Saved. For. Now.

Well, folks, I still have a job and will have one for at least the foreseeable future.

Yes, there were discussions about the “future of” my department. However, at this time, the plan is to tweak our mission, so to speak. And our department is on the company budget for 2014.

Even more to the good, I got a raise. Three percent, but I’ll take it. I was not looking forward to going on unemployment again. Ug! I hated that.

Still…

After being laid off myself and seeing so many good colleagues shown the door, I know circumstances can change and change overnight. If the economy nosedives or the All White Males Club decides to hack away at our department, they will do so with not a care to what they are doing to other people’s lives. That is the same as what it was six months ago and what it will be six months from now. No one has job security (except the managers who tell you that no one has any job security. They always seem to save themselves.). Once the "future of" discussions start, it's usually an eventual slippery slope to oblivion.

I do feel a bit foolish, but I wasn't completely wrong (or paranoid). They definitely were discussing the "future of" my department, and that could have meant anything. 

So in many ways, this is simply a temporary reprieve. At the very least, it gives me time to get a new resume together and pay off more debt. (Now if the NY Mets could only get a power-hitting outfielder my life would be just about perfect.)

To be fair, I understand that the CEO is doing what he’s supposed to do. Looking for ways to cut costs and expand the company in new directions is his job. It’s just unfortunate that his job sometimes means other people will lose theirs.

The best we as workers can hope for is that he or any CEO does so in a thoughtful and deliberate fashion, not in a panic while figuring out how to save themselves and their lapdogs in a bar during happy hour. (No lie, that was pretty much what happened at my previous workplace. The top three-four managers were all alcoholics. Never work for drunks…you will never win.)

But for now, I have a job and for that I’m thankful. Time to bring back my office coffee cup.