What a short, strange trip it's been

As many of you know, I was laid off the Friday before Thanksgiving. It came as a complete surprise to me. Our entire department was reorganized in August, and my particular group was moved into a new area. It seems kind of foolish to go through all the headache of transferring us just to let us go. There were 8 people in all who were laid off. We were told that our jobs didn't "fit" in the new organization, but that there would be 3 new jobs posted. Let's see, 8 goes into 3 how many times? So like the good corporate drone that I am, I posted for one of the jobs. Wife, kids, mortgage, you do the math.

I found out on Tuesday that I will be getting one of the jobs. My boss sent me an e-mail asking if we could get together to "touch base." Touching base is apparantly code for "offer you a job." Don't I need to interview? I asked. Nope.

However, I can't tell anybody yet. So people keep seeing me in the hall or the elevator and they go "Hey, how are you?" And then they get the sad look on their face and go through the routine. It sucks what happened to you. I was so surprised! Are you looking? What are you going to do? Good luck! I just smile and agree and tell them I'm working on a few things.

So, I was potentially unemployed for 2 1/2 weeks. And now, my future is secure. For the moment. G.I. Joe with the Kung-Fu grip for everybody!