My friend gets laid off

[boz1911]

Not what I wanted to have to say in my 2000th post.

One of my very best friends and shooting compadres got laid off today. I f#%ing hate it. It's a shame because I know his company is loosing one of their best employees. Thank God he's getting a decent severance package. Still sucks.

[Fireant]

Not what I wanted to have to say in my 2000th post.

One of my very best friends and shooting compadres got laid off today. I f#%ing hate it. It's a shame because I know his company is loosing one of their best employees. Thank God he's getting a decent severance package. Still sucks.

I agree 1000% a shooting buddy here that we all thought was high enough up the food chain to avoid a lay off had his whole crew laid off out of the blue.

[SiG Lady]

We've seen SEVERAL big-business-operations close down here over the past year... a couple or so of my shooting buddies took a hit from it and lost their jobs. Really decent people who didn't deserve (or need) that kind of action.

One of my friends can't find a replacement job; the other one was off work for a long time but ended up working part-time at the local indoor range (a great move for him, actually). Still, it's painful watching your friends have misfortune right before your very eyes.

Not to mention all my bankruptcy clients who are losing THEIR jobs and swamping our office with cases! Gah!

[Canuck223]

It's so easy to second guess yourself in your choices.

Ten years ago, both my buddy and myself were offered jobs with the local school boards plant services division. I took it, while Gary took a job in an automotive plant.

Over the years, I've been able to transfer 4 times getting closer to home each time. I'm now foreman at my school, just down the street from home.

Gary has had several years where he was working crazy overtime, sometimes 6 and 7 days a week. He's also been through a 6 month re-tooling and several partial or full lay offs.

There have been times where I've questioned my choice. I like my job. It pays better than most assume, and has full benefits and nearly iron clad job security. At the end of the day, I doubt I could take the stress Gary's put up with, even during those times when I bet his take home pay may have doubled my own.

Currently, the Chrysler plant his factory supports is likely to close. I honestly don't know what he'll do. He's lucky in that he's an excellent carpenter, and several of his car restoration projects have won prizes. He's not the type of guy who will go long without an income. Still, every time I open the paper, I think about him and wonder if he'd have been happy if he'd joined me at my work.