Laid Off pt. 2... takesies backsies!

The update you've all been waiting for. I didn't want to do this preemptively, so I waited until the agreement was made over the phone.

In what must go down as the oddest week in my life (I really wracked my brain to think of a weirder one) I was let go by Nomadic Display, and no less than two (2) days later I was offered my job back with Nomadic Display. Same pay, same position, same 4-day per week schedule. At which point I request 5-days per week, and today they cleverly countered with 4-days per week. Being the cunning businessman and negotiator that I am, I accepted their offer.

From what I could gather from my boss, it turns out that the employee in my department who was cut to part-time and wanted to be laid off instead got her wish (big hooray because she is awesome) and now there was money to hire me back.

I hadn't even taken my desk chair out of my car.

I figure I want them to go around and introduce me to everyone again, give me another employee handbook, basically treat it like I'm the new guy again. Or I'll make 100's of "What are you gonna do, fire me?" style jokes. Either way, next week is gonna be a little weird as well.

And there's another reason- the company wants the severance pay back. I'm no lawyer (although, if someone makes the right offer...) but from what I've gathered from some friends with HR experience since I was in fact laid off, I am entitled to my severance. Those of you who are lawyers, (Jess E., Jess P., Kristen W., and Chris F.- this means you.) I could use your help on this one!

In conclusion- because I have lost my job and got a new job since I have last seen you, the way I see it, you all owe me two drinks! See you at the bars!

Laid Off

As some you may have heard, I was recently let go from my position of Graphics Designer at Nomadic Display. I had been working there just under 10 months, so with the need for financial cutbacks, it was determined that I was the most expendable person in my department of 4 people. Hard to argue with, as there were other people there who can do most of what I did- except InDesign and Illustrator. But god help them if they need another catalog designed anyway.

I'm not taking it personally, as four other people were laid off, and several more cut down to ~20 hours per week, but, to put it bluntly it still sucks.

I'm not, however, going to crash. While any steady income is gone (save for VA unemployment) I recently got some money from the sale of property that my Mom had (who knew?) which will hold me over until I can find some new work. The only question is- now what?

I have been talking about a move west for a few months now, and while it seems like it will happen at some point, it's hard to figure out when. I have a lease that ends on April 1. I'd love to try to get a job out west first, but that seems impossible. These places require in-person interviews, and I just don't know if I have the portfolio strength to get hired. It feels like my best option is to move SOMEWHERE, get a studio space, and do freelance and competition work until I've garnered enough experience and attention to work in a place I really like. I have an idea for something called "insanity labs" kicking around in my head, which I'll explain in an upcoming blog post, but its rather unrealistic and fraught with pesky issues like zoning laws. But as of right now, it's got to be nothing but Industrial Design. I won't settle for anything less unless I KNOW it puts me on the right path to it.

In the meantime I'm back to C# training, should be picking up Objective-C in the near future, and messing with this little thing called arduino. Oh, and I've started lifting and running again so by January I can already outrun the New Year's resolution crowd.

Thanks everyone for your calls and messages, and I'll try to keep you all updated.