alottepotatoes's journey

I just got laid off for the fourth consecutive year. This past Tuesday, my manager reached out to schedule a meeting at 9 AM, insisting I cancel my other meeting to prioritize his. The moment I saw his message, I had a sinking feeling it was bad news. When he mentioned that HR would be calling me, I knew my fate was sealed. My heart dropped as he started with, "It's never easy to say this but..." What made it even worse was that the layoff was effective immediately. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my coworkers; as soon as I hung up, they stripped me of my access. To add insult to injury, I received my final paycheck that same day, delivered via overnight shipping. It was clear this had been planned for weeks, and I had only been with the company for seven months. Just a week prior, I had noticed the low volume of support tickets, and a coworker had asked our manager about the company's health. He assured us everything was fine, which felt like a blatant lie. I've been in support roles for years, and this has been my pattern: low volume leads to layoffs. I tend to see the writing on the wall after about six months and start applying elsewhere, knowing it’s not a matter of if, but when. My longest stint in the past four years was a year and a half. As the volume decreased, I had started applying for jobs casually and even landed a few interviews. I did my best to prepare for this, but honestly, the job market is brutal right now. At least I’m getting interviews, but I’m really hoping I won’t be unemployed for long. I wish everyone else searching for jobs the best of luck too.