Day 34

Getting laid off was probably the highlight of my career. It was like graduating from college again. My career was like yo, you’ve spent 5 years learning how to think and write but most importantly, think. So here’s a couple Gs. Now get out there and have some fun. Do something that makes you talk really fast when you describe it to other people. Something that makes it impossible for you to sit still because new ideas are bouncing around in your head like crazy.

On March 12th, someone else made a decision for me that I was too chicken to make. I wanted out of advertising before I even got into it, I just hadn’t figured out what exactly I wanted to do. I walked out the office that day thinking thank God I don’t have to come back here ever again. Thank God I am in a city I dig. And thank God it’s spring! I was bummed that the trip I had begun to plan for Greece/Turkey would have to be postponed but other than that, I was ready to move on before they even finished with their I’m Sorry Spiel. I felt excited. Like 10% oh shit and 90% HELL YEAH.

Before getting laid off, my stomach would be in knots over stories I heard about people losing their jobs. It was happening to a lot of people close to me and I would get so worried about what they would do next and how they were feeling. Yesterday I found out that 60 (and counting) people were laid off from my old agency in Detroit. Ughhh. Knots again. But this time, not just for the people let go but for the “lucky ones” that weren’t.

No one ever talks about the people stuck in the office once the axes have swung. Forced to do the same or more work with less people, under more pressure than ever, in a gloomy office with paranoid bosses and co-workers who fear that their days are numbered as well. No time to think of a plan B because they’re working overtime trying to hold on to what they have. Nothing to stare at but a mess of empty cubicles where their friends used to be. And when people ask how work is going, they have no choice but to say “Oh, I’m just lucky to have a job”. Or people will think they are ungrateful bastards.

There are two sides to every ax. Now I've been on both. One allowed me to keep a job. One allowed me to keep my sanity.