The Layoff
Disclaimer: This piece is meant to be humorous and cathartic, inspired by pop culture and personal reflection. The captions are intentional, for humor’s sake, and are not a dig at any person or company, but an honest take on a moment many professionals face.
I’ve been working a long time. When I started, it was with the idea that I find something long term, and have a career, and for the first 9 years of my career I had that. You build relationships, you build your skills, you think you’re all on the same page, and you stay because you get rewarded for a job well done. In the beginning of your career, chances are you’re not experienced enough to read between the lines, read the room, understand the work environment.
So you stay, and you work. Sometimes it feels rewarding — other times, less so. The deeper you go, the more you begin to see things clearly: the politics, the posturing, the quiet calculations. And if you get attached to your work, the people, the company, you become emotionally vested. That’s when a layoff hits the hardest. It can be taken as a betrayal of trust; it will at times make you look within and blame yourself and feel bad. It will make you sad, angry, and hurt.
As the song says, the first cut is the deepest. Like any relationship, when you invest the time and effort and heart and soul and end up on the wrong side of a layoff, it hurts, and it takes a while before you can make peace and move on.
And then, you pick yourself up, and you start again, because that’s what you have to do. Over time, those experiences — even the painful ones — become a kind of compass. They sharpen your ability to see patterns, notice shifts, and prepare. One layoff in particular had a significant impact on me. It’s not the event itself that defines this story — it’s how I responded, and what I learned about resilience in the process.
Experience gives you situational awareness. You start to recognize when something’s coming — a shift, a conversation, a change in energy. You learn when to brace, when to pivot, and when to take the hit and keep moving. Some call it instinct. Others might call it paranoia. In my case, it was clarity.
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In the movie “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Steve Rogers enters an elevator trying to leave the building. As he’s headed down, more and more people enter the elevator, surrounding him. He knew something was up. Captain America read that elevator; his instinct told him something was wrong. At a certain point in my own journey, I found myself in a metaphorical version of that elevator. And that instinct kicked in.
Good people, do good things. Good companies, run by good people, will do the right thing. But at the same time it’s business, and it’s not personal.
And sometimes these things happen, and some companies will do the things they’ve preached. And others show you exactly who they are in that moment.
In a perfect world, the following happens, and wouldn’t it be great to have that happy ending?
This represents the moment we all wish for — the clean escape, the perfect severance, and the immediate job offer. Life rarely gives us that…but the daydream is satisfying. When luck doesn’t go that way, you just move forward.
If you’ve never been in this spot, and it’s happening now, it will get better, and you’ll start something new with a different perspective. There are many different sites out there that can help you get back on your feet and into a new position.
If you have been in this spot before, I hope you’re laughing along with the pictures, and I hope the words make sense.
