September 23rd, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I just got back from a week away.  I leave to go away again in less than 24 hours.  There is a lot to do and I lack motivation.  I also have very sore feet so they are requesting a break.  I’m hoping I can find the will inside myself to get all the crap done that I have to do tomorrow.  And did I mention my feet hurt?

So, summing up my trips (yes there were two):

Ohio was fantastic.  I loved spending time with my Dad, just the two of us.  We ate delicious food and road tripped it up to Cleveland where we met up with my brother Sean for the Ohio State vs. Toledo game.  My Ohio native neighbor compared the match-up to China attacking Scotland.  He was right.  Toledo, my father’s alma matter, got totally wasted.  I froze my buns off in the shaded upper tier of the Brown’s stadium and went to my first “real” tailgate party.  I also spent like eight million dollars on two hot chocolates and a hot dog.  Oh, and we stayed in the same hotel as my Buckeye football players  All in all I give Cleveland two thumbs WAY up.

Back in Columbus I went to a fancy birthday party for my cousin’s girlfriend.  They both work at Abercrombie & Fitch Corporate and let me tell you, you’ll never feel uglier than when you go to a party with fifty hand selected, gorgeous Abercrombie employees.  Good thing they were nice or I would have had to cut some faces.  And they seriously were SO NICE.  I’d ask my cousin for a job there but I know my big butt doesn’t fit in their clothes and that is a HUGE no-no.  Also, I like visiting Columbus but I’m not EVER moving there. 

We also spent lots of time with my amazing extended family and had a big old breakfast with almost everyone there.  For those of you who don’t know, that’s a lot of everyone’s.  My dad comes from a big Catholic family of seven kids and there are over twenty grandkids and thirty great-grandkids.  We take up a lot of space and eat a LOT of food.  It was bittersweet because one of my favorite uncles is fighting lung and brain cancer and this may have been the last time I see him and I’m so grateful he was feeling well enough to leave the hospital to hang out with us.  Love me some Uncle Murph.  (Yes, that’s really his name.)

From C-bus I went to Vegas to a trade show I attended the last four years.  You know, back when I was employed.  It’s the biggest eCommerce trade show of the year and I had some great friends who hooked me up with free passes and a hotel room in order to help me network and see if I could find some gainful employment.  Then I was introduced to and offered to help a company who was new to the scene with their booth and some of the logistics.

The networking was great.  It’s really exciting when the Presidents of Sears.com and Costco.com offer to make some calls to help you find a job.  I have never had more people offer to help me out or talk to someone they know for me.  It sounds cheesy but my faith in humanity has been restored.  People were SO kind and wonderful. 

The helping at the booth didn’t go so well.  I’ll leave out the gory details and tell that story another day but we’ll just leave it at it sucked and then I cried.  Twice.

Now I’m home and I’ve never been so grateful to see my couch and my TV and Glee and Project Runway and Sons of Anarchy and, and and, yeah.  At some point I have to get off my keister and do some laundry but for now I’m not moving.

Tomorrow is the annual Murphy family ATV sand dune trip.  We always have such a blast and hopefully this year I can keep my butt ON my quad.  My father-in-law would say that’s it’s doubtful, but I’m hoping to prove him wrong.  My amazing M-I-L is bringing me fresh apple cider from my favorite spot back home and I might just lock myself in the camper and drink it until I puke.  Either way you spin it I’m going to have a fabulous time.  We get home Monday night and I have one day to recover then Wednesday I have two interviews and there are two other jobs on the horizon.  Hopefully very soon my biggest problem is choosing WHICH job to accept.

Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you suckers on Tuesday! 

September 10th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I’m going to state the obvious here and say that unemployment sucks and life is difficult.  I know, almost thirty years for me to figure that out.  I’m so smrt.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks.  The job thing started it all but it sort of snowballed from there.  Broken cars, broken appliances, unexpected bills, family members with strokes . . . yeah, it’s been one of THOSE months.  And I thought August was bad.

Luckily the rest of the month should prove to be different.  We got some awesome news today that perks both Matt and I up quite a bit.  It’s a secret right now but I promise I’ll tell you soon. (SIDENOTE: Um, NO, I’m not pregnant.  That would have gone in the list of things that sucked in September.  Losing half our income, our maternity coverage and finding out we’re birthing a money sucker wouldn’t exactly be exciting right now.  Don’t get me wrong, babies are awesome.  They are just money suckers.  And I don’t have any of that.  Capiche?)  Tonight I’m heading home to Utah for birthday celebrations, Mom hugs, fresh apple cider, hanging out with friends and family and hopefully chilling the hell out.  One could say I’m a wee bit tense.  Fall in Utah is the best and I’m so excited to go.

