Laid Off on My Day Off

One year ago (yesterday), March 6, 2020, was the day I was laid off. Coronavirus was in the air and little did we know it was our last “normal” week. Let me tell you how it went down, I’m sure I’ve forgotten some details, but this is what I can remember.

It was a Monday, and our company CEO called a town hall/all hands meeting. In the meeting they announced that they would be letting go half of the company. They didn’t know who yet; but knew it would happen on Friday. Skrrtt… Hold up! Pump the brakes! Wha?! Are you fucking kidding me? Who does that?! You just told this to like 200 or something people?! Has anyone ever heard of this being done before? Absolute craziness!

Needless to say, everyone was freaking the fuck out. You look to your left and look to your right and wonder who will or will not be there next week. As luck would have it, I already had a vacation planned to Las Vegas for my cousin’s bachelorette weekend. I was leaving on Thursday.

It was basically a lost week of work. People were emotional, crying, some couldn’t even come into work for a couple days, others started updating their resumes and actively looking for jobs… at work. It was hard. They pretty much said all contractors would for sure be let go. I was an employee, and deep down I knew I wasn’t going to make the cut. At the time I wasn’t too worried. I had been laid off before and found a new job (this job) within weeks. Surely I could do it again, right? Bigger and better things were to come! (Too bad COVID had other plans)

Anyway, our department was small, “lean and mean” as they say. There was no way they would get rid of us, right?? There were executive meetings after meetings, and it was basically up to my boss (the department head) to give a list of who she thought we could survive without. We had known months before that she was already on her way out the door once we hit the next big milestone we had been working towards. I was her assistant.

My close colleagues and I discussed why someone would be chosen to leave and why others would not. Or how other departments were way bigger, and they would be getting the bulk of the cuts. I tried to stay positive over the next couple of days but cleaned out my desk, started taking personal things home, and pulling personal items off my company issued laptop in preparation of all access being denied. My best friend and I (we met there 3 years prior) scheduled a little meeting with our closest work buddies to just talk a little bit and say good-bye. I wouldn’t have the opportunity on Friday, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see some of them again. It was sad.

I left for Vegas and my friend was keeping me posted. Friday came and every few minutes someone was going into a conference room, getting axed, and leaving with an envelope of separation papers. My friend was devastated and was telling me who was let go as she found out. She said it was awful and to be glad I wasn’t there. I was glad to some extent, but also wanted to be there to witness it all go down. I felt a little guilty not going through it with the rest of them. I was anxious all morning.

The girls and I had a big day planned. We were getting all dolled up to go to Ru Paul’s Drag Brunch at Senor Frogs. It was all you can eat and drink and bottomless mimosas. I had never been to a drag show and was really looking forward to it. It was going to be awesome. We called for an uber and were waiting outside our Airbnb for it to pull up.

When it did, my phone rang. It was my boss calling. I had already prepared the girls and told them what happened; they knew I was expecting THE call. I answered and my professional voice turned on, “Hello, this is Erica.” As she was asking how I was doing the girls told the driver to turn the music down and there was a bunch of shushing as I stepped in the car and closed the door. It was quiet. All eyes were on me. They were listening, waiting. I don’t even remember the full conversation, but she said something along the lines of, “Well, I hate to tell you this, but you were chosen to be let go…” I was calm and told her I appreciated her, and the years I had the opportunity to work for her. She had been a great boss. That’s when she said she wasn’t staying either, (she volunteered to leave). She said she emailed, to my personal email, the separation and severance documents. I told her I’d stop by on Monday to return my laptop. They ended up slaughtering our department. Thankfully, my bestie was not laid off, if you were wondering.

I hung up the phone and just said, “Welp, I just got fired yall.” All the girls responded as expected and said they were sorry that happened, etc. and I made that awkward ass eye contact with the driver through the rear-view mirror. But I just remember saying something like, “It’s alright, I knew it was coming… now let’s go get fucked up!” LOL Hey, I wasn’t about to be a Debbie Downer and ruin anyone’s good time. So we went on to have an amazing day. It was funny because I remember us referencing the movie Friday when Craig’s dad said to him… “How the hell you gon’ get fired on your day off?!” Yep, that was me! HAHAA! And why I chose this blog title.

At the show my cousin got called on stage for a twerking contest and KILLED IT! It was great. Afterwards, our drunk asses were stumbling arm in arm down the strip in the middle of the afternoon laughing, being all loud and shit, you know like you’re supposed to do while in Las Vegas for a bachelorette weekend. We were going to CVS for something and the heel of my pump got caught in a grate on the bridge we were walking on and my shoe came off. I took like 3 steps without a shoe before I realized it and had to turn around to go pull it out. We had a souvenir group photo taken at the show and I was carrying it and ended up leaving it at the checkout counter at CVS. After I realized it was gone, I had to retrace my steps then called them and they held it for us until I could come back to pick it up, thank goodness!

I’m smiling so much thinking back on that day. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year. It could have been really sad and depressing, but being in Vegas on a girl’s trip really was the best way it could have gone down for me. Especially not knowing what was to come soon after with the pandemic. So here’s to one year of unemployment!!! I’m gonna go grab a drink now.