8/8/2006
Condolences to Our Former Coworkers and Friends
Editor: Duckau.com promised an article regarding the recent dismissal of 650 former Disney staff members. Normally we would post something scathing about the lack of morals of those who got to keep their jobs, namely in management, kicking ass and giving you their names. However, after consultation amongst ourselves, we've decided to bring you a different type of article, one that we hope will help our former friends and coworkers shake off the tang of their former employer. It may still end up leaning negatively towards Disney for their attitude towards the "little people". We thank you for the indulgence.
If you are one of the recently laid off, you may be sitting at home wondering to yourself right now if there was anything you could have done to prevent being laid off. Especially if you were promised that you would be kept so you would keep working right up until you got zapped. Second, you may be scrambling to find someplace new to work immediately, if you are like the rest of us regular Joes and find that your landlord or mortgage company won’t take Disney swag in lieu of rent or mortgage payments.
Something to remember while you’re sitting at home feeling blue. Your management chose to keep someone else instead of you. The Quacky1 searched the Disney web page this morning and found 907 jobs listed on Disney.com. The Company could have found a place for you within their organization. They chose not to. Its not your fault, and you should not feel guilty. You weren’t laid off. You were fired. It is their loss.
The Quacky1 has compiled a list of “Ten Things to Do and Think About” now that you are no longer employed by Mouschwitz.
One - Acceptance
Take a deep breath. Accept that your management may have chosen you to go early based on nothing more than someone else’s good looks and popularity. Knowing that someone else is still there may make you angry at being laid off. That’s OK. Especially if you’ve been with the company for a long time.
The good news is, that you are now in a better place. Away from the vituperous boot-lickers, back-stabbers, and credit-stealers. Away from the micro-managers, spineless supervisors, and coworkers who can’t (or won’t) carry their own weight.
Take a few more deep breaths. Say good-bye to having to run all your emails past your manager, and good-bye to having no privacy because you sat in a half-height cubicle stuffed with all your belongings, and anything else the department needed to store in it, like the fridge, snacks, and the printer. Say good-bye to having to eat lunch in your cubicle, smile and act fakely happy all day when your boss is a real douche-bag, or when the temp sitting in for you on your vacation tries to make you look bad so they can acquire your job.
Keep thinking about all of the negative things you now no longer have to put up with!
Two - Reorient and Rediscover Yourself
Continue breathing. Now go get a cup of something to drink, and go look in the mirror. YIKES! Oh my, oh dear. If you are like most former Castmembers, you’re probably wondering what happened to the old you! Circles under your eyes, blotchy problem skin, dry hair, brittle nails, and you’re probably not happy with your weight. Who the h*ll is this older person in the mirror? What happened to the young happy person who started with Disney? Where’s the perky, cheerful smile? Gah!
So this is where you go and do a few things just for you. Be selfish. Get your hair done, get a pedicure, a facial, spruce yourself up. Get a deep tissue massage. Take yourself out to lunch at a nice restaurant and enjoy being able to eat your meal without anyone calling you. That’s right, enjoy the meal without taking it back to your cubicle to eat it. And don’t rush. Get dessert. Get coffee. Dawdle. Take the time. Its yours again.
Three - Push all that !@#$ Disney crap out of your sight
Take all those Disney clothes you bought on sale at Company D, or at the Castmember Holiday Party, or at the Disney store, and put them in a box. Confiscate the Disney videos from the kids and put them in the box. Same goes for the Disney towels, the sheets, the stupid mcDonald’s toys, and anything else that has pictures of that stupid mouse or any of his friends on them. Be mean to the toys. And cry if you want to while you’re doing it, and be angry. Its hard to realize that now that you no longer work for Disney you are going to have to replace most of your wardrobe. Now put the pen in the box too, and close the lid. Close it. Close it now. Walk away from the boxes. Forget about them. Put them someplace where you don’t normally go in your house, and leave them there.
Lay down the law to vote with your wallet and patronize the other theme parks for a change. [Help keep Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm alive…]
Four - Rediscover Your Friends and Family
Family? Remember? Those people who live in your house? Friends? People you used to know BEFORE you worked at Disney? People you had to blow off because your boss dorked up your schedule at the last minute with some 11th hour request. People you promised to spend time with and never got around to it because you had to work the weekend while your boss frolicked around town on their day off.
Indulge them now. Schedule things to do with them and realize that you can actually now GIVE THEM YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION. Your manager can no longer tell you that you can’t have the time off, or you can’t go because there is a mandatory work day scheduled. You won’t be paged by your manager and asked stupid questions that someone else in the office should be able to answer because they already have the information and they just want you to look stupid to your boss so they can get ahead.
A lot of your friends and some family members may have “given up” on you because of your old crappy work schedule. You may have a hard time readjusting how you think and schedule things. Relax, it will take some time to become a civilian again. Be sure to eat some humble pie here. Tell your friend or loved one, “I’m sorry that my former employer was not able to give me the time to do ‘XYZ’ with you. I’d still like to do it. Let’s go!” You can’t ever get back the time you wasted scratching for a few dollars, or to stay employed. But you can live now.
