Oh sh1t. I'm really sorry. It must feel almost like a death in the family. Is there any consolation in knowing that your not alone in that boat?

It must be especially bad to lose a job you love. I may not be far behind you. I do fund raising for a living and let me tell you, not a lot of people are making donations. I know cut backs are coming. If my head rolls, I will miss the income, the benefits and some of the people, but not the job.

We had one person in upper management leave for a different job. They decided not to replace her. Now all the people who reported to her have to share her workload on top of everything else they do.

It really is a bloodbath out there. I hope you get some comfort that you will soon have a whole new career, so the future is still good.

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

What a bummer! That sounds rather trite, but, well, it is a bummer to get laid off and to have to leave your friends/coworkers like that. It's inspiring that you are looking at the bright side, and it does sound like a bright side for you, to be able to focus more on your schooling. That internship could prove very valuble. Now you may not be spreading yourself too thin.

I wish you all the best in this new turn your life has taken.

Sally

Oh, Sue, I am so sorry that this happened so soon. Even tho you were expecting it eventually, there is really never a good time to go thru something like this.

You are very lucky to have a second income to fall back on and your schooling to look forward to. Still, I know it is bittersweet.

Best of luck to you, keep in touch with those co-workers you share a special bond with.

Linda

I feel your pain. I am just waiting for the ax to fall here. I know by June the college will be thinning out staff. Just hope it doesn't happen to me, but I have only been here since October.
I hope you are able to find something else to tide you over. By the time you are done with school, perhaps things will be better economically.

Crap, crud and oh, sh*t! Even when you know it is coming it is sad. You like or love your job, and the people you spend the day with. And looking for something new is not fun.

The up side may be that this will lead to something even better.

Hang in there,

Peppi

I'm sorry Sue. I know how much you enjoyed that job. Hang in there buddy!

Oh Sue that really is a downer, like Peppi said crap, crud and oh sh!t. The work environment must be so bad right now. Either being laid off, worrying about being laid off or feeling bad for you coworkers who have been laid off. Morale must be the pitts!

Clive has to fire 150 people on Tuesday, he is sick about it but there is no work. He is in IT and their largest customer has just stopped spending on IT so no work for them. Now his company is reacting to that, next their suppliers will. That's the big problem , it's like a tidal wave, starts and then keeps right on rolling, getting larger and larger.

You wonder where it ends.

Sorry Sue. While it may not have been unexpected, it still s*cks. I hope you and your coworkers keep in touch since you seemed to get along so well. Take care!

Bri

My heart is aching for the USA. How many more of us are going to get the tap on the shoulder.

Where are the jobs and opportunities these days?

Aw sorry Sue.

Where are the jobs and opportunities these day? In China, I suppose, where we sent them with our constant "need" for cheap crap. Sigh.

Between that and the media, with the constant doom and gloom, people get scared. They stop buying, so production goes down, people get laid off, they stop buying, production goes down. Repeat infinitely.

It sucks, but it's no worse than the 70s or even the beginning of the 80s. It all sucked.

Current unemployment rate for December, 2008 was 7.2%. As recently as June of 1992 unemployment rate was 7.8% and in June of 1985 it was 7.2%, what it is now. In November of 1982, the year and month Amanda was born, unemployment was nearly 11%.

In July of 1980 unemployment was 7.8%, the same as it was in December of 2008. The rate went up from there, peaked at nearly 11% and didn't return to anything below the 7%s until 1986.

The difference is that we hear about it more through the media, and it's not the little guys, it's the big guys so there's even more media coverage.

We'll pull out of this, just like we always do, if we're patient. That's no help at all to those losing jobs in this economic environment.

Sue, I second that thought that hopefully things will be better by the time you finish your school. Thank goodness for that second income.

Annie

I'm sorry Sue...

Can you do some freelance writting or magazine story addmittances? Or such..something to keep you writing??
And you can work it around your school and intern schedule..

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts. As I said, I'm fortunate compared to some of my co-workers.

Terri - I'm still writing, just in legal format these days. Very different discipline, but enjoyable for me in a different way. From what various lawyers have said to me, I'll be doing lots of writing and good quality is valued. So, I'm optimistic that way.

I may be trading in one declining industry for an equally bad one - new law grads are having a terrible time. But, as others have said, I'm hoping things will turn around in the next 3-4 years. I didn't do this anticipating making lots of money, just to do something I'm interested in and hope will be rewarding. I go to a state school that places well regionally so I'm not incurring loan debt - instead, we're absorbing the cost by cutting back.

