I got laid off. I was the most recent hire, and the numbers were down. There was talk of lay offs. I expected the axe. I had been there just long enough to realize the owners were jerks, and that it wasn’t really an industry I wanted to work in, so it was a good learning experience and no great loss.

My boss, the guy who hired me, was great. He knew the owners were jerks, but wanted to learn that industry, so he put up with the owners for the time being. The view was also great. Top floor, full view of the bay bridge from my desk. Nice!

I was so new I hadn’t yet been introduced to the owners, who had been out of town on business. One of them was in one day, so my boss introduced us. We chatted briefly, then the owner turned to my boss and cheerfully told him to take me to lunch. My boss’s face went white.

The owner went to his office and closed the door, leaving me and my boss standing there. My boss was visibly shaken, so I asked him what was wrong. He told me the owners only buy someone lunch if they’re about to fired. I told him I knew the numbers were down and I expected to be laid off, so it was OK.

I told him that if I’m going to be fired anyway, we might as well make it a really good lunch, and asked if he knew anywhere really nice nearby. No sandwiches this time! The office was in the middle of a downtown area with lots of trendy restaurants. He picked a Spanish tapas place. He had the baby octopus, and I had mussels for the first time ever. It was delicious!

That company kept on giving even after I left. They said they had fired me for cause to try to avoid having to pay unemployment insurance. I told the unemployment office they had laid me off along with several other people due to a reorganization. They had no documentation to prove cause for firing (I hadn’t been reprimanded or suspended or anything), so I got the insurance money I was due.

Then I got another surprise when I filed my taxes. The IRS sent me an audit letter. Apparently the company had reported to the IRS that they had paid me $60,000. This was back in 1980-something, so $60,000 a year was a decent income. $60,000 for the 2 weeks I had worked for that company would have been fabulous, if they had paid me the money. However, they had paid me only a small fraction of that amount, which I proved to the IRS by providing my W-2 and a copy of my final paycheck.

Looks like the owners of that company were crooks as well as jerks. ;-)