Ugh, these past weeks have been a wild ride, filled with ups and downs. Our beloved StudentUniverse account is moving to a local BPO, and sadly, around 70 people are losing their jobs. It’s heartbreaking to see colleagues leave after more than 15 years of calling StudentUniverse home. None of us saw this coming! When they announced the Boston office closure but promised to keep the customer contact center, we had a glimmer of hope. Now, we feel a bit betrayed.
Five people from our team are being let go. Honestly, when I first heard about the layoffs, I fully expected to be on that list, and it felt awful. But after a few days, a strange feeling came over me. I started looking forward to sleeping in, having zero responsibilities, no more weekend on-calls or panicking over critical alarms, and not having to manage a team anymore. I was excited and even started making plans for my birthday month, embracing the idea of being unemployed.
And then, the announcement came. I’m part of the team that’s staying. We’re saying goodbye to StudentUniverse, but we’ll continue working on the other two accounts with a smaller team. Honestly? I felt like bursting into tears. I wanted to be on that layoff list! Technically, I wouldn’t be totally jobless since I have a part-time online gig. But they cornered me; stay or it’s considered a resignation, and bye-bye severance pay.
Talk about an emotional rollercoaster. It’s like being trapped. The weight of the transition is already overwhelming; it’s gonna be a mountain of work. And seeing five of our teammates go? It’s just plain sad.
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of meetings, back-to-backs discussing the transition and coordinating with people from StudentUniverse, the local BPO, and the management of those two accounts we’ll be handling. I swear, my lifespan has decreased by a few years just from the anxiety and workload. My hair loss has gone from a minor shedding to a full-on retreat, I’m celebrating another monthsary with my lovely bronchitis and rhinitis duo, and my back pain is so bad I’m practically on a first-name basis with my massage therapist. My cortisol levels must be through the roof!
Yesterday was basically a self-declared mental health day. Needed a breather and also had to tackle a fire drill for my side hustle. Today, though? Total brain fog. I’m adrift, no clue where to even begin. So here I am, doing a digital brain dump of all the emotional baggage I’ve been lugging around. Hopefully, putting it all down in words will declutter my mental attic a bit.
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