I'm submitting resumes but focusing more on networking, as I believe that's the key to finding a job. That's exactly how I got my internship.

Darn Sue!
I hope the old "one door closes and another opens" comes true for you!

Grace

I hate change, too. Sometimes even if it is a change that I desire, I bristle at the discomfort that I feel in the beginning. It helps us become more appreciative as humans and more creative as problem solvers.

I believe, and you must also, that doing one's work well begets more good work to do. This is my personal experience. Intelligence, skills, and integrity are always in demand.

I am very sorry.

Somehow, I just know things will go well for you in the future, in spite of this.

I'm sorry to be readng this news tonight Sue. Glad to know that it sounds like y'all will make it through this while you finish your education. I agree that the media is partly to blame with scaring the heck out of everyone and adding to the challenges we are faciing.

David

I'm another one who believes all the media doom and gloom is only making things worse. It is inescapable. I have my clock radio set to the local news station and it makes me not want to get out of bed. I'll have to switch to a nice Oldies station. Of course that is depressing too when they play a song that is considered an Oldie and I realize that I was already 40 when it was popular. Sigh.

Sue, I think lawyers have a lot of social capital. There are many ways to use that law degree. I know it's tough for young lawyers now. My friend worked for many years recruiting new lawyers for a large firm. She just got laid off. It's no disaster for her since she was already thinking of retiring and they gave her a very nice severance package.

Some day (soon, I hope) this will all turn around.

Sue, what a bummer. Sorry to hear about the layoff. Seems like just yesterday you got that job. :(

My DH has a Juris Doctorate & is a member of the Bar in several states. But, he's never worked for a law firm. You'll have a choice of many career routes with that degree. DH uses his degree daily in his position &, sometimes, does private legal work for friends & business associates. Without the JD he'd never have attained his current position. His specialty is real estate & corporate law. Even into retirement he's considering doing simple residential real estate closings just to stay active. There will be lots of opportunities for you that you've probably not even thought of yet. By the time you graduate the economy, hopefully, will have turned the corner.

Wish you the best.

/tricia

Sorry to hear you lost your job. Think I'm the last auto worker still going to work. The factory did away with seniority with the last round of lay-offs. People were kept for having skills and using those skills. People lectured me a couple years ago about how I was stupid to get on every team and committee I could. Why do the extra work for no thanks at all they asked. Well, here we are and I'm working still and they are drawing unemployment. Many CF members probably know I've worked every day for years now like it was my last chance to make a buck

Good luck with your law degree. Was so cold this winter I spotted a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets!

: )
lyra

Sue, I hate to hear that you lost your job. Although, I am glad you are doing so well in law school and like that. there will be a place for you when you get through it, because you will not only have that, but some great experience to team with it, unlike the younger ones you mentioned, who will only hold the degree.

Brenda

Sue, my condolences as well. I can't add more than has already been said, you'll land on your feet. I just hope that this turns around soon, it's awful to watch (and wait).

I completely disagree with those who think it's the media making things worse, whether it's local or national news. The facts are the facts, and I prefer to know them from the source (hard news), rather than bloggers or anecdotes or TV news. I want depth, not alarmist headlines. I wonder where people will get their information when there are no more reporters in the field. Ignoring facts doesn't mean they aren't there. Good reporters ferret out the facts, and report them to us. We can't get them any other way.

I'm sorry that newspapers and newsmagazines are in decline, and laying off reporters who cover local news exacerbates the problem. I want to read local AND national stories and analysis. Our local big-city daily is responding just the way your paper is, Sue, by cutting out the news and offering us "News Digest" paragraphs, so that readers have nothing left to read - the paper digested it for us!

I know money talks, and I have no answers, but I worry about what will happen when the masses aren't informed any more. Everyone doesn't need to know about the goings-on in the local library board meetings or what's going on in our schools, but that kind of news belongs in the local papers for those who do. Without local reporters covering those things, a lot of shenanigans will go on behind closed doors that will be to the detriment of society and our country, not the benefit of the entire community.

Sue,
Some jobs become obsolete, but talent never does. You are talented, hard-working and kind to others. As someone who went through basically the same thing (laid off and job hunting) during the last economic down-turn, let me tell you that it works out. We are happier than ever now, have learned what is truly important, and value what we have. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but I'll bet you will be a stronger person for it!

