Reality

Everyday, the news gets merrier and merrier. I mean look over here. November had the largest monthly job loss total since December of 1974. Of course I'm being sarcastic. It's sickening. And yet it's one thing to read this online or see it in the news... it's so different when it happens to someone you know... in a city you live in.

Yesterday began as just another day for all of us. We go to work, talk shit over email about who's got the best fantasy football team, how much of a douchebag we are, etc etc... and then one of our friends responds to our email and says "guys, stop sending emails to this account, please switch to my gmail account because I was just fired." My first reaction? HA! Good one. Nice try dude but we're gonna continue to flood your work account! You see, I used to work in that firm. I know how that firm works and even though it's a pain in the ass for the IT guys over there, I knew it wasn't that big a deal. So, I didn't really take him seriously. Then about 30 minutes later, another one of our buddies respond with "we just got let go. NO JOKE." My response? Yeah, ok, dude, that's a pretty sick joke considering what's going on out there...

The sickest thing was, it was not a joke.

It turns out that two of our friends were part of an abrupt layoff that happened in my former accounting firm. The shocking thing is that about a month or so ago, a partner from that firm and I went to a football game and I asked him how this economy was affecting the firm. He said that even in times of poor economy and decreased spending, people hire CPAs because they want more work to be done around cost efficiency, internal controls testing, etc etc. So, in the back of my mind, I thought that hey, if I were to be let go from my current company (which as a financial institution, it's always possible), I can always swallow my pride and go back there if I'm desperate enough. You know, it was like your safety school.

So, needless to say, I was shocked by the news. We all got together last night over at a local bar to just hear about what happened. I mean, again, it was just so unthinkable. But I guess it goes to show that no job is safe. I offered to help but one of them said that he and his wife immediately started going through the bills and once they cut out all the things that weren't necessities (cable, gym membership, etc etc) that they could make do for a little while. The only debt they had was the mortgage (cars are paid off) and student loan.

I am fairly confident that being that it's right before tax season, if they didn't mind going back into public accounting, they would be able to find a job. However, it was quite depressing to see two of my friends get laid off like that with no warning whatsoever. It wasn't like the firm announced that the layoffs were coming or that they were cutting anyone. As a matter of fact, the firm managing partner called a meeting few days ago to say that the cuts were NOT happening... ah, so typical of that firm. I am so glad I quit. Like one of our friends said (a lot of us in our circle of friends met when we all worked in that firm), it shoulda been a sign when a bunch of us left around the same time.

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. As great a career I had at that firm, that firm sucked ass in terms of taking care of its people or even caring about the people in general. They talk the talk but they stab in you in the back as soon as you turnaround. What a fuckin piece of shit firm. Thank god I no longer work there.