The Struggles of Being Laid Off

As you can tell by the title, I'm going to talk about my first experience of being laid off from a job. About three months ago (It's been three months already!) I was called by my manager....ON MY DAY OFF...and she told me that she had some bad news for me along with some options. She told me that the company I was working for wasn't making enough money during this summer season so they were going to have to let some people go. I worked in a sales position (not commission based) so that meant the person with the lowest average, which happened to be me, was the first to be let go. I was more angry than anything because I was being told this on my day off, and my regional wasn't telling me this which is what I expected. They gave me three options: 1. Be demoted to part time, 2. Travel to Augusta, GA to work full time out of that studio, 3. Be laid off and collect unemployment.

The first option was a no because part time people weren't getting any hours at the moment since we weren't making enough money. Sidenote: the studio closed down two months after she presented these options so I would have been laid off anyway. The second option meant cutting my check in half every week to drive an hour to GA and an hour back. Gas money is no joke! So I went with option three. Three, pick number three my lord! (Shrek reference).

This was brand new territory for me because I have never been laid off from a job, never even been fired. I didn't know how unemployment worked, or how much they would give me. I didn't know how my boyfriend and I were going to survive now that my income was basically gone. It was hard going from working five days a week to sitting at home all the time. My new job became cleaning the house and applying for jobs every single day. I have become so bored with my life that I have a detailed log of all the jobs I apply to each day and when it's acceptable to call them after some days have passed.

Being laid off is something I hope no one has to go through in their life because it really is a struggle. You become so used to working all the time that you develop a routine of it, and then one day someone comes along and rips the job out of your hands. They take that nice steady cash flow of $400 a week and turn it into less than $200 from unemployment. I think the only good thing I can say about the layoff was that the stress of having to maintain an average is gone. I somewhat enjoyed my job though. I was around children which is what I'm going to school for and I was able to do photography which is something I love just as much as children.

My advice to anyone that experiences a layoff is DON'T PANIC. I know that hearing those words probably feels like the end of the world, but I promise you that it's not. You will figure it out just like I am. Those bills that depended on your regular income will still get paid. I know this because somehow we are still managing to pay our bills even if they are a little late sometimes. There are programs and sources in place to help you navigate through this tough time in your life so take advantage of them. Hopefully you were smarter than me and had some money saved for instances like this one. You are going to get another job, but you have to work for it. Not all jobs just fall into your lap, you have to go out and make an effort to look. It's been three months that I haven't gotten a job, and my world is still intact so if I can handle this time then so can you! If you are reading this and are jobless than I wish you luck as you hunt for another job. If you have a stable job right now, then I hope it stays that way.

"Don't be afraid of change. You may end up losing something good, but you will probably end up gaining something better."

#Layoff #Jobless