You are exactly right sherrman. We were the ones who sat in the five-hour municipal and school-board meetings to ensure that decisions were made in the open and that the public was informed. I expect our paper will go from a respected hard news source to nothing more than press releases and ads. Sadly, people will thing that's news.

Awhile back I was standing in the hallway of a municipal building during an executive session. A resident had shown up to attend a public hearing about a hot issue and was livid, saying she couldn't believe that the public hadn't been informed. When I told her that I had, in fact, written a number of stories detailing the facts and advancing the meeting, she became flustered and said only, "I don't have time to read the paper!" And yes, we're on-line too, but it just doesn't matter.

Government and school boards, from the national level to the local, will never tell the public all that they do without someone looking over their shoulders. That someone is the reporters.

Sue, I'm sorry you got laid off. I understand the sadness.
It's strange to recognize and be aware of it.
My hours were reduced last week from 40 to 32. I think it's just a matter of time. I can't collect unemployment, I just have to live with 20% less pay! Grrrr..sneaky bas_erds! I hate the idea of looking for work. I've been here 21 years! I was a baby (25) when I started!!

Luckily, we, too have been planning, saving, cutting what we can and have some options.

I think it's going to be really tough for quite awhile.
The recovery isn't going to happen quickly or easily, but it will happen.

Deanna

Having been there myself, I soon found myself asking, why did I wait to end the relationship, this isn't so bad. You'll soon embrace the change gold, I don't doubt it. Good luck and great outlook!

We have become a nation of opinionated people without much use for facts or depth. We all seem to know a little about many topics, but few of us know in depth. Newspapers used to be full of stories about every aspect of the community, and people read them all. We were an informed people. Now, we read short versions on the internet, or some of us have to read short versions in the paper, and we listen to talk radio to get our info. I don't think that cursory information will serve us well in the long run.

Time is valuable, as it always was, and yet people found time to read the paper, learn things about their community and country, and still conduct their daily lives and have meaningful discussions about "the news." Reading the paper for hard news was PART of their daily lives. You met a good example of the problem of being uninformed in the muni building.

I guess I'm just an old dinosaur who is grateful there are still young people who want to be print reporters. I hope there will always be people like you. To think that you may become obsolete is truly frightening.

Take hope. None of the young people I work with or know reads a print newspaper, but all of them are quite well informed. News has just moved into a different arena.

People actually read MORE news now, in a shorter period of time, and if one wants to research a news item more in depth, you can do it with a link or two. People also discuss the news with others online with ease.

As a long-time newspaper advertising sales rep and manager for local newspapers, I used to wonder the same about who will be covering the local news. But actually that sector is the strongest of all print papers right now, current bad economy aside. Most of those print papers have strong online editions as well.

People will continue to create online news sources, national and local, and "the news" is in the middle of morphing into a new creation to fit the way young people get their news now.

Having been a successful sales rep during the last recession in my area, when many folks here in SoCal were "upside down" on their homes, I know that recessions and economic downturns must follow boom times and that changes are inevitable and that we will survive and morph into the next phase, whatever that may be. I am ever the hopeful and positive one.

Sorry to hijack the thread Sue!

No worries Gina, this is obviously a subject near and dear to my heart.

Sherrmann gives me credit for being young, but at 47, I don't think I qualify ;) My issue isn't about news trending to the Web - that's just fine with me. My concern is that it's morphing into forms presented as "news" that really aren't. As the corporate entities that own papers cut personnel to cut costs, they cut the very people that are out in the community creating the depth of objective reporting that's the strength of local papers. With not enough reporters to cover the beats, they resort to running more and more syndicated columns and stories based on biased press releases and other sources because it's all they have left. Sadly, readers are led to believe they're reading news when in reality, it's PR. Everyone loses.

That's it, exactly, Sue. I don't care where people get the news (well, I do wish they'd buy newspapers...), but we need real news, from professional reporters in the field. The availability of more news sites doesn't necessarily translate to BETTER news, just more news, and it's overwhelming. A lot of it is junk. And PR is not news. Oversight and insight are valuable and necessary.

My hub was a reporter for 43 years, and our dtr is a PR person. What a difference in their thought processes, their goals for a particular story and their point of view! Dtr frequently passes her press releases by Dad for his opinion before she puts them out. Wow, do they differ. She tries to put out pretty stuff for the company, he sees right through her corporate BS! Without reporters in the field, it will be just like Sue says: Readers think they are reading news when it's corporate or governmental BS, and everyone loses.

