Is the recession making you depressed? Cranky?

[UGAalum94]

There were some recent layoff as the advertising company my husband works for. (Fortunately/selfishly for us, he wasn't one of them.) The people laid off were called to meetings, and then they were sent home after handing in their security cards. (They scheduled times to come back later and pick up their personal stuff.) My husband noted how weird the little details were, like one guy's coffee was still sitting on his desk where he put it before he went to his meeting.

In teaching, you'd know for months if you didn't get a contract for next year, and you'd still be expected to carry on teaching. Since most people want to get the best possible recommendation out of the job and many if not most are simply pretty professional, this works out okay, but sometimes I can see how one might fantasize about the completely unfiltered parent conference.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

There were some recent layoff as the advertising company my husband works for. (Fortunately/selfishly for us, he wasn't one of them.) The people laid off were called to meetings, and then they were sent home after handing in their security cards. (They scheduled times to come back later and pick up their personal stuff.) My husband noted how weird the little details were, like one guy's coffee was still sitting on his desk where he put it before he went to his meeting

I've worked in several PR and ad agencies (work in one right now, actually), and this has been my experience. Usually it is sudden, sometimes they lay off people that are very busy with work, and coworkers take it very hard since we work together in teams. It is especially hard for those of us in account management, because when other account managers leave, we have to take over their accounts/clients. And as someone who was on the receiving end of one of those "hard conversations" just one year out of college, I can say that it's very hard to leave your coworkers/friends and leaves you feeling pretty stunned - like you've been hit by a truck. The good thing is that you get to leave right away and don't have to "transition" people into your work, which really sucks. The nonprofit I worked for several years ago let me go when they had to slash budgets (thanks to redistributed giving post-9/11), and they did it in the form of two weeks notice and no severance. It sucked royally - because I had to go to work instead of look for a job - and I ended up quitting after a week of it because I was tired of being treated like dirt. These days, I've come realize that layoffs are a part of the marketing/advertising/PR business, and that sooner or later I'll probably do a stint with every agency in town.