Tough Day

  No postcard to go with this post.  Today was a tough day.  LivingSocial laid off 400 of our 4,500 employees this morning, mostly in the U.S.  The news was leaked yesterday and I thought I was mentally prepared for whatever today might hold.  I was wrong.   Fortunately, I wasn’t a victim to the lay-offs, but so many colleagues in my office were.  Our Seattle office was already small.  We're a tight knit crew and departments work closely together in person, unlike our DC headquarter offices which are spread out all over the city.  On top of that, we’re all friends, so letting anyone go is going to hurt.  Seeing half the office go was brutal.

  When the goodbye hugs started mid morning, so did my tears.  That happened once more during the day and again when I was telling my roommate about it all at home.  I’ve cried more today than I have in a long time.  I’m so sad.  I’m grieving the loss of co-workers, the way things were, the trust I had in company leadership to some extent, the naive safety I felt in a fun place like livingsocial.  I miss it all.  In the midst of the sadness, I’m confused, frustrated, hurt, and somehow still shocked that it’s all real.  As a result of all of that, I’m struggling with being thankful to still have my job.  I know excitement and gratitude don’t always go hand in hand in life. But now I’m realizing that having one without the other is really difficult.  Since sadness has replaced my excitement currently, thankfulness is hard to come by.

November 30, 2012 – The day after layoffs is painful in a different way.  You’re still adjusting the loss of what was and the friends who were let go, as well as being left with their work.  There were moments I wanted to believe it was all a bad dream.  But the 3+ hours of video conference meetings with leadership attempting to explain why and share the vision for where we’re going snapped me back to reality pretty quickly.  The short and incredibly simplified explanation is that it had to do with long term profitability.  That meant having to make some hard decisions.  In some small way, it was comforting to hear the CEO say yesterday was hard for him too.  I guess acknowledging it was a good starting point, at least for me.  He walked through the vision for 2013 and as defeated as I felt yesterday, the vision for tomorrow is a good one if all goes according to plan.  Through the course of this week I have learned that the “if” can make all the difference. It’s the nature of business.  Even the best analysts can’t know answers to the “ifs”.

  As this ridiculously tough week comes to a close and as much as I wish things hadn’t changed, I’m thankful to have been in the office yesterday to ride the emotional roller coaster.  I definitely don’t want to do it again anytime soon, but unfortunately large scale lay offs are common in companies with a big vision for the potential to come.  I learned a lot and I’m not sure the experience would have been as impactful or real had I not been in the office to live the emotion first hand.  I’m also not sure all the lessons can be articulated into words.  They are intangibles; shifts in thinking, perspective, understanding, confidence.  I was naively innocent in terms of harsh business reality before.  I’m not now.  Emphasizing all the more, that the only sure thing is the Rock on which I stand.  My heart longs all the more to be more deeply rooted in that foundation. 

One Year

Today marks one year at LivingSocial.  Similar to my one month anniversary, I received a new badge – this time for one year - via email with a note basically saying ‘congratulations, thanks for contributing to the company success, we’re looking forward to more years ahead’.  Also in the email was a link to order my very own LivingSocial backpack.  They’re way better than a clip art badge, impressively fancy, and somewhat like a right of passage within the company.  Plus it’s free swag so naturally I’m pretty excited about it :)  I’m always surprised by how quickly time passes and feel incredibly blessed to still be enjoying my work, as well as the people with whom I spend 40-50 hours a week.

   Since I’m talking about work, here’s a quick update.  To better leverage internal resources, the LivingSocial Operations team did some restructuring last month.  I was asked to join the newly formed “Entertainment Team” based on my previous employment background and current performance.  My work is essentially the same except now it’s for the fun Adventure deals and newly created Live Events we run on the site, instead of regionally based dentist office or beauty salon deals.  I’m really excited about the transition into a new challenge and opportunity, which probably adds to the reason why I still enjoy the job.  Also work related yet on a completely different note, today our LivingSocial softball team brought home its first league championship (for softball, we already have one for soccer)!  Needless to say, work is going well.

   The one year marker of my move to Seattle passed while cruising home from Alaska, which gave me plenty of time for reflection.  When I think back over the last 12 months it’s difficult to be anything but thankful.  A few days ago I reread my first journal entry after relocating up north.  It ended with this thought:

The most amazing part of those words is that they’re all still true.  I feel the same overwhelming gratitude on day 366 in Seattle as I did on day 1.  While that thankfulness might not have been present everyday due to moments of feeling lonely, frustrated, disconnected, etc., the contentment that comes from a grateful heart has been the dominate theme through my year.  Despite my past 12 months of smooth sailing, not everyone around me has had the same experience.  As a result, I’m also highly aware that the tides will inevitably change at some point.  I simply hope and pray that when I do encounter rougher waters my attitude would still be one of gratitude for the abundant blessings that fill everyday. 

Water Wings

For the 5% of you who are still checking this, you might be wondering why it's been more than a week since my last postcard.  The answer is because I've been swimming.  Not literally of course, it's WAY to cold in the north for that.  And actually, I should say I've been attempting to swim.  That would be more accurate.  This is all in reference to work, which I hesitate to bore you with/ mention again because back to back posts about where I spend (way more than) one third of my day makes it seem like I have nothing else going on.  That is simply not at all true.  Life here has been quite full the last few weeks.  However, updating you on those activities will have to wait.  For now, let me tell you about (trying) to swim.
During LivingSocial training in D.C. I felt like we (the newbies) were given water wings and tossed into the middle of the ocean.  Semi-prepared, but keeping your head above water was a total learn by doing experience.  My first few weeks in Seattle the water wings slowly began to deflate as I was assigned a new market (or region) every week(ish).  Definitely more difficult to stay above water, but still manageable.  Over the last two weeks, all the remaining air evaporated from inside my water wings and somehow scuba-diving weights have taken there place.  So as you can imagine, I'm sinking a bit.  Which I why you haven't seen anything new from me. I'm getting well acquainted with the ocean that is work at LivingSocial.  The good news is that 1) I'm not alone in my sinking, other new people are too, 2) it's still really fun, and 3) a rescue boat in the from of this weekend is visible in the distance.  I'm really looking forward to the break and chance to catch my breath before diving back in on Monday.  My theory is the longer I tread water with weights, the better I'll become and soon enough I'll be able to add more.  Hopefully that hypothesis turns out to be true.
So since I obviously don't have a real "postcard" of me in the middle of the ocean with deflated water wings and scuba weights, this stock image will have to suffice.  I promise my next update won't be about work and will be a true postcard(s) from me.

One Month

When I logged onto my computer at work this morning, the third email down looked like this:

Not a bad way to start my day, right? :)  To say the last month of working for LivingSocial has been good would be like saying dark chocolate is just OK – both are incredibly understated.  From the supportive, 12-person production team I’m apart of, to 4 o-clock fever when a majority of the office breaks out in song to Justin Bieber's hit "Baby", to our constantly snack-stocked kitchen, and Spirit Week contests complete with prizes -- I have more than enjoyed the last month of work.  It’s such a blessing to not only have a job, but have one that (so far) I love.  So in celebration of my anniversary as a LivingSocialite (and for anyone who’s been asking), here are some pictures of where I spend a huge portion of my day.  Enjoy!

The Production corner -  I sit in the second row
(looking out toward the rest of the office)

If you did a 180 from the above picture you'd see this

Our break/ play room

Pretty self explanatory - this is the kitchen