Gina, I'm not sure I agree that Local news is all that strong. Sue is a good example of that - she just lost her local job! I know a lot of reporters, and they all feel that they short-change their beats now because there are not enough reporters anymore. And the competition among reporters to get a good story is lacking now.

Yes, weekly community newspapers are still publishing, and they are vital, but even they don't have as much in them as they used to. Most of their copy is submitted by readers, like weddings and announcements, births, dean's list, things of that nature. All very interesting, but not hard news. It's the nitty gritty stuff of boring meetings that reporters give us in their news stories that is so vital to the community.

TV news is almost a joke. Our local stations - four of them - devote more time to weather, sports and promos than news every night, which is a lot cheaper than paying reporters to cover the news, so they fill the air with drivel. It's not enough.

I agree, TV "news" isn't news and hasn't been for a long time. That media is also losing viewers rapidly.

When I say things are morphing, I mean that we are in a flux - a time of great change and upheaval in the news and information realm. We are seeing the end of the great print media companies happening before our eyes. It's surreal. And for those of those brought up reading newsprint, it's unnerving!

I don't know how things will turn out, but I imagine that people will come along to cover local governments in a new way - perhaps streaming video of meetings, and new web sites for such local goings on. There is definitely a need and where there is need, someone will come along to fill it.

It was individuals who care that started the local weeklies, (God knows it wasn't to make much money! LOL) and I'm sure there are still young would-be publishers and journalists who care and will figure out a way to marry the need for local news with the new media.
The old media who is cutting personnel every month is dying and there's no saving it.

Like I always say, I am optimistic. With the internet we have new ways of getting information, reading it, disseminating it, sharing it, examining it, comparing it, etc. Blogs get a bad rep. Most of them are not worth your time, but some jewels are popping up here and there, giving us more ways to get info/data.

Sitting back and looking at the explosion of information available to me in the last few years, I am awestruck.

Take heart y'all - all is not lost. Rather, it is a new beginning.

aw crap I thought this was play on words and there would be marmalade. I'm sorry :(

Sherrman - we call taking a PR job as "going to the dark side." ;)

Gina, I wish I could share your enthusiasm. You mention being a former sales rep/manager, and the view from that side of the house is usually much different from the reporters and editors. For me, it's not about form, it's about access and content. The problem isn't reporting the "easy" information that everyone wants to share, it's uncovering the information that's hidden.

Video streaming of meetings is great - but it's rare that a municipality or school board will do it without being backed into a corner. Been there, done that. One school board here did - after more than six months of prodding by residents and our paper. And the sad thing was, when it did happen, hardly anyone watched. Video is convenient, but it doesn't replace having someone there to challenge an executive session or question officials on behalf of taxpayers.

Someone here did start an online "breaking news" site for the county. It's totally editorialized, poorly written factoids. And it's run by an attorney! LOL. Maybe my future is there ;)

Actually, I do keep having this thought of somehow combining law and news, but I just don't know how to do it. There's a well-known lawyer in the area who serves many of the papers and focuses on media and First Amendment issues. I keep thinking I should call him, as I did speak to him once about a story.

Anyway, I appreciate all the great thoughts - it's nice to be able debate this with my favorite culinary experts :)

sands you always crack me up!

Sands - that didn't even cross my mind until you posted. It made me LOL. Thanks :)

LOL Sands.

The money side of the house is not just full of folks who only care about money. If that was the case, all the reps would want to work at the yellow pages, LOL. We as a group also appreciated working at publications with real news coverage and not full of advertorial and PR.

I hear and understand the worry about access and uncovering the local government's goings on. The coverage of local news has been an issue for a long time - before any internet access.

In this area, for example, we had/have the Los Angeles Times. The paper that covers everything but Los Angeles news.

Did you ever see the movie The Paper? It was just like that - the the LATimes being the paper that "covers the world" -- and us little weeklies being the ones that did any local coverage. Though we don't have anything like the News, Newday or the Post like New York does. It really has been a local news wasteland.

My hope is that there will be more local coverage with the advent of the web and blogs etc. We'll see what happens.

It's too bad your budding new career was nipped so soon.

A few years ago, there were some reporters in this county that would come into my office and I'd give them a press release or make a statement. A couple of them I could even give pieces of information and ask that they not be released for a period of time. I trusted them and they did not betray that trust.

