Unemployment Day One

July 9, 2009 was a pretty big day for me. For one, it was the one year anniversary with my lovely lady, Tracy. Also, it was the day I lost my job and became one of the millions of people in America collecting unemployment benefits.

I decided it would be a good idea to chronicle the life of someone that is going through what so many other people are going through. I have chosen to chronicle me because I am pretty awesome, and I happen to be newly unemployed, so I am the perfect candidate really. Hence this blog.

So here's how day one went.

I am at work for a few hours, I've scheduled a couple of appointments to meet with some clients, called some manufacturers to make sure things are still on schedule. Then I get an email from the Operations Manger that says "come see me when you have a minute." I instantly got the feeling that this could be them firing me. It's just the kind of email someone gets when that happens. I get up and go to his office and he asks me to shut the door. He says "The company is going through some restructuring and they've decided to eliminate one of the project manager positions. So I'm going to have to let you go."

That was pretty much it. I thanked him for not beating around the bush. He told me it was hard since he liked me as a person, but it's what the company decided. I left my blackberry and key on the desk. I grabbed my red Swingline stapler and headed home. (I'm pretty sure that I forgot the piece of paper I need to go claim my winnings from Vegas if the Mariner's win the World Series. Man wouldn't that be a kick in the crotch?)

I got home around 10:30am or so, and Tracy was on the phone and seemed surprised and happy to see me, naturally since I am so great and fantastic. But she could tell I wasn't happy, and I told her I just lost my job.

At first I was pretty upset. The president of my company liked to remind everyone that anyone could be let go and any given time. It's not the greatest feeling to have constantly weighing on you down. The first thing I did was got online to figure out how to file for unemployment benefits.

After figuring that out and sulking for a bit, Tracy made me some coffee and a snack and got to talking to me about the whole situation and reminded me that just the other day I was talking about how I would love to be able to leave my job and find something else, and the only thing really holding me back was the poor condition of the job market. So now I get to find something else to do, and that this is all really a blessing, and not a curse at all.

I started to calm down. I was still not happy that I was jobless. But I was starting to feel the relief of not having to look at my blackberry every hour to make sure shit wasn't currently hitting my fan.

Then Tracy and I decided to go out and buy a couch, which our apartment has been missing since March. Don't worry, we didn't go crazy. It was $30 at Value Village. It's big and orange and awesome. After arranging for my good friend Ian to meet with me later in the day to go pick up the couch with his truck, Tracy promptly fell asleep. She didn't seem too worried about the whole situation.

Tracy got up to go to work, and I went to go get the couch with Ian. After picking up the couch we went and met up with a couple friends at Ian's favorite bar, Naked City. With the couch in the back of the truck, I proceeded to get a celebratory lay-off drunk on, with only 2 beers. Man, when you don't drink much for a while, a couple of good beers can go a long way.

After beers, Ian and I came and dropped the couch off, and he headed home. I made dinner and waited for my special lady friend to come home to enjoy the couch together.

Then we went to bed, and that was the end of day one.