Laid off

"Our grant hasn't been renewed, yet, and we can only afford to pay you up to the end of this month."

Those words confirmed what we had been fearing for the past four or five weeks. We were being laid off. The entire program was ending on October 31st; unless the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) approved the grant renewal before then.

We hadn't had children in our program for over two weeks. Various staff questioned our Program Director as to what was happening and if our jobs were in danger. The Program Director assured us that our jobs were not in danger and that it was just taking a little longer for ORR to respond to our grant renewal than expected, but that "no news is good news". She told us to just take the time without children as a "break" and "time to organize your offices".

On October 3rd, they told us that we would be "working" in the office up to the 21st. By working they meant that we would be packing up everything in the building so that they could then transport everything to another building because the lease for the building will also be expiring on October 31st.

The only good news we got was that even though we would no longer be working after the 21st, they were still going to pay us as if we worked all the way through to the 31st and that they would have our last paychecks, which would also include any unused PTO, ready on the 28th. They also informed us that "when (not if) we get the grant, we will be calling each of you with an offer to return to your current positions".

It took me 3 days to get the courage to tell my wife that I was getting laid off. I was planning to wait until the 9th because I was going to be away from home for some comedy shows but thought that she might get upset with me for not telling her right away. So, I told her.

She said, "I knew it! When did they tell you."

I lied and said, "Today."

"What are we going to do?" she asked. "Well, we're going to have to rent the studio for sure", she added before I could answer.

She knows I don't want to rent out the studio. The previous owners of our house had converted the garage into a one-bedroom studio. When we bought the house, I decided that I was going to turn the studio into a recording studio, for my podcast, and speakeasy, to have open mics and drink beers with my friends. I spent about four months painting and soundproofing the recording studio. And now she wants to rent it out to some strangers!

She also wants me to return to work at Alpine. I worked at Alpine Special Treatment Center for nearly two years before getting the job that I am now being laid off from. I left Alpine because it is over 90 minutes away from our house and gas is extremely expensive. Plus, the new job paid over $3 more an hour.

I've been applying and interviewing for jobs since we were told about the impending layoffs. I even interviewed at Alpine. I was told that they are extremely understaffed right now. It's been a week since the interview and I still haven't heard back from them.

I interviewed for a job in Imperial, about half an hour away from home. I thought I connected with the Program Manager during the interview. Problem is that the most they could offer me was $25/hour. I asked if there was any way they could offer more. She said, "No, sorry." I'm pretty sure I made a mistake by telling her that I was getting laid off and by asking for more money. She later sent me an email telling me they went with another candidate.

I'm not sure if I will be able to make my bills next month. I'm still currently looking for work. So, please let me know if you need your lawn mowed, a babysitter, a room painted, etc. Also, I will reach out to you as soon as my GoFundMe is up. Thanks!