Layoffs: crushing dreams and destroying friendships

Recession-proof?

I read an article yesterday about how layoffs can alter friendships. Makes sense – I’ve actually given this quite a bit of thought in the past couple of months. All of a sudden, from one day to the next, your routine is completely altered – you no longer see the same people every day. And depending on how incestuous your work environment was, your social circle can seemingly dissipate overnight. It can be awkward to maintain a relationship with people who survived the cull. But aside from that, even your friends who were laid off with you will be doing their own thing, possibly pursuing new opportunities and thus, no longer be part of your daily life. Some of my friends even left town after getting the ax.

Layoffs can have the opposite effect too. I have gotten to spend quality time with friends I only played phone tag with before November. And there are people I barely knew around the office who I now consider good friends – friendships that blossomed as we bonded over our misery, and shared the abundance of time we now have. Who else is free at 2pm on a Tuesday?

Then of course, there are the friendships that forge as a result of a creative endeavor (one that is inspired by your job loss). John and I barely knew each other before we were laid off. But as the idea for this blog developed, and its implementation proved ever more time consuming, we became good friends.

And now, also thanks to this blog, we can’t stand each other.