Why don't you just scrawl "Pathetic" across my forehead??"

I happened upon an article in the NY Times this morning regarding the recent boom in business at placement (also known as outplacement) firms.

Here is the photo they used:

This photo of former Yahoo employee Ryan Teixeira is not what one would call uplifting.  More like a Unicef ad for white dudes.

Here's an excerpt from the article, on which I shall opine:

Consultants are careful to say that people are not eliminated, positions are eliminated. (Or, preferably, they are “made redundant.”)  - "made redundant"...perhaps I should change the blog name to "Its Not You. Its Your Redundancy" 

But laid-off workers, of course, do take it personally. The third-party companies act as the “cleanup team” at the end of the layoff, said Alan Whitton, who had worked at Nortel for 20 years when he lost his job last August. “They deal with folks like me who knew it was coming and ask a couple of questions and bug out — and those who didn’t see it coming and are still in shock,” he said.

After being notified by phone of his termination, Mr. Whitton was walked through the severance package by a human resources worker, who then introduced him to the outplacement representative. He was asked about his feelings, handed a binder of information and asked to attend an orientation session the next day.

He was asked about his feelings.  How do you think Mr. Whitton was feeling?  Did the outplacement representative expect adjectives such as  "glorious" or "divine" to spring from Mr. Whitton's lips? 

Message to outplacement firms:  He felt like hell.  Stop asking questions you already know the answer to and pretending to care.  Its disingenuous and frankly offensive.

But don't forget the binder...

Check out the article at:  

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/business/21layoffs.html?ref=jobs