There is no doubt that I was quite worried when we were first sent home from the zone controlled HVAC of the office.
Of course, I’m talking about the beginning of the pandemic. I was extra worried because our company has been struggling for years. So when the pandemic sent us all home to work for my own central air conditioning, I really wondered what would happen. It didn’t take long for the layoffs to began. For at least a year prior, the company had been reorganizing in order to put a more attractive face on the company to sell it. There were plenty of salary dumps when it came to the executive level. And there are a lot of forced retirements as well. While I wasn’t necessarily close to retirement, I felt the pressure that I might get cut as well. But then, we were well into the summer of 2020 and the layoffs stopped. I just kept doing my work and trying to do the best with my team from the central air conditioning of my home. But by that fall I was the next one to get dumped. I got a bit of a severance package but that was it. After more than 20 years working for that company, no one even reached out to personally say goodbye. But that sort of lit a fire underneath me. So I had the HVAC company come out and install a ductless heat pump in my new home office. And I got to work competing against the company that had just unceremoniously dumped me. I work as an industry analyst for the competitors of my old company. And it feels good to enjoy the best residential HVAC in my new home office while competing against my own company.