Laid Off by Aimee Spratley

          Losing your job after years of hard work can make for a pretty crappy day.  Looking back to the hours that led up to my dismissal seemed to last an eternity.  I know it is hard to believe but I was employed by the same company for six years.  Although there have been many character building events in my life I feel being laid off was a blessing in disguise and an event that pushed me in a direction I may otherwise have not gone. 

          I began working for Lennar Homes of Texas as a receptionist quickly moving my way up the ranks of the corporate world.  Every day I would go to work pushing myself harder to show my determination to grow within this company I now consider a family.  I felt irreplaceable but I was clueless. 

          The week of layoffs had arrived.  Everyone was nervous yet I was very at ease with my safety.  Two days came before dooms day and I was called into my immediate supervisor’s office.  He let me know I was not going to lose my job that if I took care of him he would take care of me.  I was thrilled and proceeded with my job duties, as a closing coordinator, with pride.

          Dooms day came and one by one people were called in and release.  An hour after coming to work my name was called.  I exited my corner office thinking I was needed but left in tears as a causality of unemployment. 

          When I packed my office and left the building in tears I felt as if I had been stabbed in the back.  I decided I had to let go of the pain and try to see the positive in all this.  I enjoyed the next few months with my beautiful children and while sitting on a Florida beach I decided I was going to enroll in college.  It was the blessing of being laid off that gave me the opportunity to make these decisions and for that I am seeing that what I thought was a negative is very much a positive.

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