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Telling Lies

The posts from folks who have been laid off the last few months have a certain formulaic, untruthful tinge to them that makes for painful reading. The structure of all posts are alike - Was in a complete state of shock at first and upon recovery felt ever so grateful for the 10-20 years they had with the company and "the people they collected along the way" - that turn of phrase has a stomach churning effect for me - what in the hell is collecting people? People are not objects you add to your collection of things and objects. Then to go on to say they don't know what is next but will figure it out, big thank you to the company that just threw them out like last week's festering trash. Strong and positive close just as the the societal norms expect. That is so crazy wrong at every level.

A post like this in my network garners several hundred likes and comments. I have been laid off and have known people who have been as well - some at the same time as me, others at other times. I have been in situations where a lay-off is being announced in an all-hands call and my boss is texting me to let me know I am safe but he won't have time to chat with me until next week because a lot of the team is impacted. I experienced the combined, vomit inducing forces of guilt, relief and sadness punch me in the gut. 

Then I became aware of who they decided to let go and it made no sense - not to me, not to their manager and not to anyone who had ever worked with these folks. The randomness of the event was like a  hard slap on the face. I know for a fact that the other side did not have any single positive emotion about the company that had down-sized them. The morale of those that remained sank, after the dust settled, a lot of people left on their own because they knew it could be their turn next and they did not want to be passive recipients of bad news, have their dignity shredded publicly. 

They do not feel good about the company that treated their peers and friends so capriciously. Everyone has one question in mind that I saw only one person ever openly talk on LinkedIn - why is no one placing responsibility where it squarely belongs, highest levels of management where bad bets and decisions were made resulting in the need for such inhumane correction? why are those people not being held accountable for their actions and being laid off too? This whole game of not burning any bridges and keeping it positive takes a heavy toll on people - no one believes a single word they are writing and the same is true for everyone who has to play along and pretend they are aligned with such performative trip along the moral high road.

The company that once laid me off tried to hire me back. One of my close friends had a similar experience with her company. We decided to politely decline -maybe we are too random to matter but I can't think of one reason to return to the company that fires you in the middle of the night, disables all your accesses like you were a common criminal and leaves you to connect the dots out about your fate listening to the morning news. 

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