Deep Water & Tender Mercies

"EMC can replace failed hardware in 4 hours. What can you give us?"

The HP representative was trying to sell us some new disk array. 'It'll make ham and eggs and butter your toast!' Psssh.

"We can have the hardware to you within 24 hours."

"Unacceptable."

My brand new company-provided Blackberry was on speaker phone as I worked from home. A second engineer piped up and began arguing about the poor service-level agreement provided by HP. "You've got to do better than that..."

I felt secure. Two weeks prior, I received one of the most stellar reviews of my career. My bosses were very pleased with my performance and noted that I had "significantly exceeded" their expectations that year. They made special note that I alone had saved the company at least $700,000 in the past 12 months. I was on cloud 9 and happy with my job...and the raise in salary.

Another call rang through. "Guys, I'll be right back, looks like a call from Operations." I didn't recognize the number, but knew it came from the data center. I placed them on hold and the blah-blah-blah continued.

"Storage Engineering, this is Lance."

"Lance, this is Henry..."

That's about all I heard. Henry is my boss's boss's boss, so I knew this wasn't good.

"...sorry to do this over the phone...position terminated...reduction in force...economy...blah-blah."

My heart was pounding in my throat. It felt like he kicked me off a cliff. The free fall was agonizing and I was nearly in tears. As he relayed a final instruction I was thinking of the tiny boy in my arms who had just fallen asleep. It was 10:56 AM, March 18. Marshall's heavy breathing and cute little face kept me in the here-and-now. I hung up with Henry and sat there, stunned. "What the heck just happened?"

It took me a couple hours to gain control of my fear. I had many a friend and neighbor - even my own family - who were out of work and struggling to stay afloat. My former boss was laid off in October 2008 and has yet to find a job.

By that evening I had a plan. I updated and modernized my resume and posted it all over the web. My good friend had a good lead or two.

Friday morning dawned with another call from Todd. "I think there's an open position for you at Zions. Call this guy and check it out." He sent my resume as well as a recommendation to their recruiter. The recruiter asked me to come to an interview at 2:30 PM that day.

Holy shnikees!!! 24 hours after being laid off and I already had an interview? Then another call came in. A position had opened up with EMC. I had a phone interview RIGHT there.

I had to go into my old office and turn over my laptop and Blackberry and clean out my desk. I signed the necessary paperwork and walked out the door and drove around the corner for my interview. Literally half a mile down the street. After an hour with Jeff he asked me to come back for a follow-up interview on Monday. And then a 2nd interview with EMC too. By Monday afternoon I had an offer from Zions...only 2 business days had passed. I floundered in the deep waters of unemployment for 2 DAYS. I almost felt guilty. Maybe guilty isn't the right word. I was so extremely grateful but also very aware that I had just dodged a big, fast-moving bullet. I was nothing special. Much better people than me were unemployed.

As that emotional weekend passed, I stopped in my tracks several times and was allowed to feel the assurance that many people were praying for me. Their love and concern took my breath away. The Lord was showing me His tender mercies. Of one thing I am confident: New job aside, I know God loves us. He made it clear that He knows me intimately.

The new career is great and I'm loving every minute of it.

Word-of-mouth being so important, if anyone needs some remodeling or roofing done, I know some very talented people. [wink]