capitalism is starving to death while having to use the ER as a last ditch hotel room in winter to keep from freezing? I dont get it

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Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

That’s just BS. Nobody in the States has to starve to death. There are plenty of social safety nets in this country.

The truth is there is no boot heel of capitalism. There is only indifference in the system. The community/tribe you choose to live among is where support truly comes from.

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Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

It’s very related to the conversation. OP has the luxury of living “under the boot heel of capitalism” where our opportunities for success and advancement far outweigh those of others under different economic systems. He/she is also intelligent enough to work in IT. We’ve all been through the ups and downs of job gains and loss.

There are opportunities out there. Once the shock and sadness of losing an opportunity subsides, time to start harvesting for new opportunities.

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