After the layoffs at my job last week, one of my colleagues decided she was more scared of the future than she was happy with her job. She applied to a different department and interviewed today. Which, incidentally, I am probably not supposed to know. But I do know, and I have mixed feelings about the prospect of her leaving. Is it bad that most of those feelings are positive? I mean, sure, having her would give us some continued stability, but I am not convinced the stability she provides is worth keeping. And I don’t say that just because she and I have never really gotten along.
On a similar note, how does one go about being sympathetic with someone who was laid off if you didn’t contact that person immediately? Because there are a few people I worked with who were laid off, and I still haven’t talked to them about it, and my guilt over that fact makes me hesitate to say anything now.
I think you’re overblowing the etiquette thing…Since they’re still around for another couple of weeks, I think it’s perfectly acceptable (and nice) to send them a brief email just to say that you were sorry to hear about the layoff and that you’ve enjoyed working with them and good luck. That’s all there is to it! No need to thank me.
by kl—Apr 16, 07:41 AM
listen to your wife! she told you the ending of tale of two cities; published a kick ass paper on the crying game; and, all around rocks the casbah (the one in algiers and the one that pepe le pew lived in).
go write the emails…
by jeremy—Apr 16, 11:29 PM