Sorry for not writing an entry yesterday, but I spent the day doing some major soul searching. You see, I am now the latest victim of the economy. Yes, that’s right, as if things couldn’t get any worse after being gassed with chlorine, I was laid off work Wednesday morning.

Around 10:00, I was pulled into a meeting with my boss and the Human Resources Manager. Since my boss was the head of the investigation team for this incident, I figured they wanted to interview me regarding what led up to my being gassed. How wrong I was.

Imagine my surprise when he began telling me that Corporate made the decision to shut down one of our circuits (thereby cutting our possible production in half) and they sent an organizational chart with how they want the plant structured, and that seven salary positions were going to be cut, and that mine was one of them.

I think this was what George W meant by shock and awe. Naturally, I was in a complete state of shock, unable to believe that I had now lost my job. The Human Resources manager, Andrea, began going over the separation package, which pays me severance until the end of September. Unfortunately, I only heard half of what she said, my mind unable to comprehend the situation.

It’s sort of like when you are watching a foreign film, and the actors say a few phrases in English, yet the English subtitles don’t match the spoken words.

Anyway, I went back to my office and packed up my things, and said goodbye to a few people that had come upstairs to go to their own offices. They were just as shocked as I was. You see, there were no warning signs. This came completely out of the blue.

So I’m sure I left some stuff behind accidentally that I would have liked to take, but I still haven’t gone through the boxes to figure out what’s missing. Actually, the boxes are still in my car.

So unfortunately, that’s that. I no longer have a job that I love. However, since I am being paid until the fall, I can work on my golf game, go to the gym, work on my tan, etc, as I look for a new job.

It’s completely cliché, however, it is also completely true that a day’s perspective makes all the difference in the world. I am no longer upset. I’ll still keep in touch with the people that I worked with. The options that are now open to me are now virtually limitless.

So now, I must begin putting my resume together, and as such I will leave you with some thoughts on my prior job:

5 things I will miss about work:

1) Jack’s lunchtime stories about former employees and the antics that went on during the good ol’ days.

2) The amount of distance my boss allowed, enabling us to work at our own pace with complete control over the project.

3) The small, tight-knit plant community that was akin to a second family.

4) Wednesdays in the Instrumentation & Electrical Shop, a vendor brings in all sorts of pies, cakes, pastries, etc.

5) The flex time schedule of having every other Friday off.

5 things I will not miss about work:

1) Being awakened in the middle of the night to drive down to Wherever for a Chlorine Emergency response.

2) Getting gassed by chlorine (even though it only happened once).

3) The way one particular maintenance person butchers the English language every time he says “Theory-etically.”

4) The odd trait of the maintenance workers not cutting their fingernails.

5) Waking up at 6:00 am to be at my desk by 7.

5 things work will miss about me:

1) My smile. I am one of the nicest, most friendly people on the planet. When I went out to Wawa to grab lunch, I always brought back a big back of chips or popcorn to share.

2) How I end certain conversations with the word “cool,” as in “Ok. Is there anything else? Cool. See ya.” thus earning me the nickname “Cool.”

3) My complete recall of any film or television show.

4) My inability to say no. I was a member of so many committees, and volunteer activities because I wanted to show that I could do anything asked of me. They could always count on me if they needed anything done.

5) My work. When I started working four years ago, there were seven engineers. Now there are two. The numbers have dwindled, but the workload hasn’t changed much.

Ah well. It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Wilmington, and I’m off to the gym. Later.

Days out of work: 2

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