- Do you know what happens after you tell them the whole story behind your termination? Virtually everyone I've had drinks with tells a similar story about the time they got fired. Seemingly everyone’s got stories of being stuck under shit managers, or dealing the fallout from things out of their control. Maybe this is selection bias and all of my friends are horrific at their jobs, but there's an awful lot of them that I'd consider to be best-in-industry at what they do, so I think it’s more likely that the answer is: It Was Probably Complicated™.
Note: Title editorialized because I dislike one word titles.
Is "fired" the same as "laid off?" 'cuz I was "laid off" and it was f'n awesome once I figured out what was going on. I haven't had a "jobby job" since then and that was Feb 13, 2007. "Fired" sucks tho. No unemployment. Generally no severance. No letter of recommendation. "Laid off" is "it's not you, it's me" while "fired" is "we are willing to take a financial hit to keep you out of the workforce." It's such a bitch to fire people these days that generally even the biggest screwups get laid off, particularly if they sign an NDA and cooperate. My wife is part of an organization that "fired" someone (with cause - and documentation - and a good lawyer) and the settlement was six figures.
Exactly. Fired means you did enough to warrant it from a liability standpoint. They've got a good enough case, they have documented proof that they've warned you... several times. Laid off or "let go" as the terminology that is often employed, means that there were internal changes, market changes etc that meant a "downsizing." Both can suck but getting fired means no letters of recommendation, no "yes" answers when asked the question "would you hire kleinbl00 again?" Getting fired means the past accomplishments don't mean much. I'm at a point where I see that my position may not be needed in 2016, for the first time in over 5 years, I'm looking. I don't want to be fired or laid off. I could be paranoid, but I see the writing on the wall and the writing has been making me feel like shit. I'm a pretty positive person by my nature and for the past year, it's been a struggle to remain so.
You have the benefit of a wealth of experience and expertise to get another position elsewhere, though. Being laid off can very easily lead to a much better position for you elsewhere, despite how much it would suck to start over somewhere else. On top of that, you have the benefit of seeing it now, in 2015. Growing up in the Bay Area with my family and friends' families all in tech, with insane, overvalued mortgages, and it being the early 2000's, there were many cases of people I know making $150k annually one day, and then out of nowhere the entire department or company is shut down the next day, with no forewarning, and they're thrust back into fighting for a job in a competitive market where most don't really have something that makes them stand out above the rest.
The only job I've ever been fired from was a gig cleaning and parking golf carts. It mainly consisted of me and some buddies smoking dope, stealing empty cans to return to Meijer, and playing a fuckload of free golf. On the slow days, we would race golf carts, and try to spin out into parking spots like stunt drivers. One got away from me, and I ruined the garage door to the cart barn. That lead to my firing, but apparently because I lied about it--not because I was a slacker moron who ruined other people's shit for my own amusement. That was a good lesson. You can suck at your job as much as you want, but do it with honor! Seriously, though. Good luck at work. Losing your minimum wage job at age 15 doesn't do anything except provide a good laugh even two decades later. Losing your position when you have a family and a mortgage sounds like no kind of fun.