Five - Get Some Therapy
You may notice that even though you aren’t working for Disney any more, you still think a lot about the organization, the people that you used to work with, and find yourself obsessing over past mistakes and past glory. Since you are probably also out interviewing with other companies, you may be comparing all new companies you are evaluating with Disney, and perhaps the new prospective employer is picking up on these vibes. Or perhaps that anger has raised its ugly head again and you spend your precious new free time ranting about your old boss and former coworkers who had the gall to stay employed while you work the shoe leather.
This is perfectly normal.
This may be a hard piece of advice to digest but it is really a good idea to get therapy, and talk about what you experienced at Disney, even if you just witnessed it happening to other people.
First, you are not crazy if you go see a therapist. You’ve just survived a war. A war for your soul, your spirit, your creativity, the very essences of your being and who you are. A war with an unseen enemy whose footsoldiers are the profit-sucking leeches known in Disney parliance as management. Second, you need to understand how not to allow yourself to be victimized again. There are things you can do to protect yourself from workplace bullying. Yes, there is a name for it, and too much of it can cause permanent psychological trauma.
Read this webpage Link. Still think that therapy is only for Andrea Yates or the Shoe Bomber? Think again.
There is not a single department at Disney that didn’t have someone with one of these traits taken to an extreme. Whether it was a manager, or a coworker, or both, you were probably subjected to someone who did this to you or someone you knew. It will affect you in your soon to be new employment. Really, you will appreciate talking with someone during the transition who is trained to listen, and offer advice and suggestions.
One former coworker recalled being put in a situation similar to one that had happened at Disney in a personal relationship. That personal relationship was nearly compromised until the person realized that old feelings of anxiety were what let to them freaking out. Get the help. You will appreciate it later in life.
Six - Rebuild and Keep Your Confidence, Improve Yourself
A lot of former Castmembers relate how browbeaten, tired, and run down they felt while working at Disney, and how that affected their ability to engage in anything other than sleep after leaving work for the day. A lot have reported that after working for Disney they feel a lack of confidence in their abilities or skills due to how they were treated by former managers and coworkers. Many Castmembers have reported feeling that due to the negativity they experienced working for Disney that they no longer feel that they want to work in their chosen profession.
Since your time is now your own, if you have neglected your education, now is a good time to start and/or go back to work on your degree. If you are unemployed, you should qualify for many reductions in expenses, and other financial aid should be available to you.
Even if you don’t go back to college, now is a good time to take a short extension class, take up a hobby you’ve always been meaning to get into, or go back to an old hobby. Getting back into a hobby will give you something to bleed off your excess energy which used to be spent defending yourself in meetings, writing copious emails defending yourself, and running around like a chicken with your head cut off. You will have something to talk about besides the old job with former coworkers, and you will meet new people who share your hobby. In addition, you will reduce stress, and feel good when you have learned new things.
Small craft projects or home-based improvements offer a good means to provide you with a good short-term task that will help you boost your confidence and give you an edge to bounce back to the person who you really are, not the crazed person Disney tried to mold you to be.
Don’t set impossible goals. That is the Disney way, and that is why Disney fails. Set yourself small, managable baby steps, reassess your progress when you are done, and try and learn from each step and bring the lessons you learn forward to the next step. Slow down.
Seven - Support Your Former Coworkers
No one is ever going to understand what you went through at Disney except another former Disney employee.
Your former Castmembers (unless they were of the backstabbing variety) are a good source of strength in the days ahead. You are a good source of strength for them as well. Email them or call them, and let them know you are still there for them.
Eight - Job Networking
Former coworkers make good references. Former coworkers are also good sources of job opening information and getting resumes in front of new employers, especially if you help them get into a good job due to being a good reference.
Nine - Have a Divorce Party
The papers are final, and that bee-yatch is out of your hair. Throw a party! Invite friends and significant others to your favorite restaurant. Have someone else drive, and just lose control for one night. Talk about what happened, and boo-hoo in your beer. Put some quarters in the jukebox, and sing stupid songs loudly and badly. You’re drunk, who cares. You’ll have one heck of a hang-over in the morning, but man, will you have a great memory to truck out instead of just the bad memory of being laid off (fired).
Ten - Your Best Defense is a Strong Sense of Humor
Try and find the humor in your situation. If you can, then you have won, and they have lost. They’ve already lost anyway, because there will never be another person exactly like you who will work for them for so little and work so hard to please them. Sure, they can hire another assistant, but you are unique, and it is their loss. If you see one of the “bad people” on the street, nudge your friends, point at them, whisper, and laugh. It will drive them crazy to wonder what you’re saying about them. Then put a smug smile on your face, and moon them (or just think about mooning them). You’ll have a good belly laugh at their expense, and your healing will keep on going.
Freebie!
Remember the adage that “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If you were one of the bullies, it pays to remember that someday, one of the folks you used to work with that perhaps you didn’t treat so nicely, or perhaps were just downright obnoxious to, may be in a position to judge you. And you may well be found wanting.
We certainly hope these suggestions and tips have been helpful. We sure do look forward to hearing from other Castoffs as to how you are coping with and dealing with the end of your Disney career and the beginning of the rest of your life. Keep your chin up.
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