Life on Severance: Comfort, Then Crisis

[spotbird]

Paul Joegriner hasn't worked since March 2008, when he was laid off from his $200,000-a-year job as chief executive officer of a small bank. But you wouldn't know it by appearances.

His wife, Marzena, shuttles their two young children to private school every morning. The family recently vacationed in Virginia Beach, Va., and likes to dine on Porterhouse steaks. Since losing his job, Mr. Joegriner, 44 years old, has had several offers. He's turned each down in hopes of landing a position comparable to what he held before


.....

Mr. Joegriner doesn't use the word "unemployed" in front of his children, ages 9 and 6, preferring to say that he's a consultant and that income is patchy. Rough times have even moved him to contemplate seasonal employment this winter, "a stopgap job," while he continues his executive job search. "Maybe something at night stocking shelves," he says. "That way people wouldn't have to see me."

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108129/life-on-severance-comfort-then-crisis.html?mod=career-salary_negotiation

[phantom power]

1. Wounded ego gets in the way of adaptation.

[closeupready]

2. IMO, he's an idiot.

He turned down a job in Wyoming because it didn't come with a severance agreement and he just couldn't take the risk that he would take the job and then get laid off. :eyes:

[sendero]

8. Yes......

..... and you can see mountains of the same kind of denial right here on DU.

Everything is going to be ok in a few months.

I don't think so.

[Christa]

3. Oh, my bleeding heart

:nopity:

My husband was laid off last December and our savings is running out fast - there will be no Thanksgiving dinner or Holiday fun for us this year. He would give anything to get some offer, any offer.

[peace frog]

4. I'm having a really hard time

working up any sympathy for this guy. Talk about a sense of entitlement! Get over yourself, pal. :eyes:

[tridim]

5. Poor rich folks and their poor severance pay.

My severance pay consisted of "See ya later, and btw we're not going to pay you for your 10 month completed contract because we're out of money".

Fuck you, rich fucker.

[Speck Tater]

6. Your reality check is in the mail.

People who have never had any real encounters with reality just don't get it, do they?

I feel fortunate that early in my career (engineer) I worked for two companies in a row that both went bust. I learned very early on to be prepared for the worst and to make adjustments instantly when income went away.

Now that I'm retired I'm very comfortable on very little money thanks to what I learned over the years about how to live frugally.

[Warpy]

9. I've faced poverty quite a few times

and I'm not talking about "no dinners out, no new clothes this season" poverty, I'm talking about the type where your guts hurt because you haven't eaten anything for a couple of days poverty.

These people are at the bottom of a really steep learning curve. They're just starting to come to terms with the fact that they were big winners in an economy pumped up by a lot of funny money generated by debt but now the bills are coming due and the economy can no longer afford their dubious services.

I do feel sorry for them. They're completely unprepared for what's facing them and will always be behind the curve of what they need to do to survive and come out the other side well and wiser.

Poverty to me is an unwelcome house guest that moves in and squats for weeks or months, sometimes years, and then moves on leaving everything a shambles. Eventually you repair the damage, but you're always aware the bottom can fall out again at any time and the bastard will be back.

These folks just don't have a clue about that. They feel entitled to a certain lifestyle and by gum, they will do anything to maintain the facade up until the day they find themselves homeless.

[Speck Tater]

10. You got that right.

They are way behind the curve.

I can recall a stretch of several months where I had an average of $7 a week to feed myself with, and another occasion when I picked up refundable aluminum cans along the highway to scrape together enough cash for a few cups of rice in the bulk section of the Safeway.

I've never actually been homeless, but I did share with friends a broken down room in a motel built in the 30's for several months once. Then the motel burned down and I moved in with my girl friend for a while.

I've also lived in a 4,000 sq ft home on 3 acres nestled in the redwood trees overlooking the San Fransisco Bay in a place called Woodside. It even had a ring and covered stalls for my daughter's horses. Then I (along with a couple hundred other six-figure engineers) got laid off when the company went bust. From there I ended up in rural Southern Oregon working for a carpet cleaning company at $8.00 an hour.

Fifteen years later I was back doing aerodynamic engineering for a NASA contractor. The day that company outsourced our whole division to Poland everyone I worked with was devastated. I just shrugged and said I knew the job was only temporary when I had taken it three years before.

In other words, lots of ups and lots of downs, and lots of practice living on a shoe string. And lots of examples why NOTHING in this world is permanent.

[roamer65]

7. A dumb ass, IMO.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

11. He's the guy standing on the corner with a sign that reads

"WILL WORK FOR GREEN FEES" :evilgrin: