And I thought that the bat was scary...
Today has been a very interesting day. I got to work to find out that my computer was still being worked on and I finally managed to get it back at around 11:00 or so. What a hassle! Of course I had to reinstall Frame and a few other programs, but the system is now close to being back to normal. The president of the company called a 20 minute meeting to talk about how we did in the first half of the year and where we're going in the next half. We assembled at 2:15 and he explained that our sales were up 110% from last year, which is great, but the economy is still slow and we're faced with the fact that a lot of companies just aren't spending money. He explained that we're spending about $1.30 for every dollar that we're making, ouch! Then he announced that because of this and the fact that we're probably going to be in this fix for awhile, that 17 people were being layed off. The room gave a collective mental gasp. In a company of just less than 100 employees, 17 people is a lot. My heart started fluttering and my stomach got tight. This is not the time to lose my job, and I felt for sure that I was going. The layoffs were immediate and the president tried to be sympathetic, but I didn't think it was handled as well as it could have been. We were told to go back to our desks where everyone of us had an envelope waiting. We were to open the envelope and go to the room printed on the paper inside and await further instructions. I was one of the lucky ones. The VP met us there and explained that in order to make this as painless as possible for the 17 other people, that we should get our stuff and leave immediately. The senior staff and a few other people were staying to assist the people leaving, but the rest of us filed out and headed for our cars and drove away stunned. I gave one of the sales women a ride to the metro and we were both relieved that we were still employed, but incredibly sad to lose so many friends. Tomorrow is going to be a very hard day when we realise who isn't there anymore. We're supposed to have a meetings first thing in the morning with our department heads. What a crappy day.