Employees of the Dead Companies

Nick forwarded me this first-hand account of an employee experiencing the final days of a Circuit City store.

Some excerpts...

All employees are pretty much security guards nowadays...that is only when we're not putting up liquidations signs for 9 bucks an hour. Instead of having to greet every customer, now we just have to patrol the store...

We've had our share of customers come in yelling that they've been screwed over by us in some fashion. This may sound like rhetoric, but 30,000+ associates are about to lose their jobs—how do you think we feel? I've had customers say they are glad that we're going out of business, all because we can't return their XBox game that they bought, opened, and didn't like. I'm sorry, but how does losing $30 on a game compare to someone that is about to lose their livelihood? I'm not looking to make this a topic of money, but some associates here live paycheck to paycheck, and the thought of not having a job is scary. Some associates here just bought a new house, a new car, just got married, or just had a child. Impending job loss is devastating to them. I'm seeing it first hand...

Had some more reports of customers being really degrading to employees, to the tune of "Can't you knock off another $200 on this, it's not like your job matters"...

I worked at Bear Stearns so I've witnessed and experienced some mass job panic. Retail is worse because you're dealing with the public. But losing your livelihood is losing your livelihood.

I've done a wide range of office work over the years, but it's all been non-career day job bullshit. Specializing in nothing doesn't really help when you're scouring for a job in a shitty job market.