What Was The Point?
Well, the tallest oompa loompa just won New Hampshire; it’s a crazy world. The Trump naysayers keep waiting for the man to implode, but he seems more teflon than Gotti. Even calling other candidates vulgar terms doesn’t stop him. Almost seems like he’s taking on the role from “Office Space.” Just do or say whatever, whenever, and nothing will happen. Perhaps it is because we are too entrenched in political campaign status quo to be able to begin to process something so vile. Anyway, I digress.
Last week I wrote about the pending split of my company and how that had impacted me as an in-house attorney. Some of you wondered what the point of the column was; well, just that, it was my early take on a serious change in structure to my company and job, which to many, especially those not in-house, seems so secure and serene. And to those of us in-house, it was perhaps a wake up call that in-house life is not necessarily the “career into the sunset” ride of popular belief.
It’s funny, when someone loses a job in our field, they can tend to become a sort of pariah. Almost like people don’t want to come into contact with them for fear of the bad job karma rubbing off. I guiltily admit to the same feeling. Coming into contact with certain out of work attorneys in our area can give off a palpable vibe of bad luck. It is hard to describe really, but you leave the encounter with a real “there but for the grace of God” thought. I know that is a crappy thing to own, but I have tried to be nothing if not honest about life in-house, and there are only so many columns about working office politics that one can write. And I felt the other side of that coin last week.
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Not one call came in asking how I was. But, to a person, each time I reached out to former colleagues or friends, they stated that they didn’t want to call for fear of what was going on. Now, I have some of the most empathic friends one can have, but I cannot help but wonder if people were avoiding the sense of doom that they presumed to be pervasive in the bubble of my company. The good news is that our jobs appear to be safe for the near-term, and those of us not assigned to spin-off duties have been tasked with business as usual. So, that was the point. Just to give some insight into a scenario that most of us never want to experience. I certainly did not. But, now that I have been through it, and life continues to go on, uncertain career path or not, it is something I can deal with.
I do want to note that I received some words of encouragement from some of you, and they were more than appreciated. I continue to answer each and every email that comes in to the Gmail box, and I know from anecdotal evidence that at least some of those folks have gone on to success in finding jobs, or whatever their need may have been. That in itself is reward enough for writing this column. Encountering so very many people in our field who have issues identical, or at least similar, to those that many of us encounter, begets some sort of community feel, and for that I am grateful. Next week, I’ll get off this topic of job change/loss and back to gossiping about office politics.
Earlier: Heckuva Wake-Up Call
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David Mowry is Senior Counsel to a large technology company. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the company’s position or opinion on issues raised herein.
David is a former litigator, two-time federal clerk, and former Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s New to In House Committee, and is available for speaking engagements. If interested, you may reach him at dmowry00@gmail.com.