Big changes ahead

I haven't written anything for a while. Just didn't feel like it. I did write the following back in January but didn't post it. I guess this is as good a time as any to do that:

*** (Jan. 15) The shock still hasn't worn off. I got a call Wednesday night to come to a meeting at work on Thursday at 10 a.m. I told the department chair I take care of my mother on Thursday mornings. He said I needed to be there - it was important. I took my mom to her hair appointment and got our good friend and caregiver Melanie to pick her up. I ran some errands for my mom, then headed to the meeting. Several of my Daily Universe colleagues were already there, the rest filed in after me. We were sitting on one side of a long conference table. Someone joked about it being a firing squad. I joked about getting blindfolds.

Our department chair stood before us and gave us the results of a task force study which was done last fall. We each participated in that study giving our opinions as to why the Daily Universe was in trouble (we had no leader, ad sales were in the toilet, seven of the eight of us were doing what we could to keep the paper afloat financially). Then we were blindsided. Rather than choose a minimal fix, they went drastic. He told us all eight of us were being let go - downsized or some other term. The DU would go digital starting spring term (we actually already are digital) with a once-a-week paper rather than a daily. He said, "this decision is final."

The dean of the college was in there, plus three HR guys and several Comms faculty. No one would look any of us in the eye. Severance packages were explained, "thanks for doing such a great job" was offered. We asked questions about the 321 class and the newspaper. We were told the class would continue and the paper would be once a week. Students would still take the class. Several new positions would be created that we could apply for "if our skill set matches." We asked what the new plan would look like. The department chair (who has since announced he is leaving) didn't know - "we have a lot of work to do to figure this out." We were asked to be professional during the rest of our time at the DU. An HR guy, under his breath, said, "you'll need them to help make the transition." Yep, I guess so. ***

I've never lost a job. It's foreign to me. I thought if you did a good job, made yourself indispensable, you'd always have a job. Not so folks. I've seen friends and family lose jobs over the past couple of years. Could be age related since we are all over 50. What I've noticed in most cases is it was someone younger who let an older (but not so old) person go. Could be financial reasons - several people I know who were let go had worked for their companies more than 20 years, some more than 30. When you clear out the "old" folks, you can hire people at greatly reduced salaries and adjust benefits. The thing that's lost though is experience, knowledge and wisdom. Plus loyalty and investment mentally and emotionally.

I mistakenly thought the only people who lost jobs were those who messed up, fell asleep on the job, came late to work, showed up drunk, ticked off a boss or whatever. Doing a good job shouldn't lead to losing it.

I believe in Karma. I also believe in new beginnings and opportunities. I just thought it should be me making my life course decisions, not someone else. I guess that's a luxury.

One thing I've told my students who are upset about us losing our jobs is, when you go out in the world and you are in a managerial position, remember what happened here, and treat people better than you saw us treated. I hope my students leave the newsroom with the knowledge of how to be a good journalist but, more importantly, I hope they've been taught how to be a good person.