Ten Signs You'll Be Fired: Get Clued into Layoff Warning Signs

MSN Monster.com ^ | 12/30/2002 | Therese Droste

[ex-Texan]

If the worst happens, be aware that things are tough out there and unemployment benefits run out quickly:

800,000 Will Lose Jobless Benefits

As a side note, the web address of the MSN article ends in the following location "articles/cutbait/" .... Think that is a good clue for people facing layoffs.

[Maedhros]

Sign #11: You're mentioned in a Willie Green post.

[Alberta's Child]

MSN must really be slipping. I've noticed that they keep re-posting the same articles a few months apart. I saw this one about 5 months ago.

[End The Hypocrisy]

At least there's SOME good news. Even though our foreign trade deficit is the largest it has ever been, so is our record high $6.3 trillion dollar national debt:

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

Ah but at least our population's apparently the oldest it has ever been, too. The GOOD news is...we're not Japan. Botswana has a higher credit rating than that country nowadays.

[null and void]

Sign #12, your boss stops making eye contact when he/she talks to you. 100% reliable...

[Happygal]

HA! The day my boss doesn't stop sitting on my shoulders is the day I know I'm going to be fired! *LOL* He's been doing it for the last 12 years, so if he suddenly 'gets nice' I'll be worried! *L*

[ex-Texan]

Think maybe MSN may be laying off people about now .... and of course, Microsoft got hit with a huge judicial ruling recently .... Hint, hint, hint!

[martin_fierro]

I'm sorry, but that one's just funny. <|:)~

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Is it a bad sign if your boss assigns you a new nickname like "milky-licker", "chowderhead", or "piss boy"?

[Timesink]

I think all the "clues" in this article fall into the "DUH!" category.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

No joke. It's usually a bad sign if an ogre in the office suddenly starts being real nice.

[martin_fierro]

Bad sign: Your office has been walled up and you can't get in.

[Asclepius]

... There Are Rumors of Restructuring or Layoffs ...

Signs of the end-times. Wars and rumors of wars.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

If your boss tells you great news that you're getting a new office - in the stinky basement boiler room - that's usually a bad sign.

[strela]

Another bad sign: You're moved from a corner office to one where you have to move the mops and brooms to get to your desk.

[JudyB1938]

MSN must really be slipping. I've noticed that they keep re-posting the same articles a few months apart. I saw this one about 5 months ago.

It could be a part of a "conspiracy" (for lack of a better word). If employers can get employees to quit, they won't have to pay unemployment insurance. Scare tactics like this article would hasten the departure of some people.

[yankeedame]

Sign #11: You're mentioned in a Willie Green

LOL!! True!

[Henchman]

Final item, the name on your old desk isn't yours and there is no paycheck. Remember when they delisted you from the company phone directory last week?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Sounds like the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza's office had the lock changed and a huge plank nailed across the front. He crawled through a dirty ventilation duct then called his boss's secretary saying, "Hello, George here. If the boss needs me, please tell him that I'M IN MY OFFICE!!!!"

[swarthyguy]

Senior mgmt swears that no changes are coming.