job - One Less Dog In The Hunt

You know, there are times when you just have to go with your gut. Breaking things down into pros and cons, using logic to distill your thoughts and make an educated decision; its all wise counsel, but that little voice whispering in your ear or that feeling in your gut shouldn’t be tossed aside. To use a comic book reference: When your spider sense is speaking, you should listen. Sometimes you just have to go with what feels right. That’s tough in a world where we’re taught to use our brains instead of our feelings.

I was coming up on two years of unemployment. With no prospects after a long journey through applications, resumes, job posting sites, and unemployment rejections (clue: if you aren’t making any money and you use your retirement funds to make ends meet — you likely sunk your chances with the unemployment office) I went back to my retail roots looking for gainful employment. It was a bitter pill to swallow. It was looking like no one wanted me or could see any value in me, but another retailer. I’d tried. I really tried to keep from walking back toward the darkside, but it was the only job source calling for me.

So, I got the boot. I think I walked out of that building (escorted of course) in a tunnel. I had a feeling it was coming. We’d been warned there was some corporate restructuring that would impact those in my position. Crazy thing is, they warned us a week before they told us; let us dangle at the end of the hook so to speak. Simple courtesy or even humane treatment would have been to tell us what was happening and then tell us who got the axe. One swift cut, but no, bro.

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Anyway, my point isn’t to debate the heartlessness of corporate decision making. I mean to set up the feeling of walking out of a building where I had invested over half my life with no clear understanding of where I was headed. Of course, I had bills, a wife, a kid in college, and I was still at least ten years away from retirement. I was going to need some income, but I had no desire to enter into something I would be wanting out of in six months.

In that week where I dangled, I researched. The number one thing I found was encouragement to stay calm. Don’t Panic. Keep a perspective. Don’t rush into the first job you stumble upon. Therefore, on the trip from the building to my car, with the lump in my throat growing with each step, I forced myself to take deep breaths. I opened the door and dropped my few personal items from my desk into the passenger seat, and I sat… taking deep breaths. I was empty. I was stunned. I was lost. I was questioning, but I wasn’t panicking.

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