How Fucking Hard Is It To Get Fucking Laid Off In A Recession?

First it was supposed to be Christmas, and lo and behold December 20th saw 75% of the crew laid off. Mid January came I was certain that once I told them I was taking a week off for my baby's birth that it was done for me. But nooooo, they said, don't worry about it we'll see you in a week. And then finally, finally, when they said that they were pulling the trailers and we were gone from the job I was sure that I would finally have my lay off. So when my senior superintendent called my foreman to send me into the rotunda to get my check I figured okay, a week early, but okay. And did that lousy bastard give me my second check*? Fuck no! He told they were transferring me up north to strip forms for a couple of months. Of all the nerve!!

Perhaps I should explain. My wife has one month left (roughly speaking) of maternity leave. With the economy in the state that it is and construction being particularly hard hit I assumed (with good reason) that we would all be laid off when the job was done but that there were other jobs coming up in the summer (hopefully). So I was hoping that I would get to spend awhile with my wife and baby son in the coming months/year (as long as my a unemployment lasted). I should note that this was an understatement for my wife who was estatic at the idea of not being cooped up all day with the baby. This put me in the very akward situation of probably being the only man ever, who was afraid to go home and tell his wife that he wasn't being laid off.

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* In construction we're paid once a week for the previous week. So the day you are laid off you're given a second check. Hence the saying, "give me two checks and a road map", "I never had a day where I couldn't use a second check" etc, etc.