HOP 1: Laid Off and Raging
The story of losing my job in 2024 and what I did about it. This falls under the "O" of HOP: an Other Story.
2024 was a crap shoot, but I was doing my best. I worked hard, took care of my family, and fought tooth and nail against my medical insurance and physical therapy hellscape (that’s another story). Of course, I wasn’t expecting my steady marketing job to end up in flames… but there we were.
It was like a Tuesday morning in July 2024 when I woke up, grabbed my coffee, and logged in from my cozy home office. I looked through my work lineup for the day and then noticed a new email.
Every word felt stranger than the last. The marketing agency was (again) in dire financial trouble and the only way forward was to lay people off. I remember wondering if the agency had somehow been hacked and if this was a scam.
After all, my last work performance review had top scores across the board, the company’s last quarter showed positive signs, and I thought a raise and a promotion were in my future.
Plus, surely… SURELY a CEO wouldn’t email something like, “If you are one of the people we are letting go, we’ll send you another email notifying you of your termination.” There was no way! The more I looked at it, the more ridiculous the email seemed.
It felt so wrong, but it couldn’t have been more real.
Within about 30 minutes, I was one of the “lucky” eleven that got the termination notice.
They didn’t have an explanation for why me (or the other ten of us). In fact, when I showed up to my Zoom meeting, the CEO wasn’t even there. He was too busy for the likes of me. I told the HR rep and my direct boss that the CEO was a coward for not showing up. I meant it - and even now - I don’t take it back.
Yes, he and other former co-workers shared the news on social media and made efforts to get me a job. But let’s be real, who picks through the discards of someone else? Only the desperate or the curious. I felt like my world was closing in, and there was no hope.
I know this story is supposed to be funny… and we’ll get there. But right now, please wallow in this misery. We are the mighty Artex, fallen and sinking into the Pit of Despair. I was crying, I was lost, and I was angry.
Then… what would you know? A fellow laid-off employee sent me a message. It might have had some sympathetic words in there, I don’t remember. What I do remember is thinking he was a bit crazy.
He asked me if I remembered our “Donut” - the weekly online social meeting we got to track as work time - where I shared my idea of a pet app. I’ll be honest, I didn’t remember a damn word of our friendly Zoom that had happened over a year ago. But HE remembered. And, as it so happened, he all of a sudden had enough free time to build it for me. The “perk” of being suddenly unemployed.
At first, I wasn’t sure what to do. Part of me was screaming that I needed to apply to 50 different jobs and file for unemployment, and nothing - not even a friend wanting to help me with a project for free - should get in the way.
Then I had a moment. A moment that I think matters more than most fleeting seconds.
I shouldn’t ever only put myself before others, because that’s simply not who I am.
My mind and heart went out to those who were laid off. Many of them were friends that I had worked with for over a year. So, I agreed that we should build the app. However, I wanted to pull some people in who were maybe drowning in their own sadness. After reaching out to several, one of my closest buddies said he wanted to help; he needed a break from job scrolling.
We then had a Zoom meeting of our own. We laughed, we cried, and we thought. We jokingly called ourselves “The Departed,” because it felt like we didn’t much matter to the agency that had let us all go in an email. Keep in mind, this was the same morning. At the least, it felt good to talk to them, even if we were all trash raccoon versions of ourselves.
One thing about creatives is they are often underestimated. That may even be why we are seen as replaceable. Yes, we chatted and mourned the perceived death of our careers. But you know what? We also pushed aside the crap that had just happened and replaced it with creativity and planning.
This was almost six months ago. Since then, I found a new marketing agency that took me under their wing. The CEOs are kind and fair, and I’ve already received two bonuses, multiple affirmations, and made friends with my new teammates.
That’s just the icing on the cake. Our pet app, created out of love from The Departed, is now about 2-3 months from launch. It has a fully-functional AI module that was built entirely by one person, yet somehow, overshadows the likes of Chat GPT when it comes to pet care, knowledge, and assistance.
I’m not just blowing smoke. I’ve literally put the two against each other with cat/dog-related questions and compared the answers. There IS no comparison.
My sweet, supportive husband has learned an entirely different coding platform - Flutter - just to help our AI guy build out the app’s framework. My buddy who dived in with us on this roller coaster has supported the process by writing the dull shit like disclaimers and legal disclosures that I would have had to write while mentally screaming in pain.
So yes, I was laid off and raging. But my response was to turn around and make something out of the shattered little bits of our confidence and self-worth. And here we are. A scrappy, small team with goals and unstoppable drive. GLAD I’m not with my now X-agency, and EXCITED for what’s in The Departed’s future.
What I learned (remembered, anyway): It is okay to truly feel your emotions. It’s not okay to scramble for air while ignoring everyone else. Spoiler alert, maybe you need them as much as they need you.
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