the first time ain't the greatest, but neither is the second or the fifth

Now would be a bad time for this to happen, but I regularly fantasize about being laid off. I fantasize about chaos in general but particularly about some deus ex machina that forces me to look for other work.

I've been "let go" three times in my life. The first time, I was 14 years old and I worked at a popcorn store about a mile away from home. Do you remember popcorn stores; do you know about them? Imagine a candy store and then fill all the bins with different colored/flavored popcorn.

They let me close. Alone. I was 14.

I used to dance to Raspberry Beret while mopping .... "I was working part time at a five and dime. My boss was Mr. McGee." My boss was Mr. McCabe. He had two really fat kids who liked to get "yogrit" - as they called it - from the shop two doors down. One evening, he showed up around close, without the kids, and said "We have to let you go for budgetary reasons." The yogurt craze had supplanted the flavored popcorn fad and business was drying up fast. I nodded, grabbed my purse, and walked around back to cry.

About five years ago, I was laid off as a contractor. No package. Crap! This was during the Time of Great Sorrow (see the bottom half of the post). That sucked.

And about a year ago, something similar happened. I thought "Now's my chance to make a change! The hand of God (or Mammon, I guess) has intervened to lead me in a new direction!" For a month I worked on this and put together a fabulous show (if I do say so myself), but when that was over, another month passed before any job opportunities presented themselves so I panicked and took the first tech writing job I was offered. Six months later my current job presented itself and looked appealing so I snagged it.

So here I am, dreaming of chaos again.