Part of Being a Grown-up

Well, the economy has finally touched me on a personal level.  I have officially been laid off for the first time in my career.  I guess I should have been a little bit more prepared than I was--I really should have seen it coming.  I mean, I do work part time, and the business that I work for is a family business.  It would only stand to reason that the non-family members get the boot first.  

It's a strange feeling, walking into work like its any normal day, and then being told that it's your last.  I'm not extremely sad to be leaving the job behind.  There will be others.  I will miss all of the fantastic people that I have had the chance to work with.  And I also worry about them.  There are so many good people there and they are my friends.

I have worked very hard for this company over the last five years.  I have worked in nearly every department, become certified in TAS, and completely revamped an entire department.  All this, and I could still write pages about the way the company has mistreated and taken advantage of the people that work for them.  But you know what...writing about the unethical decisions that the company has chosen to make will not accomplish anything.  Instead, I will continue to work hard, and I will refuse to believe that this is the way that business works.  I have been told by so many older people that I should accept that this is the way business works--that no matter where I go, I will always find that businesses are like this--treating people like they don't matter and that anything should be done to make or save a buck. I absolutely refuse to accept this, and if it takes creating my own business someday, and leading by example, then that is what I will do.