Getting Laid Off SUCKS!!

[FrontierMan]

It really does.

[!]

Especially when they use the phrase "laid off," which used to mean you could be "recalled," when the current financial crisis ends, but now means "fired.'

[vuphinder]

Please don't enter the freelance market...we got plenty out there. Thanks.

[Gil]

Especially when they use the phrase "laid off," which used to mean you could be "recalled," when the current financial crisis ends, but now means "fired.'

Yes, you are right about the terminology. But "fired" used to have a connotation of wrongdoing or ineptitude, and in today's economy it is usually cost-cutting. The military called it RIF for "reduction in force." Some industries used to call this "down-sizing."

I used to work with a guy who had been fired who could never bring himself to say it. He said, "When I was invited to become unemployed" or "When I was invited to leave."

It really does not matter much what it is called. Of course it "sucks" to suddenly lose a job, especially those who were doing a good job. The world changes, and either we change with it, or we slink away somewhere. You choose.

[WOS]

I used to know a guy who claimed he was laid off, and then later I found out he had been skipping work to spend time with his girlfriend. It turns out, the "lay off" the company exercised consisted of one person.

[Jane Craig]

Yes, you are right about the terminology. But "fired" used to have a connotation of wrongdoing or ineptitude, and in today's economy it is usually cost-cutting. The military called it RIF for "reduction in force." Some industries used to call this "down-sizing."

The most grotesque euphemism I've heard for this is "rightsizing."

[adam & doctor drew]

interesting that executives will solve budget problems usually by firing someone who makes a lot less than they do.

[s'news]

At least you can collect unemployment if it's a layoff.

I'm reminded of Norm MacDonald, after getting let go from SNL, saying that he and his employers had a disagreement -- they didn't want him to work there anymore.

[TVMattNYC]

interesting that executives will solve budget problems usually by firing someone who makes a lot less than they do.

And does 3 times the work.