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Aug. 30th, 2010 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogHave you ever seen Up In the Air?
It's a movie about a man whose job is to travel around the country firing people. He's sort of an outsourced grim reaper of the HR world. It's a great examination of the freedom and isolation of an unconnected life and what it means to choose to give that up in return for being a deeper part of another person's life. It made me think a lot about my own life, and I'm still considering some of the ideas presented there.
But what brings the movie to mind now is the trainee who the main character is assigned to work with as she learns that there is a great deal more to telling someone that they've just lost their job than she has any inkling of. The resemblance to the HR woman who my manager got me on a conference call with so she could explain my severance package and other details had a bubbly voice that was kind of like hers.
Looks like I'll be with my current company up through January 14th, at which point I'm all done. My position has been eliminated as part of the upcoming merger.
I'm fairly ok with that. It's funny. I've been kind of preparing myself this weekend, as I have prior to reviews ever since the last merge, for getting downsized or fired or what-have-you. I was imagining what I'd do if it happened, and it was kind of a weight off my shoulders. I've been so stressed here for so long. I've felt incompetent through lack of training and support long enough that I started to feel like it was me. I really won't miss the place.
And I'm getting thirteen weeks of pay as severance. That plus the money I'm going to work hard at saving between now and then might just be enough of a seed to get started with school. It's not a phenomenal sum of money by any means, but it's something. Maybe even enough!
I'm not quite sure if I'm going to look for work immediately or not. As it happens, I'd talked to my parents just this past weekend about what I'd do if I was fired. My parents are both really busy people and I suggested possibly living there for a while, as I did when Moira and I were deciding about our living situation, and trading all of the household chores in return for rent. I could drive my dad around too, since he's visually impaired and doesn't drive and Mom has to use some of her time to take him around. "When can you get fired?" joked![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
farm_cat. Well, now I have an answer for her! I could look for some part time work as I check into colleges, meet some entrance counselors, and look into grants and financial aid.
Or, I could start looking hard for more IT work. Either help desk again, or with any luck, some kind of entry level networking gig where I could finally put my CCNA to use. That doesn't sound all that appealing to be honest, but it's certainly an option.
What I am going to do though, is stay in my apartment in Chicago through the end of February. I know it's a terribly cold time of the year, but it will still give me a month and a half of living in Chicago without a job, free to explore the hell out of the windy city to my heart's content. Spring or Summer would have been better, I'll take what I can get and make it good!
I'm still going to New Orleans in November. In fact, I'm going to request another day so I have more time to explore.
It's a movie about a man whose job is to travel around the country firing people. He's sort of an outsourced grim reaper of the HR world. It's a great examination of the freedom and isolation of an unconnected life and what it means to choose to give that up in return for being a deeper part of another person's life. It made me think a lot about my own life, and I'm still considering some of the ideas presented there.
But what brings the movie to mind now is the trainee who the main character is assigned to work with as she learns that there is a great deal more to telling someone that they've just lost their job than she has any inkling of. The resemblance to the HR woman who my manager got me on a conference call with so she could explain my severance package and other details had a bubbly voice that was kind of like hers.
Looks like I'll be with my current company up through January 14th, at which point I'm all done. My position has been eliminated as part of the upcoming merger.
I'm fairly ok with that. It's funny. I've been kind of preparing myself this weekend, as I have prior to reviews ever since the last merge, for getting downsized or fired or what-have-you. I was imagining what I'd do if it happened, and it was kind of a weight off my shoulders. I've been so stressed here for so long. I've felt incompetent through lack of training and support long enough that I started to feel like it was me. I really won't miss the place.
And I'm getting thirteen weeks of pay as severance. That plus the money I'm going to work hard at saving between now and then might just be enough of a seed to get started with school. It's not a phenomenal sum of money by any means, but it's something. Maybe even enough!
I'm not quite sure if I'm going to look for work immediately or not. As it happens, I'd talked to my parents just this past weekend about what I'd do if I was fired. My parents are both really busy people and I suggested possibly living there for a while, as I did when Moira and I were deciding about our living situation, and trading all of the household chores in return for rent. I could drive my dad around too, since he's visually impaired and doesn't drive and Mom has to use some of her time to take him around. "When can you get fired?" joked
farm_cat. Well, now I have an answer for her! I could look for some part time work as I check into colleges, meet some entrance counselors, and look into grants and financial aid.Or, I could start looking hard for more IT work. Either help desk again, or with any luck, some kind of entry level networking gig where I could finally put my CCNA to use. That doesn't sound all that appealing to be honest, but it's certainly an option.
What I am going to do though, is stay in my apartment in Chicago through the end of February. I know it's a terribly cold time of the year, but it will still give me a month and a half of living in Chicago without a job, free to explore the hell out of the windy city to my heart's content. Spring or Summer would have been better, I'll take what I can get and make it good!
I'm still going to New Orleans in November. In fact, I'm going to request another day so I have more time to explore.
