Bad Day at the Office

I knew it was coming. They knew it was coming. Why then was it so hard? On Thursday five of the 9 remaining employees at my plant were laid off. Two of the five had been there since day one with me and another two almost that long.

On Wednesday the bankruptcy judge approved the "sale" of the plant to the paper mill. The sale is to close on or before March 15th. Next week the process of turning over the facility begins. The owners of the mill have stated that they have no intention of retaining any of the plants current staff. I suspect it is because they have no intention of operating the plant.

All employees were gathered into the lunch room and given the news as a group. They were told that four people would remain to transition the facility and that for the rest it would be their last day. You could see the pain on their faces. A couple who already had jobs to go to were relieved to finally be let go.

I saw many people "let go" at the end of my last job but it did not feel the same as there were over 500 employees there and it was not as personal. We had 17 employees max and most of them had been there since the plant was constructed. As much as work can seem like family they felt like family.

We have been in this "limbo" land at work for 15 months. Having your future up in the air for so long can drain on a person. Almost half of the staff could not stand the wait and chose to move on sooner rather than later. The rest of us chose to wait it out knowing that in the greatest probability what has come to pass was what was what was most likely. While I am grateful for all the opportunity my present job had allowed, I am ready for something new. A fresh start. A new commute. New faces and most of all new challenges. The next month of turning the facility over will be painful but I am ready for the end.