Shattered

Two years and twenty-two days.  That was the length of unemployment we endured before a new job materialized.  While it was not all doom and gloom (how could it be when you are parents to wonderful children?), the new job at a travel company specializing in deluxe river cruises for the over 50 set was a definite game-changer. It not only thrust us back into the land of normalcy, but it gave us the opportunity to move back to the east coast--something I had dreamed about since the moment I knew we were moving to MN.  Don't get me wrong, this job was far from perfect...lower salary, no relo and a move to a place with a higher standard of living, not a great combination.  Despite that, we were so blissfully happy that "daddy had found a job.'  In fact, we took a road trip there over spring break to check out houses and to have the children test into schools.  We spent five days at the beach during a week of unseasonably warm, beautiful weather and we had an amazing time planning our new life. 

Yesterday, my husband called to tell me he was let go along with 6 other members of senior management.  The reason given?  The owner wants to change the direction of the company.  Now as the owner of a company, I am assuming this man has some business acumen (or need I add ignorance to the list along with lack of ethics and professionalism?), so did he not realize he wanted to 'change direction' a mere 5 weeks ago?  Is there no plan for this change in direction in place--one that he might have made us privy to 5 weeks prior, before we put our house on the market, got the children into schools and found an area in which to live?  Over the 5 weeks of his employement, management at the company had been questioning my husband as to when our house might sell because they wanted us all out there without my husband traveling back and forth to MN twice a month (for the record, we are paying for those trips--including his hotel bill and his subsequent apartment's lease plus he was not taking any time off for the trips so why did they care so much about our living arrangement?).  My husband had some 'very positive' meetings with management and he had already saved the company money which is what he was hired to do.

The unemployment clock needs to be restarted now and I have so many emotions running through my body but I have to admit that white anger has taken the lead, even ahead of despair for the moment. In another slap to the face, this company does not want my husband to bad-mouth or make disparaging comments about them in the future.  Honestly?  They want to be treated with the respect they definitely do not deserve.  How dare they?  In essence, they deceived us.  I don't know why because had they told my husband that his employment would be probationary or that they did not know in which direction the company might be going, we would have acted accordingly--sat tight and waited to see how it would play out.  Instead, they encouraged putting the house on the market and getting our family out there sooner rather than later only to destroy our dream on Good Friday afternoon--not even the decency to tell him in the morning so he could have taken an earlier flight home.

I spent the night fantasizing what I would like to do to the owner of this travel company if I had the chance to meet him face to face.  One fantasy involves putting one of his river boats where I feel it belongs--and it is not in the Danube!  I hope the Easter Bunny does visit his house tomorrow and instead of leaving a basket, I hope she slaps his face with her big furry paw (I know how much I want to!).

*author's note--I have chosen to take the high road and not name the company in this blog post, but you know how to contact me if you really want to know.