46,000 Jobs Lost In One Day

I saw that number was a little taken aback. That’s twice the population of the town I was born in. My heart goes out to to those affected. I’ve been there, I know what it feels like.

After I was laid off, I decided not to get into that situation again. My job history has read like a tale of abuse. One company wanted me to work long hours and they would give “comp time” to make up for it. When I left that job 10 months after I started, I was owed 2 months of comp time and my puppy had started barking at me like I was a stranger. Another company budgeted my performance rating, and therefore my pay raise, before I had done any work.

Within 20 minutes of being asked to meet with my manager, I walked out those doors with my boxed possessions. I had put in the long hours, saved many customer contracts with tech solutions and basically made it possible for that division to function and be profitable. My 7 figure stock options had become bird cage lining a couple of years earlier when the dot bombs made tech IPO’s almost impossible.

I decided that if I was going to work hard, put in the extra effort and build someone’s dream, it should be my dream. And so I have.