I've known things weren't going well at Hauptratte-Sperren for a while now. A few months ago, they eliminated my entire department, except for me. They eventually moved me down to Bethesda, where I work on maintaining the internet and intranet pages.
Rumors of more layoffs had been floating around for a while now, and this morning we had an all-hands meeting where they broke the bad news everyone was expecting. Around 11AM, the boss stopped by my cubicle, said "Sorry I have to do this," and handed me a layoff notice. I have until February 8 to find a new job.
It's not losing my job that bothers me, it's finding a new one. I hate going on interviews. It could be worse. One of my co-workers who was laid off in October had been working there since he was a teenager and found himself in the job market without having been on an interview in three decades.
And at least I have two months to find something. Back in 1991, I got fired a week before Xmas.
I look on the bright side of things, though. With luck, I'll be able to find a new job in Virginia closer to home and won't have to deal with traffic on the Beltway anymore.