I’m not sure how much you, my lovely audience (like 3 people and my parents) know about what’s going on right now with oil prices. I am sure everyone has noticed the drop in gas prices. On the other side of that drop is the layoffs. There’s been news stories about it, major service companies laying off thousands and thousands of people globally. While for most people this has been nothing more than a news story, for me it’s been my life for the past months. Watching friends leave, watching people have their lives change in a minute. It’s been difficult to witness, to say goodbye to so many friends and to stay behind in the environment of tension and fear.
Two weeks ago it was my turn. Since I’ve been working in the office and I’m good at my job I was shielded from the first and second wave of lay offs. My superiors spent at least two months trying to transfer me to a location that could afford to keep me, but couldn’t find one. Most locations are trying to reduce staff, not increase it and my experience of only 7 months in the office didn’t help me. I’m very confident my boss did not want to lay me off and worked hard to fight for me. I’m not the first to leave and I already know that I’m not the last. Unfortunately this drop in prices will effect many, many more lives before things stabilize.
For anyone wondering what comes next I can give a very general plan that changes about everyday. Big blue will be paying for to move my house of things back to Alaska or anywhere cheaper, which is like… anywhere in the US. Probably everything will end up in Houston in storage until I need it next. I’ve also been given a decent severance package and 3 months of free health care. The cost to break my lease should be covered, although that’s still being negotiated, something to be settled in this next week after everything is packed up.
