McClatchy columnist: "I could lose my job"

Issac Bailey, writing in McClatchy's Myrtle Beach Sun News:

I could lose my job.

While I was away from the office last week, I saw a news alert scroll across the bottom of the TV screen. It said The McClatchy Co. was cutting another 1,150 jobs.

The next day, I heard that another round of layoffs was happening here, at The Sun News, a member of the McClatchy chain of newspapers.

I was told that some of my talented, long-time colleagues had been let go; this after previous rounds of layoffs and buyouts we hoped would be the last.

I'm as sad and angry and confused as everyone else that it wasn't finished, and that last week's announcement didn't come with a guarantee that there would be no more - even though I know there are rarely guarantees in life.

I have colleagues who have to make gut-wrenching decisions that could strain relationships and momentarily derail the careers of those they respect. I have colleagues who are wondering when the next shoe will drop, if it will drop on them, wondering why working hard and with excellence isn't always enough.

I sat down with my wife to mentally and financially prepare us for all possibilities, including the worst case scenario.

Uncertainty reigns. But in all honesty, it always has. It's just that we are paying heed to it more, just like millions of others in a variety of industries, including those with the "Big Three" automakers, local Realtors who hope we've finally hit the bottom of a terrible real estate cycle, and small business owners.

Read the whole thing here.
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