Jobless Hits Home

I'm a news junkie, I admit. I watch the local and national news, I read the local newspaper, I even listen to NPR. I've seen the news reports about people losing their jobs. Over and over, it seems like the same story-company makes money (lots of it), company loses money (lots more of it), company tries to stay afloat, company fails, people lose jobs, and so on.

Well, the crisis has finally hit home.

Friday, January 9th started out as any other day. We got up that morning and got ready to go to work. Our little guy got dressed for preschool. I dropped him off and we waved goodbye to me, yelling "I'll see you this afternoon, Mommy!". I get to work, do the normal "watercooler" jabber with some friends at work. At 11:00 am, I get a phone call on my cell from my husband. He usually doesn't call me during work, so when he does, I try to answer it. When I said "hello", all I heard was, "Imagepoint is closing-Imagepoint is closing-Imagepoint is closing". The sound of panic in his voice was overwhelming. I asked, "What's going on" (at least I think that's what I asked. At that point, I was in complete shock). He said, "I've gotta go-I'm heading into a meeting" and hung up. I sat there-stunned, confused, bewildered. Within a matter of 3 hours, we had gone from a happy little family with our dream home and a bright future to a family grappling with the fact that we had lost half of our income.

My friend Julie walked in just as I hung up the phone. All I could say was "My husband just lost his job." Suddenly, the print job she and I were desperately trying to get to work just didn't matter anymore.

About an hour later, he called me back. The company was going into immediate liquidation. A few people were remaining to finish up on some projects for certain customers, but the majority of people were jobless. No severance, no COBRA insurance, nothing. That was it. The projects he was diligently working on the day before no longer mattered. The petty differences amongst co-workers turned into joint grief among all. People packed up their office belongings-family pictures, funny comics neatly displayed, bobbleheads, awards of excellence issued by the company-and stoicly carried them out of 445 S Gay Street and to the State Street Parking Garage. They carried them past the news cameras and reporters looking for the big story, past the onlookers from the Downtown Grill & Brewery, past the homeless. These former employees not only had the shock of their life, but had to experience the grief and pain of this incident in the probing eye of the public.

And, now, the hunt begins. Fortunately, there are some opportunities that have become available for my husband. And, the task of figuring out how we will make it begins also. Contacting creditors, working out payment plans, deciding what items are necessities and what can be eliminated in order to cut costs.

It's amazing how much can change in 3 hours...