HR director accidentally forwards list of layoffs, employee reads his own name on the list: 'Years working here. I'm devastated at the lack of integrity and now what do I do?'

Nobody likes to find something out by accident. Especially bad news. We'd all rather hear bad news delivered to us on our own terms, or preferably not at all. But it's especially awkward when you find something out that you weren't supposed to. We've all done this… snooped around until we got our feelings hurt. You get an itch in the back of your mind that something might be amiss, so you go looking for clues, and lo and behold, there is something amiss. And you've hurt your own feelings. We call this FAFO.

But sometimes it's not your fault. Sometimes bad news just comes upon you, and you didn't mean for it to happen. Sometimes life is cruel in its treatment of us. It's for no reason other than random chance. But it can help to reach out to others during these moments. Sometimes we need to feel like the world is not actually out to get us, and indeed, there is hope. In the job market, this can be especially true. It's tough out there, and we need all the support we can get. It's not enough to go through it alone. This is why we have online communities of people who have gone through similar experiences as us, so we don't feel like we're insane. This story comes from one of those communities, where an unlucky worker found out some unlucky information in a pretty unlucky way. After being copied on an email he wasn't sure was for him, he learned a lot.

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Layoffs are never fun, no matter what form they come in. They make you feel rejected, like you've done something wrong, even if you haven't. They can also leave us in precarious financial positions, and that can be scary. But this one was especially unfun, given the way this employee found out about it. They were left feeling disrespected and neglected, especially by a company that they had been loyal to for so many years. Read on to get the full picture of the story and see what you would have done in this situation.
HR director accidentally copied me on list for layoffs...

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Commenters gave their sympathies and reassurance.

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