It's finally happened to me

This has never happened to me. I've been working for thirteen years at the same place. I've seen it happen to so many other folks. But not me.

I was so late to today's company meeting. I was off last Thursday & Friday and, yesterday, I stayed home sick. Why did they set the company meeting for nine-in-the-friggin-morning? That's just a wee bit early. I'm usually into work 9:15ish.

Times our tough. I understand. But times have never been this bad. Ever.

Add to my usual time all the traffic from West Seattle. Ugh. I got into the parking lot at 9:05am and ran quickly across the street to the Palace Room where the meeting's being held. Please, please, please... let there be an open seat in the back.

It's strange when it happens to you. Especially if it's never happened to you. I just don't know how to feel.

Every. Single. Seat. Was taken. I would have preferred to have just stood in the back of the room but one of the facilitators comes up to me and says, "I know it's never a popular choice but there's a seat up in front." Great. Let's announce to everyone that Rodney's come in late. Bah.

I really have no emotion. Not a "I'm-numb-from-such-a-traumatic-event" type of no emotion. I mean, a feeling of absolutely no feeling.

Hiro is presenting slides of our sales, costs, expenses, and losses the past five years. Some good. Some bad. Okay, a lot of bad. The screens were filled with so many red numbers. Finally, he presents a slide showing the changes. He's no longer our CEO. And, now, Active Voice will be reporting under NEC Infrontia. As of April 1, 2009, Active Voice will no longer exist. Done. Kaput. Finis.

Actually, I am a little scared. Of the unknown. Lots of uncertainty.

The next slide showed two list of names. The first list of a dozen folks were told to report to the Explorer Conference Room back at headquarters. The second list of nine were told to go to the Discovery Conference Room. The remaining group of about fifty were told to remain seated at the Palace Room.

I knew this day was coming. I just didn't realize this day... was today.

So there I am there with eight others in Discovery. My boss is there with an HR rep from NEC. She explains the situation. After March 31, Active Voice will close its books and only certain Development, QA, & other miscellaneous folks will be staying with NEC. Those were the people back in the Palace Room. The folks in Explorer would be gone on March 31. And our group? We were a transition group. We would stay beyond March 31 to help transition pieces of the company to NEC. Our individual lengths of employment would vary but it would be around 2-6 months.

I can't believe it. I'm no longer working for Active Voice.

My boss tells us that our letters of temporary employment under NEC will be distributed sometime in March. Worst case scenario, my last day at Active Voice will be May 31. But I'm optimistic my services will extend beyond that date to assist in the systems transition. My boss did refer to me today as an expert of our accounting/manufacturing software. Hmph. Really?

An end to a chapter of my life. I was a kid when I joined the company in November 1995. I've matured so much.

The good news is that I'm getting a nice severance package. The base severance is four weeks salary. But on top of that, I'm getting a week's salary for every six months of service. Having been at Active Voice for over thirteen years puts me at the maximum 26 weeks (or 6 months) of salary. Wow. I am honestly amazed at that compensation. I'll also have about three weeks of unused vacation by that time. I'm really hoping that my experience on top of my recent college degree will make me marketable - even in this tough economy. It's time to truly test my networking skills...

I am so thankful for everything Active Voice has done for me. I was a mess before this company came into my life. Sure, it's not the same company I knew when I first started. But they were there when I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. My fiancee and I grew to know one another as coworkers. She was just a friend when I helped her get a job there in the Fall of 1999. Without Active Voice, we would never have taken our relationship from friends to best friends... to soul mates. And when I finally decided to go back to school, Active Voice guided me to a career in Accounting and even paid for my schooling - tuition & books. Saying I'm forever grateful to Active Voice completely understates how I feel. I'm the person I am today because of this company and I will never forget that. Ever.