Whoa! Didja get the numbers off that truck?!?

September 05, 2001 - 4:33 p.m.

Get a job

Today was Day One of the Job Search Seminar. I drove back up that road construction project I thought I wouldn�t see again for a long time when they sent me home last week with all my stuff. It was held at a hotel not far from my Former Employer. There were six of us displaced workers in that class. It�s nice to be back amongst my own kind. We all have that �what a pain in the ass� attitude about being unemployed. And we all share that vague gnawing fear about the state of the economy and the longevity of our severance plan.

The instructor was nice, she�s suffering from a cold so she had a stuffed up sound to her voice which was a little distracting. It was all good information, but nothing I didn�t already know. Fear propelled me into my job search from the very first day. All of us seem very employable, but when? Break out that crystal ball; let�s have a peeky-boo.

The HR director of my former employer came over at lunch, seemingly to cop a free lunch. He�s probably been eating free all week since they have seminars every day at different hotels every day. Get it while you can, Hatchet-Boy. He filled us in on the New Structure. You know, the one that had no room for us. The image that played in my head at that moment was the six of us, like homeless children, peering through the glass windows at the worker bees left over. The worker bees have that scared look too, but it�s a different one. They�re waiting for the next shotgun blast. I�ll bet they all feel a real sense of loyalty too. I�m getting an awareness of the body count. I recognize some of the names on the hit list. Actually I feel better being on the other side; at least I�ll be going to a company that�s hiring.

I�m gonna go work on my resume some more.

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