They are all gone, either fired or retired or moved. Now I have to watch the news to find out what I said, we've stopped talking to television stations and reporters entirely, we'll prepare a press release on paper and fax it, but make no other statements. Too many times I've seen myself "quoted" as making a statement that I never made, and even with the press release in writing the Grand Rapids television station will broadcast things that aren't true and aren't included in the release. I guess they just make things up because it makes a better story but they are not accurate, they are not reliable and they are not truthful.

I'd as soon read the National Enquirer as watch the news on WZZM in Grand Rapids, and other surrounding media outlets are not much better.

Part of my job here is to deal with the media on high profile cases and I've taken to saying that this office has no comment. Ever. They can check the court records if they want the facts but they seldom do, they just want to print a good story.

I don't trust them, and for very good reason. And don't get me started on the weather reports that categorize 3 inches of snow in Michigan as an "emergency" and worthy of "weather advisories".

And so, as evidenced by this entire thread, I think good, honest and reliable reporters are leaving the business for whatever reason and the news is being replaced by drama and conjecture in many cases. I've formed this opinion by 30+ years of personal contact with local news media, and not just the print types. The news is not what it was even 10 years ago.

I am truly sorry the OP lost her job because it appears to me that the news industry in general needs more of her type of reporting and far less of the type of reporting we are currently getting.

Annie

AMEN & ditto Annie and Gina!

Annie, when we get a little rain here the TV "reporters" go nuts. They go buy the most expensive parkas and rain gear they can find at REI or wherever, put them on along with plenty of waterproof mascara and go out in the rain for their closeup. Of course any rain is an emergency here - LOL!

Los Angeles TV "reporters" (I don't know what I should call them), are the most sprayed, dyed, made-up, boobs-up, tanned, Spanxed, nipped-and-tucked and overall primped people ever - I mean they look totally plastic. I especially appreciate the Asian women who dye their hair blonde, get tans and wear blue or green contact lenses. HELLO? You're ASIAN! LOL.

(It's funny but it's horrible at the same time.)

Gina, why am I cracking up at the thought of you in blonde hair, all tanned, with blue contact lenses? ROFL.

Sorry, lost my head for a minute there, but I'm glad you know what I mean. I've lost faith in the media anymore due to my constant contact with the worst of them. Sigh.

Annie

Are you kidding Gina? Good god now I have a mental picture of a Barbiesque Asian weather girl named Sunny Ho. eww.

I love the field reporters who speak perfect Ohio Valley 'newcaster' accent until they get to their name at the end of the segment:
"From Staten Island this is [Charo]CarrrlottAH Rrrrreeeee-verrrrr-AH[/Charo] back to you Chip"

Sue! You've been so hijacked! Sorry...

But I have to post this:

obviously a Silicon Valley native ;-)

(further perpetuating the hijack, sorry GG)

I'm just jealous because I don't look like a Barbie reporter. No future in TV news for me ;)

One of DH's high school classmates has been a news reporter for a station here for more than 20 years. The problem is, he's STILL the guy they send out to the horrible weather events - one week he's standing in a snowstorm in a parka, a months later, he's wading through a flood. Wouldn't you eventually want to move on????

Annie, I'm sorry to hear that you've experience the worst of the worst. Call me naive, but one week I made a mistake in the story and mis-printed a budget number. So, I called the administrator to apology. He was terribly angry when he answered the phone but went totally silent when I said I was sorry for my careless mistake. When he finally spoke, he said he'd never had a reporter apologize to him. I'm not relaying this story to say that anything about me, because it was nothing more than the right thing to do. But I couldn't believe that reporters would make mistakes and not take responsibility for them.

It's all about building relationships with people.

Sue, I've never had a reporter apologize either. I've had them curse, I've had them threaten to sue me, I've had them tell me they'd camp outside my office door until I made a statement (how about "get the h*ll away from me"?). One was so rude and demanding to my receptionist that I had security remove him from the building. His supervisor called and complained about how badly I treated him. I responded that I had the entire encounter on the courthouse video, would she care to review it? Silence, and then I was told that she'd "make an appointment to speak with me". I never heard from either of them again.

And, of course, my boss who is extremely articulate and very well educated has been quoted as saying "the evidence is mighty compelling" and "it's about dang time". Both of those quotes caused anyone who knew her to dissolve into fits of laughter because neither is a phrase that would ever come from a woman the defense attorneys refer to as "The Grammar Sheriff". That same article contained erroneous information about what the defendant was charged with and what the maximum penalty would be. They did manage, however, to find the victim and sit in her driveway for days until she was afraid to leave her house because she got cornered trying to just go to work.

Yes, definitely the worst of the worst.

Annie