I'll be unemployed in 2 hours....Ask me anything!

[Liberal Veteran]

It's been a fun 5 1/2 years in the job.

[VolcanoJen]

1. What's going on? Did you get a heads-up about a layoff...

... or are you quitting?

[Liberal Veteran]

2. I got outsourced to India.....sucks big time!

But this last week has been giving advice to semi-trained replacements in India who barely speak English and it's been hellish. The other 5 1/2 years were fun though.

[Howardx]

3. the same thing happened to me

except i got outsourced to ireland, its amazing how they expect you to train your replacements! my training was incomplete to say the least:)

[GainesT1958]

4. Question for you both:

Did your soon-to-be-ex-employers threaten overtly, or at least strongly imply, that NOT sticking around to train your overseas "replacements", or not training them "thoroughly", would result not only in your immediate termination, but also in your disqualification for any unemployment benefits, COBRA benefits, or disqualification for any pension monies?

If so, even in a "right-to-work" (read: right-to-fire) state like mine, you may be able to sue them on that one--or take them to arbitration at the state E.S.C.

I recently told a friend of mine that training your overseas replacement was a lot like them making you load the bullets in the gun they were going to shoot you with! :mad:

B-)

[Liberal Veteran]

6. No....it wasn't like that for us.

We were a domestic outsourcer for M$ to begin with (most people don't realize that M$ has been outsourcing domestically to American companies for almost a decade). They basically told our company that our contract was being cancelled and gave the support contract to a group in India. We handled the business until this last week and the last of us stuck around for helping the transition.

[jburton]

5. is security escorting you out of the building?

if not, stock up on items for your job search

pens, paper (especially nice paper) and other things.

[cally]

7. Hey...I hope you

find a new job soon and that life turns out good. Lot's of good vibes coming your way. I've been there and life has actually turned out better. :hug:

[frylock]

8. have you "outsourced" any office supplies?

[leftyandproud]

9. found a new job yet?

at least you have a nice chunk of experience on your resume.

Your job now is to FIND another job.
Update your resume tomorrow night, get you a copy of the sunday paper help wanted section, and pick up the 2-3 employment magazines sitting in the front of your grocery. If you do this, and spend monday/tuesday next week looking around, making calls, and sending faxes and printed copies of your resume, you WILL have at least one job by the end of the week...most likely 2 or 3 offers. They may not be as nice as your previous job, but at least its work.

[mitchum]

10. I hope that you brought a very big, powerful magnet to work

Sorry to hear about this happening to you. Screw the bastards.

[JVS]

11. How does it feel to be unemployed now that 2 hours have passed?

[Liberal Veteran]

13. It feels good actually.....

After a week of listening to semi-fluent to barely intelligible Indian "techs" try to explain what the problem is and then try to second guess my 5 1/2 years of experience (and nearly all of that as senior technician and trainer) with the products and OS against their whole week of experience, I couldn't be happier than to be away from them.

My advice now to people who need help with M$ products is that if you can't figure it out for yourself and/or don't have a friend who can help you with your problem, you should just backup your data and format your computer and reinstall everything.

So a little bit sad, but at the same time, a whole lot relieved. I made some really good friends at work and headed up a crew of people who knew their stuff and would do everything they could possibly do to make our customers happy.

[Interrobang]

12. Yeah, the US economy sucks!

The Really, Really Big US Corporation my Little Teeny Weeny Canadian Corporation works for (hello, I'm a white, first-world, native English-speaking, outsourced worker, pleased to meet you too) didn't pay us on time, so no paycheque this week until at least Monday or Tuesday. If my cheque doesn't show up by the end of the month, I'm going to have to borrow money to make the rent & student loans (which come out of my bank account automagically, so the money's *got* to be there!).

Hard times all round...

[bleedingheart]

14. I wish you much luck in your job search and

I may be outsourced as well in the next year or so...

[Swede]

15. What do you do with all your spare time?

Just kidding. I've worked at the same soul destroying place for 19 years. The boss just reamed me out 20 minutes before quitting time today- a fucking friday.