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How I Survived a Layoff I got hired in November 2001 by a small company, when the economy was bad and getting
worse after 9/11. In December, not much more than a month after I was hired, they gave everyone an end-of-year bonus, including
me. They told us they were sorry it was smaller than last year's, and warned that the company might need to tighten
its belt in the new year. I went to the owners and thanked them for the bonus, since I was so new and hardly expected to get
one. I also volunteered to do work outside the scope of my own, just to help out while things were tight. Meanwhile, the one
other person who was doing the same job as me for the company, who had been there three years, complained about the size of his
bonus and asked when he would get a raise. When the company had to lay off some workers four months later, he was
canned and they kept me. He couldn't understand why they kept the rookie and not him, and they told him it was because
I was doing better work. But my direct supervisor told me it was really just because I had a "better attitude" than him.
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