End of the line

[MoonCat]

Thanks peeps. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

If this had happened 10 years ago I'd be more hopeful. I'm gonna be 60 in three months; that makes all of this harder. My youngest sis has suggested looking into civil service jobs; right now there is nothing on their site that I qualify for, but I signed up for email alerts for new listings. I can't afford to rule out any options yet.

Supposedly it will be a while before they hammer out a timeline for this. They still have other major issues to work on, one of which is health insurance, and so far mgmt's offer is totally unacceptable. If the union took this offer, in a couple of years employees would be working essentially just for the insurance - it would take that much of their pay. So that's still on the table.

Feels like I got dropped into an alternate reality. Don't care for it much ;p

[MoonCat]

They are definitely outsourcing the work - to a company that has tons of lousy reviews online (as a workplace). Good luck with that assholes.

Supposedly they are open to finding something else at the company for those few of us would want (aka need) to stay on.

More details to come, I guess. Not sure yet about the time frame.

Fuck everything.

[Pixelated]

Crossing my fingers for you ...

I'm 60 and I know what it's like looking for a decent job at that age (or probably at any age, these days).

I hope something good comes your way very soon.

[MoonCat]

They have a tentative agreement.

Still has to be voted on, of course, but there's almost no chance it won't be voted in. Our dept will be outsourced.

I'm told that they are working on finding something else in the company for me, that management has been open to this. So they are going to "cobble something together" for me. I do not find the choice of words encouraging, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

The problem is that most jobs at the company are now part time, and I can't survive on part tine work. They're unlikely to create a full time job just for me; more likely they'll try to find one that is currently unfilled and shoehorn me in there.

Meanwhile I'm considering what other options I may have. At lease they got a slightly better exit package for the people who are leaving.

[Food Lady]

It's making me think I oughtta stick it out at my job because I'm 43. I think it's appropriate that I'm listening to Al Stewart's "Time Passages" right now.

[MoonCat]

It's making me think I oughtta stick it out at my job because I'm 43. I think it's appropriate that I'm listening to Al Stewart's "Time Passages" right now.

Actually if I'd been smarter, I would've gotten out of this job years ago. That, or save a lot more money. Shit happened, and I was the only one with a steady job in the family, etc. I can't help thinking that if I'd been smarter with my money, I might be able to take the exit package now, find something to bring in some extra money for a few years, and then I'd be able to actually retire.

I don't believe that will ever happen, now.

[Pixelated]

I hear ya, MoonCat, especially about the "shoulda saved more money during my younger years" part. I did the same thing, despite constant (gentle) reminders by my (younger!) brother.

But I didn't, and I can't change that now. All I can do is go forward as best I can.

Hang in there. Hopefully your future is brighter than you are expecting.

[MoonCat]

We have somewhere between 15-20 weeks until the dept goes dark.

38 years of my life gone POOF

[raw1989]

38 years of my life gone POOF

I was hoping they would keep u on or put you in another area.

[Shyla]

I'm sorry. That's really rough.

[MoonCat]

I was hoping they would keep u on or put you in another area.

They're going to try to find something for me, but there's no guarantee. It might be two part time positions, which is fine with me. But they can't promise it will happen. So I'm trying to figure out what else I might have to do if that doesn't work out.

I just feel like all of those years were....not wasted, exactly, but it's going to be as though they never happened.

[raw1989]

good luck

[MoonCat]

Update, such as it is:

We still have no firm exit date, but estimates are early to mid August.
I still have no offer of a position(s) to stay with the company, but am assured the union and management are talking about it.
I still can't make any concrete plans because (1) no exit date and/or (2) no new position.

This has played hell with my peace of mind and my overall health. I had a major panic attack two weeks ago that I did NOT see coming. Ambulance, ER, EKG, etc. I get nasty stomach aches every few days that only resolve when I stay home.

Will be seeing my therapist on Friday, hoping for some more advice on how to de-stress, because so far nothing much has worked