Holy cow, Dina, what a horrible thing to occur. IMO, that's a lousy and inappropriate way to handle a layoff. And way to boost morale: terrorize your employees. Jesus. Layoffs happen all the time now, but that kind of thing always pisses me off. Sorry to hear about that and losing contact with colleagues, that is very hard. And you sounded so excited about working there. As if working in software wasn't exploding-head-inducing enough. Good thing you're a smart cookie, eh? Good luck. Positive vibes heading your way...