If I can borrow from my new blog for a moment.

I saw the movie Up in the Air on Christmas Day with my parents.  The movie, in case you haven’t seen it, stars George Clooney as a man who works for a company that gets subcontracted to assist employees with “career transitions”–essentially, this means that Clooney is the guy who gets to deliver the news that they’re being laid off, and his company supposedly offers placement services.

One of the things that I thought was a bit of a Christopher Buckley-esque touch was the “packet.”  Every employee who went through the process got a packet of information with some flowery cover and a positive inspirational message.  “Your true career awaits,” or some such bull shit.

Ray called me this morning on my cell phone.  I was in a meeting with Kim, my assistant, and almost rejected the call, but I answered it, figuring that he was calling with a quick question about condiment placement or something similar.

Instead, he was oddly formal.  “Good morning, Chris,” he said.
“Hi,” I said.
“I just wanted to call and let you know that my 12 year career at [name of employer] just ended.”
“What??”
“I just got laid off.”

I was in shock, naturally, and at the urging of my boss and several other people, I went home.  In addition to finding Ray sitting on the sofa watching a television that wasn’t actually on, I discovered that, among the paperwork that he’d brought home, was a packet just like the one that George and Anna Kendrick handed out in the movie.

I’m less enthusiastic about this as a device used in reality as opposed to in the movies.

We’re going to be OK.  Ray is, understandably, still in a daze–he worked there for 12 years.  “I’ve been with them longer than I’ve been with you,” he said at one point.  But he got a decent severance, and we’ve put together a budget, and we’ll be able to make ends meet for a while, even if we have to tighten our belt straps.

But, man … we did not see this coming.  But, that’s life, though, ain’t it?  We will get through this, no matter how unpleasant it may be.

At least Mocha will have someone to pay attention to her all day long for a while.

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