First week of being laid off.
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 4:45 pmI used to work for a division of an international fortune 500 company. Until last week.
As many big companies do, they bought up other companies. The one that I work for was one of many.
And in truth it was a good idea. They had bought a US manufacture of security products with a few technicians. And then they bought a multistate security service company with the full gamut of electro-mechanical experience. From simple door hardware to computer control systems capable of running a prison, or controlling access to an elevator on the other side of the world.
(Side note: When I say "security service company" I don't mean security guards)
I'll just leave the name blank. If they didn't like what I said, they could crush me.
Not paranoia. It would take only an hour or so, every now and then, for one of their lawyers to make my life hell. And leave me busted.
My division worked with electrical and mechanical security systems. We're very big on military bases, colleges, and government facilities.
Where some similar divisions, such as security cameras & alarms, were well run, I think that my division was run by newly graduated college students. Or accounting types at the least. Certainly no one who understood the security business.
So someone decided to cut costs. Over a number of years they started removing stock from out vans. "If you haven't sold it in 6 months, you don't need it." That was their war cry.
"We build to order" posters went up everywhere. That means "We don't keep nothing on the shelves. You want it, you give a sighed contract. And ONLY THEN do we manufacture it.
That's a smart way to do business. You don't keep products (money) sitting around waiting for a sale.
But you should have heard the complaints that we, the service techs, had to listen to when it took a month, or more, to ship an order.
Needless to say, our customer base started to dwindle.
Now here is where it gets unbelievably stupid. Most of what they took out of out vans was sent to a central facility, where the majority of it was scrapped!
This was new, unused, merchandise. And over a few years time, they did this several times!
And with the largest such move (just over a year ago), this material was actually thrown in the dumpster behind out shop. We were told that if we took anything out we'd be fired.
Had they simply told us that material not sold over the past 6 months would not be reordered....
Well, better minds than mine had a different plan, obviously.
Needless to say, our customer base started to dwindle.
How often do you want to hear "No, we can't fix your security problem right now. But we'll order what you need tomorrow and have it in a day or two." (Assuming all the while we could fine the needed item in one of our (then) many locations)
UPS made a ton of money off us.
So they laid off more people as business demand dropped.
Now, not only don't we have the security product that you need right now, but there'll be a delay, perhaps up to a week (often much more), before we can get someone to you.
So they laid off more people as business demand dropped.
And finally they decided to close my division down. The regional manager is trying to save (multiple explicative's deleted) job, by keeping a few techs for service contract work in the eastern US area (We did cover Boston down to Alabama at one time. There were more locations out west too.).
We do/did have city, state, and military service contracts, so that's my best guess as to the justification.
For the most part, our product was sold from within our company to the institutions that we serviced. Some of the electronics was serviced by no other company. Now, there is no one to service those products.
There are however, competing products that will do the same things.
So what will you go with? A product for which you can no longer get service? Or a similar product with multiple sources of service.
My guess? The factory here in the US will, eventually, be closed and sent overseas.
And like us, with a lesser demand, there won't be any reason to keep it open whereever it does go.
I used to wonder how some of these multi-billion dollar companies could go bankrupt.
I don't wonder that anymore. The people running them are so high up that they're no longer in touch with what the company was and why it became so big.
And you know something???
I could be wrong. The guys at the top may really know how to do it right. Maybe the people at the bottom really let them down.
As many big companies do, they bought up other companies. The one that I work for was one of many.
And in truth it was a good idea. They had bought a US manufacture of security products with a few technicians. And then they bought a multistate security service company with the full gamut of electro-mechanical experience. From simple door hardware to computer control systems capable of running a prison, or controlling access to an elevator on the other side of the world.
(Side note: When I say "security service company" I don't mean security guards)
I'll just leave the name blank. If they didn't like what I said, they could crush me.
Not paranoia. It would take only an hour or so, every now and then, for one of their lawyers to make my life hell. And leave me busted.
My division worked with electrical and mechanical security systems. We're very big on military bases, colleges, and government facilities.
Where some similar divisions, such as security cameras & alarms, were well run, I think that my division was run by newly graduated college students. Or accounting types at the least. Certainly no one who understood the security business.
So someone decided to cut costs. Over a number of years they started removing stock from out vans. "If you haven't sold it in 6 months, you don't need it." That was their war cry.
"We build to order" posters went up everywhere. That means "We don't keep nothing on the shelves. You want it, you give a sighed contract. And ONLY THEN do we manufacture it.
That's a smart way to do business. You don't keep products (money) sitting around waiting for a sale.
But you should have heard the complaints that we, the service techs, had to listen to when it took a month, or more, to ship an order.
Needless to say, our customer base started to dwindle.
Now here is where it gets unbelievably stupid. Most of what they took out of out vans was sent to a central facility, where the majority of it was scrapped!
This was new, unused, merchandise. And over a few years time, they did this several times!
And with the largest such move (just over a year ago), this material was actually thrown in the dumpster behind out shop. We were told that if we took anything out we'd be fired.
Had they simply told us that material not sold over the past 6 months would not be reordered....
Well, better minds than mine had a different plan, obviously.
Needless to say, our customer base started to dwindle.
How often do you want to hear "No, we can't fix your security problem right now. But we'll order what you need tomorrow and have it in a day or two." (Assuming all the while we could fine the needed item in one of our (then) many locations)
UPS made a ton of money off us.
So they laid off more people as business demand dropped.
Now, not only don't we have the security product that you need right now, but there'll be a delay, perhaps up to a week (often much more), before we can get someone to you.
So they laid off more people as business demand dropped.
And finally they decided to close my division down. The regional manager is trying to save (multiple explicative's deleted) job, by keeping a few techs for service contract work in the eastern US area (We did cover Boston down to Alabama at one time. There were more locations out west too.).
We do/did have city, state, and military service contracts, so that's my best guess as to the justification.
For the most part, our product was sold from within our company to the institutions that we serviced. Some of the electronics was serviced by no other company. Now, there is no one to service those products.
There are however, competing products that will do the same things.
So what will you go with? A product for which you can no longer get service? Or a similar product with multiple sources of service.
My guess? The factory here in the US will, eventually, be closed and sent overseas.
And like us, with a lesser demand, there won't be any reason to keep it open whereever it does go.
I used to wonder how some of these multi-billion dollar companies could go bankrupt.
I don't wonder that anymore. The people running them are so high up that they're no longer in touch with what the company was and why it became so big.
And you know something???
I could be wrong. The guys at the top may really know how to do it right. Maybe the people at the bottom really let them down.
Unbelievable, the hangar facility was being closed because the company was desperately short of money and then they throw even more down the drain. Mind you, there loss was our gain, we bough it all up for the knock down price of a $1............just so the paperwork was in order........... 
Anyway I digress, Sears always seems to be a throughway from one side of a mall to another and it always seems like they should be selling tumble weed as you never see anyone.........
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