Flight Attendant's Fantastic Final Fanfare

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/nyregion/10attendant.html


Well, there is being fired or laid off, and then there is leaving on your own terms! This stressed flight attendant was fueled with that burning anger and passion and he just went with it! Wow, what a way to quit! My favorite part:
Then, after declaring that 20 years in the airline industry was enough, he blurted out, “It’s been great!” He activated the inflatable evacuation slide at a service exit and left the world of flight attending behind.
See ya!

Up in the Air: George Clooney’s Consoling Words

http://www.upintheairmovie.com/
“Try not to take this personally.”
“Anybody that built an empire or changed the word sat where you are right now. And it’s because they sat there they were able to do it. And that’s the truth.”
(I’m pretty sure that if George Clooney had been in my office with me at That Moment, I would have recovered more quickly. )

Up in the Air: That Moment of Being Fired

http://www.upintheairmovie.com/
This film captures multiple examples of The Moment of being fired: F**k is used a lot. “This is what I get after years of service! you have a lot of gall!” Anger, sadness, disbelief, pure dumbfounded-ness. Then, the odd one, eerily calm, “I am going to jump off of a bridge.”

This is the line that got me: “I have heard that losing your job is like a death in the family, but I feel like the people I work with are my family and I died.”

Up in the Air: A Film about Firing People

   
Although the take-a-way of this George Clooney film is that it’s worth it to “carry a heavy back pack” of relationship commitments, this film was really about work and That Moment of getting fired. His theory is to stay aloof for successful living, but he clearly was not designed for that isolation. The one time that he decides to have stuff in his backpack, he gets hurt, and with an empty backpack, must find comfort in the skies. We are all supposed to feel better – we may not be that cool, dapper, free guy, but we can recover with the use the contents of our backpack. Do we agree?

Morning Coffee Spit-take!

I’m enjoying my morning coffee and muffin when my brain suddenly smacks my forehead from inside out: I dreamt about That VP and That HR Clown! Augh! Was there a hidden message from my sub-conscious? Let's see, I dreamt that I could not trust him, and that I was packing up some boxes – yep, it's That Moment all over again! Why, oh, why, must I re-live That Moment? Do you think, as time goes by, my dream scenarios will be in my favor?

My Last Day of Employment, Part 2

How dare they?!? I pulled out of the parking lot, spittin' mad and panicky; and I knew just who to call.  I called not My Partner, but my old boss (Let's call her Believer - as in, still believes I'm a great employee, even though - shock: I'm not an employee anymore! ). She left the company two years before (smart lady) and I knew she'd be mad, too:  "What are they DOING over there?! Geez!" 
Now, it was time for taking stock in what we had and what we needed.  I called the daycare provider to see how long we were locked-in to our contract. I called the lawyer to see what he thought of the contract they wanted me to sign.
I called a friend who was recently laid off and was at home, where I will now be.The conversation led to how I don't have a printer (didn't have one for over a year - I simply printed all I needed to at work - isn't that what you do? ) And he had an extra printer for me - THEN, I called My Partner. She worked hard to comfort me and lift me up and has been doing it since. I was in charge of nothing, except getting my resume printed.
As the snow continued to fall, as I began to empty out my car of the hastily filled boxes, a delivery truck pulled up the driveway. Flowers from Lola, with a note reminding me that I still had the light inside me to turn this around.
I guess I don't know anyone else who got a floral delivery on the day they got their ass canned - and there you have it.

My Last Day of Employment, Part 1

It took three staff, eleven boxes and two hours to get my stuff out of the building and into my car. Snowflakes were falling - the big, flakey kind, that makes you stop and look up. I looked up and saw my best work friend (we'll call her Lola for short) walking towards me from her car in disbelief and oh-my-gawd-ness. I was so mad, Lola was so sad, and the snow was so damned insistent on being a part of this scene. And that is how a Tuesday in March started for me.