The Only Good Thing About That Meeting Is That My 5 Minute Crush Is Still Hot

We had layoffs yesterday.

Not me, thank heavens. One of the other new auditors was cut though, and someone from the audit I'm working on.

We got word of an all office meeting down the street on Monday. Wednesday, 2pm, all divisions and staff.

We know that our budget got cut like all state budgets, but when they got to the point where they revealed it was a 30% cut, everyone got silent. We had been working on a 15% max reduction plan. Furloughs like everyone else. Maybe a pay cut.

29 FTE gone was the only way to make that up, along with the other cuts we've already got going. The reasons for doing that were solid. The people cut have until April 17th, and management is being very nice and helpful and flexible and everyone feels like crap.

We all went back to the office and then everyone tracked down their managers or our division heads to ask "Am I on the list?" Then we lurked in the hallways like vampires or nervous ghosts, giving each other the thumbs up or down and asking "Do you know who?" No one did any work.

I think this was a better way to do it than when I worked at the law firm, where people just vanished. When I got cut, Kate had to fight them to let me come back up to say goodbye--I was in the library, for freaking sake, and I had worked there for 5 years. I got to say goodbye and pack up my stuff.

I went out that night and bought shoes. Arizona is a state that funds itself on building and buying, and if the little I can do is pay 8.3% sales tax on something, so be it.