Hello, everyone! Yesterday’s post was probably a bit of a bummer. But after posting about my fears after my current position is eliminated, I heard from several of you.
And your words of encouragement and offers of help were really something I needed. I think part of my issue with all of this is that I am currently lacking confidence in myself. So, I really needed to hear someone say that I am “talented and intelligent,” and I heard that from more than one person. So, thank you. That helps more than you can imagine.
I got asked a couple times about what’s happening to my job, so here it is: I work on a copy desk at a newspaper. We were owned by Berkshire Hathaway, but Lee Enterprises bought them out. So, Lee is moving all design to a hub, and my job is getting eliminated at the end of the year. I don’t know much else, because no one is really talking about it, and no one seems to know what’s going on aside from “copy desk go bye-bye.” So, I don’t know about severance or anything else. It’s been very frustrating.
The absolute only good part of all this is that I know that I am going to lose my job. Over the years, I have had many coworkers who have walked into work and were blindsided as they were laid off. Most of — if not all — of these folks were always experts at their job, highly qualified hard workers who should not have been let go. But as with many companies, newspapers only care about the bottom line, not the employees or the product.
I remember one guy who had worked for a newspaper (not the one where I am now) for more than 50 years — FIFTY YEARS — and he was laid off one day with no warning. And he got absolutely nothing for his 50-plus years of loyalty and dedication. There was no offer of retirement. There was no farewell party. There was nothing. He walked into work, was let go and was ESCORTED out of the building. Something similar happened to someone else at the same company, and they had been there around 30 years.
This was the same company that hired a new publisher, who promised everyone that no one would lose their jobs. Everything would stay the same. Then three months later, 34 people were laid off. And yet, people who were absolutely TERRIBLE at their jobs were allowed to stay. Nothing ever happened to them. I worked with some really horrible people, and my boss was a sexist piece of crap. Needless to say, morale there was at rock bottom. I’m glad I left.
But, anyway, I do know I’m at least lucky to know in advance that I’m going to be out of work. So, it does give me a bit of a head start to try to find a job before all this ends. If anyone has any leads out there, let me know. I have to work remotely, at least until this pandemic is over.
Until next time!
Frazzled Daisy 