Impersonal Layoffs Our Interviewees Have Suffered


This morning, I learned about a new online service.  There’s a Web site iDUMP4U that breaks up for you!  For a fee, of course.  $10 for a basic breakup, $25 for an engagement breakup and $50 for a divorce call.

The cold impersonality of this Internet business (supposedly used by 200 people already) made me think of the heartless treatment  some of  our Over 50 and Out Of Work interviewees have received when they lost their jobs.

Take a look at their videos:

Bill Fleming, 55, a flooring installer from Little Chute, WI, was told that he lost his job over the phone, despite his former employer’s advertised “open door” policy for employees.

Joe Magnone, 50, a steelworker from Weirton, WV, has been laid off eight times from his job in the mill over the past 30 years.  Magnone describes the casual, unfeeling way he has  been laid off:

“These people just come right up to you and say, ‘Hey’ — I mean, not even a hello, not even a cup of coffee — ‘you finish up tomorrow. You’re done.'”

Our most recent interviewee, Joel Nitzberg, 57, a social worker and community educator from Somerville, MA, had to call human resources to confirm that he and his entire department were being laid off.  (His video interview will be online soon.)

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