Sunday, April 13, 2008

Letting It Out

I haven't mentioned it here on the blog, but the past six months have been incredibly stressful here. In mid-October my husband found out at work that his entire group was being outsourced to another country. Every single one of them was going to be laid off because their jobs were being given to people in Costa Rica who would work for much less. This is not unusual. It's happening all over our country. I think it's a travesty. No wonder our economy is tanking.

In any case, we were suddenly left with impending unemployment hanging over our heads. At least it wasn't immediately impending - the layoff wasn't going to take effect until June. Still, to announce this shortly before Thanksgiving and Christmas was pretty lousy. We've been living with a lot of uncertainty since then, not knowing where we'd be living, if we'd have an income. I'm not a big fan of change. I like a good routine. I like the familiar.

We considered moving to Idaho where my folks live and Dennis even went so far as to attend a job fair there. He had calls from at least a couple of companies afterward, but nothing real materialized. And he talked to people he knows, putting out feelers for potential jobs, trying to get a heads up on anything that might be coming along. At his current company, his status was called 're-deployment' which means he was losing his position but could try to find another elsewhere within the company. It sounds oddly military, doesn't it?

Some of you will remember when I wrote about Dennis going to Costa Rica for two weeks back in February. He was training his own replacement. Don't even get me started on that. It was supposedly a great thing, created by management to extend his group's employment. Whatever. Recently he also had his year-end performance review. It went incredibly well. He was given a promotion and a quite sizable raise. Just in time to be laid off!

In the past few weeks, he's had several interviews for jobs within the company, but even though he kept ending up among the top choices, he was never picked for an offer. This past week, he had two more. One of them called and asked if he could interview immediately. They met on Thursday and by the end of the work day, he'd been offered the job. He accepted it on Friday.

The suddenness, the sense of relief, the weight lifting from our shoulders, has been overwhelming. Now we can relax, knowing we won't have to move. We won't have to try to sell our house in an impossible real estate market. Our kids can stay near their friends and near all the things we love about this place.

I realized on Thursday night after the offer came that I had been holding my breath for the past six months. It feels great to finally let it out.

6 comments:

Kelly Spitzer said...

Oh, good, Sharon. I'm so relieved for you and your family. I think that's evil, by the way, to have to train your own replacement when you've been laid off. Wtf?

Anonymous said...

I know how you feel Sharon. I've been holding my breath too for a long time, and now my partner has the job offer that will allow us to do something we have wanted to for a long time.

Denis's situation sounds horrible, but I'm glad there's a happy ending with the job offer. I'm a firm believer in things turning out for the best, but it's hard to be the ones who hold our breath and wait, because we have no way of influencing the outcome.

Sharon Hurlbut said...

Thanks Kelly! Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt about it, too. And they made it out like it was some big favor they were doing for the people being laid off. Ack.

Debra, I'm so excited for you! I can't imagine how overjoyed you must feel to be going home. It's that long wait with an uncertain future that really is awful. Here's to happier and more secure times, for both of us!

Anonymous said...

sharon! oh, honey. so sorry you've had this on you. hasn't it been a terrible winter and spring?!

alas. glad it's turning/ed around with the new offer. oh, it makes my blood boil to think of how companies do that. dennis's story is very similar to some of my students'.

my thoughts are with you!

how is it possible that you can be doing a 17th round? girl, you are a poetry machine!

again, so glad this is over for you guys-- don't hold all this in, it's not healthy. (although i do the very same thing!)

Sharon Hurlbut said...

Thanks Nicole! It feels so good to be able to make plans for the future again. And yes, I have a serious poetry sickness. It feels strange to me when I don't write a poem every day now.

Unknown said...

Upheaval can have its benefits, but only when it's passed and you've got the perspective to realize how well you actually can hold your breath when you need to.
It's been 20 years for me, andnow I'm breathing out.

Kip
http://piecesofheartvt.blogspot.com