When do I panic?

I am a mortgage processor for a national bank.  Not a big bank.  Not a well known bank.  But a bank which has always had a very good attitude towards its employees.  And Wednesday at 5 pm, the government shut us down.   I guess we just weren’t too big to fail.  I know there is a lot involved that I do not know, and a lot that is behind the scenes that I do not understand.  But I also know that come the end of this month, there will be a lot of people on the unemployment lines that were not at the beginning of the month.   And it pisses me off that the little banks that need a LITTLE help (not that we’re not profitable, but that we’re just not profitable enough for the regulating agencies…not that we didn’t have sound business practices, but the economy changed that definition…not that we were making bad loans or being a fraudulent bank), but those banks that need a little leeway to get back into the good are given exactly SQUAT in support from the federal regulators, but those banks that are too big to fail are bowed to.   I am sorry, if you’re too big to fail, then sure…let’s get you going again, and then let’s break your sorry ass up and make it so that if THIS division is losing money and can’t stand up, then THIS division can be put out of my misery!   Our bank was not allowed by the regulators to give any employees raises this year, not even COLA.   And the week after I read that, I read that BofA was going to give each of their employees big bonuses.   (Where did those bonuses come from?)

My company was good.  My company was profitable.  And my company has been shut down.  And I think that is wrong.   BofA deserved to be shut down, but in the country’s best interest it couldn’t be.   But because it wouldn’t cripple the country if my company is shut down, they seem to take out all of their frustration on the little guy—who they can attack.   That is just not right.

I don’t know when my last day is…but I do know I’m being laid off.  I’m much more fortunate than most people in my situation (and I know a lot of people are in my situation—and not just from my company).   One of the people from my company has been striving to find a place for everyone who works under him.  And with his time in this industry, he’s made a lot of contacts.  He’s working for us, and that is a nice thing.  I think I even have a landing pad.  I don’t know the details of it, which is pretty much my life right now.  I don’t know anything.  When my last day is, what the package is where I am going, when I have to report there or lose the opportunity (if it is a choice of severance package or recurring paycheck, I’m personally taking the paycheck.)   I’d rather have both.  And I am going to do the best I can for the customers and my company while I am there.  The customers deserve good service regardless (they could jump ship, but they are trusting us with their loan), and the company has been good to me.  I don’t want to kick it while it is down. 

But I am looking forward to the time when my life is back under MY control!