Downsized Out Of A Job........AGAIN!!

CollateralDamage submitted 333 days ago

Well, here we go again. I just lost my job last week, July 30, along with around 100 other people at an Engineering Technical Center in NW Ohio. My story is a little more complicated, though.

I had been working there for a little better than 2 1/2 years. I was employed at this company through a temporary agency. I was supposed to have been hired directly in by now, but that never materialized because of a company bankruptcy. By all accounts, from my supervisor at this facility along with others there and by the placement specialist at the Temp firm, I was an outstanding employee. Hard working, on time, reliable, smart, dutiful, etc........I've heard them all. The placement specialist at the temp firm even told me this again when I took my uniforms back. How my "supervisor" at this firm was just beneath himself at how I could be let go. Well, words just don't put food in my mouth now, do they? As far as I'm concerned the words ring hollow as my "supervisor" was also manager of the department and I'm sure he made the decision or had a strong say-so in who was to be let go. Anyway, there's more.

Like I said, my last day was on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Everyone there knew lay-offs were coming because of the rumor mill. I was allowed to work the entire day and I went home. I received a PHONE CALL from the Temp agency I was working for around 9:30pm when I got home because of errands that I had to run after work. He told me that today was my last day and then went on about how superb of a worker I was and all that jazz and how my supervisor was just beneath himself and how the next day I would see in the paper how a 100 more regular employees were going to be let go, yada, yada, yada. A stinking PHONE CALL! I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to any of my coworkers because never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be let go with a phone call. I knew it was coming this week so I figured it would be either Thursday or Friday. I just left Wednesday like any other day saying "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice evening". No goodbyes. No handshakes. No nothing.

Here's more. In the department that I worked, there were 2 other Temps like me on different shifts. The one on 2nd shift was there longer than me and the one who worked weekends started after me, although he worked for them in a different city and quit and got rehired. The one on weekends was "COLD HANDED BUSTED" submitting hours and getting paid for time when he wasn't even working for a period of months. He didn't even get fired. Because of things that the Temporary Specialist said to me when I was turning in my uniforms, I think he is still working there!!! Less seniority, dishonest, thief and still working there. How can one reconcile idea of being told that you are the "model employee" and that "they" wish they had a "whole bunch more of you" and then find out that a confirmed thief (of months of pay) is still thought of more and allowed to keep their job. It just doesn't make sense.

I had a good job that I just loved from 1997 through 2001 when I got laid off from there along with around 50 others because of the company having financial problems. It was the kind of job that you liked getting up in the morning and going in and working. I was off for over 2 years (it was a lousy job market and a parent came down with a serious illness). After 100's of resumes being sent my ex boss came to me house one night and asked me if I wanted to come back. He told me it would be a good way to get my foot back in the door. But I would have to work through a Temporary Agency (not the same one as recently) for awhile. Well, I worked a couple years there again and got laid off again. The real kicker here is that a different boss in a different department got one of his wife's friends a job in the department I was working also through the Temporary Agency. He had absolutely no experience and no mechanical ability whatsoever. He was paid exactly the same money I was even though I had 4 years of prior experience there when I was a regular employee. Actually, it was 5 years of experience because he didn't get in there until I was there for a year through the Temp agency. I don't even know how he could drive a car. Really!! Anyways, guess who didn't get laid off from the Temp Agency. That's right, ME!! And guess who didn't? That's right. The other boss's wife's friend's husband.

Well, then I was off a few months and got a job at the employer where I was just let go through the most recent Temp Agency.

So, from 2001 through right now all I have been able to obtain in employment is jobs through Temp Agencies. For 7 years I have worked only 4 1/2 years because of not being able to find any work that is meaningful. Yes, I suppose I could go and take a Greeter job at Walmart (they might not hire someone like me because they know I would be looking for a better job), but you get the idea. I've been literally screwed over 3 times over the past 7 years, 2 times of them REALLY SCREWED OVER through no fault of my own except being an exemplary employee.

I'm getting to a point in my life, 42 years old, where employers won't want to hire me because of my age. I have never left a job (just quit) without having a better job or another job to go to. I just wanted to find a job and stay there and retire from there. My life is not working out. I went to school and obtained a degree in mechanical engineering technology but it is making no difference. There are just no good jobs out there. I don't have a spouse at home who is working so that the "hit" from the loss of a job isn't so painful. It's just me and when my income is gone it hits very hard. I got screwed over by an ex-fiance' and that has bittered me....there is no doubt. But just trying to make an honest living and keep a job. Even that basic need isn't being fulfilled. I just don't know what to do anymore. I get up in the morning, go to work, do my best, get along with coworkers. All I get is screwed and not in a good way.