The Other Shoe Drops

Calpine Plans to Lay Off 300 Workers

As I drove to work on Wednesday I wondered what it would feel like to wake up on a week day morning and have no where I was supposed to be. I have had a job (sometimes two) everyday since I was 18. The last time I did not have a job was the summer before I entered the Navy and I had already enlisted so I knew what my future was going to be (sort of). That is well over 20 years of continuous employment.

As I drove that morning I knew that about 300 fellow employees where going to wake up tomorrow and discover what it feels like to have no place of employment. I also wondered how many of them had no idea what was in store for them that day. Of course when you work for a bankrupt company you should know that your job could be in jeopardy but people have a way of rationalizing that it will not happen to them.

There is irony here and I love irony. The irony is that my plant has been in bankruptcy for over a year, almost a year longer than our parent company. No one at my plant was laid off on Wednesday. We out lasted 300 other employees at various other locations. Amazing. Though we were to find out that it will be a short lived "victory".

On Wednesday the employees here were finally told that the plant is to be turned over to the papermill and that the mill currently has no intention to retain any of the staff. It is just a matter of time and we will join the ranks of the 300 unemployed. They would have let us go on Wednesday but the court has yet to approve the transfer of the asset. The court date is the coming up in a couple of weeks then all bets are 0ff.

The mood at work has changed from hopeful to one of defeat. Even though everyone had been told that the future of the facility look grim they still rationalized (see above) that it would all work out. Now that hope has been removed. It was good that they were told as now they (and I) can focus on what it is to come next. I for one am ready for a change as the last year has been really boring!

The phone rarely rings, the emails have slowed to a snails pace, so much so I even look forward to spam. Even the vendors we owe money to don't call any more. Thank god for my satellite radio as it keeps me entertained through the day. One can not search the internet for jobs all day long. It is too depressing. mmmmmm I suppose that now that we are to lose our jobs it can't do much harm to search for porn........oh, got to go.