Once again we were told a big announcement of layoffs would come down today. And once again, no such horrible fiat occurred.
I am beyond getting myself worked up over this stuff. Who knows how much truth lurks in these rumors, and really: who cares? There’s not a thing anyone can do about it. If GDU decides to can you, you’re canned. So deal with it!
The current flap arose when a local television news program interviewed the chair of a department on the East campus. The reporter spelled the interviewee’s name wrong; described faculty associates (low-paid semester-to-semester temporary workers) as “professors”; and claimed that today the university would announce that most or all such wretches’ jobs would end with the start of spring semester.
Well, in addition to our intrepid investigator’sobvious little lapses in fact-checking and her glaring ignorance of how a university works, there’s no reason to believe that the guy she interviewed should know any more about pending layoffs than any other chair of any other department. And to my and my spies’ considerable knowledge, departmental chairs presently are sitting in the pitch dark.
A fair amount of stürm und drang arose over this, with much uneasy watching of e-mail in-boxes and the university’s homepage. Once again, the nothing that happened amounted to an anticlimax.
About all anyone can do in these conditions, IMHO, is get one’s financial ducks in a row and then forget it. Figure out what emergency fund or other resources you have to fall back on, pay off as much debt as you can, get check-cashing protection on your bank account, learn what your employer will pay you at severance, and find out how to apply for unemployment. Maybe apply for a few jobs and activate your professional network. Then put it out of your mind and go on about your business.
And be thankful for every day you still have a job.
🙂
AMEN! What can we do about it? Nothing. That’s why we talk so much about emergency funds. People at my work were freaking out, and I was like, look, you have two options, freak about about it, or wait and see what happens. You getting upset isn’t going to help! Save as much money as you can and live below your means.
I am thankful for every day I still have a job. Great post!