Next week I’m off to Columbus for some Dad hugs, brother hugs, Ohio State Football (Go Buckeyes!  Oh and let’s try to show up to the USC game and kick some Trojan booty this weekend, no?),  cousins, aunts, uncles and some much needed hilarious Cotter family time.

I fly straight from C-bus to Vegas where I’ve been asked to assist a company exhibiting at the trade show I WOULD have been exhibiting at with my company.  Except they don’t really exist anymore so I’m not.  Anyway, they’re paying for my hotel and plane ticket and I’ll get to network and maybe even make some money if I find them new clients.  We’ll see how that goes.

The day after I get home from Vegas we’re off to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes for some in-law hugs, ATV rides and sand in places you didn’t know you get get stuff stuck.  It’s going to be great.  Hopefully this year I won’t be popping a wheelie on my quad and sliding off the back.  We’ll see how that goes.

And that takes me to the end of September.  Hopefully by then I’ll have a couple more job leads (I have two interviews on Monday.  Both are for positions I’m probably not interested in but I’m not going to not go because of that!  I need the practice of interviewing after five years at one place plus you never know what might present itself!) or else have a plan to keep myself busy.  I’m thinking chore chart (rolling eyes and sighing).

This was just about the lamest post I’ve ever written but I wanted to make sure you guys knew I didn’t open a vein or something after announcing I was incomeless.  Thanks so much for all of your kind words.  I am sending you all hugs and wet kisses.

September 2nd, 2009 by Kateastrophe

Well friends, add me to the pile.  I’m officially unemployed.

After five years, four CEO’s, three positions, five different Marketing VP’s, fifteen trade shows, millions of hours, thousands of frustrations, a zillion laughs,  and everything else that comes with putting your heart and soul into your job, I was thanked for my time, given a severance check and shown the door.

I wasn’t fired.  I am the casualty of an acquisition in which most of our company was let go.  I was about 75% sure it was going to happen, so I wasn’t really surprised.

I wouldn’t say I’m bitter.  I think I’m disappointed.  I believed in our product and our company.  I said no to many other offers, some with significantly higher paychecks, because I wanted to see this thing through and be a part of making our company a success.  I don’t believe I failed but I know our company did.  Big time.

The only thing I might be a little bitter about is the way the acquisition was handled from a personnel point of view.  The first time we met the new CEO he was arrogant and pompous, as a CEO is prone to be, but he at first said he “hoped” we’d all have jobs.  Then in the second meeting he was “almost certain” we’d all have jobs and then, in our third and final meeting, he looked us all in the eye, pointed to us and said “each one of you will have a job with our company.”  Two days later, twelve of us were outright let go, fifteen were offered temporary contracting jobs (which end December 15th.  There’s the Christmas Spirit for you) and the remaining eight people were offered permanent positions.  I’m pretty sure  eight out of thirty doesn’t equal “each one of us” but then again I never was very good at math.  I guess the glimmer of hope here is that I wouldn’t have really wanted to work for someone who behaves like that anyway.  Onward and upward, right?

The support has been literally POURING in.  I have more amazing letters of recommendation than I know what to do with.  I have four CEO’s, three CMO’s, four VP’s and probably fifteen other people looking for jobs for me.  I’ve had former colleagues send emails out of the blue telling me they’ll keep an eye out and that any company would be lucky to have someone like me.  My family is calling every single day to make sure I’m not down.  My friends are amazing and hilarious.  My husband . . . my sweet husband.  He has got to be stressed to the max but he isn’t showing anything but love and support for me.  Keeping my chin up has not been hard.

We are going to be just fine.  Matt’s job is secure and his income is sufficient for our needs.  We’ve listened to the council of our church leaders and we have no debt (other than our house and one car), our bills are small and manageable and our needs are not great.  We have a good chunk of money saved and we’re putting my severance and vacation payout right into the savings account where we will hopefully not have to touch it.  Sure, it’s going to be an adjustment and my shoe collection is going to suffer a bit, but hey, I already have great shoes!  I’ve been poor.  Thanks to my amazing mother, I know how to make poor look GOOD.  I’m part of a food co-op, I know where the discount grocery store is and I know (hate, but know) how to clip coupons.  I feel very lucky because of all of these things.

The biggest problem I have is absolute BOREDOM.  What do people without jobs or kids DO ALL DAY?  For that reason alone I need a job right now.  RIGHT NOW.  So, internets, what do you got?  Anything?  Know anyone?  I have no shame and I’m taking this stupid economy DOWN.  Hopefully that severance check just ends up being a bit fat bonus.