1998

Laid Off Again

After the merger and our visit to NYNEX things went downhill.  Bell Atlantic Video canceled both their microwave video trial in Virginia Beach and their Stargazer trial in Reston.  Then came the layoffs. By January of ’98 most of the staff had been laid off. The old Bell Heads and my good friend Rick that worked for BVS transferred to other divisions within Bell Atlantic. But I was still there which I didn’t understand why, for I had nothing to do. Even my boss had left the company and I now reported directly to VP. At first, I started coming into work at 9 and leaving at 4, then 10 and three, and then 11 so I could eat lunch at the cafeteria with the guys then leave at 2. I had seen it coming so I had been actively looking for a new job for a month or so and with so many jobs available in the area I wasn’t in any hurry, I wanted to find a job that I liked. I had several interviews and two companies made offers and I accepted one with a company called Performance Engineering Corporation which would start at the end of March.  I had waited to tell my boss that I had a new job and was quitting because BVS handed out bonus checks for the previous year in early March and I didn’t want to tell them I was leaving until I got it.   I came into work early the following Monday, 10 AM expecting to give my resignation letter when, sitting at my desk, the VP called me to her office. I walked into the VP’s office half expecting her to complain about my work hours, a joke since I didn’t have any work to do but instead she says she hands me an envelope with my bonus check for last year. I take a seat and open it and after opening it say, “Very nice. Thank you.”  I think it was for like $2,000.  The VP then says, “There something else… Are you still interested in a layoff package?” she asked.  I couldn’t have said yes faster, and she opens a folder and hands me a layoff package. Three months of pay and I didn’t have to work any of it.  I was really excited, I hadn’t expected anything. I signed the papers and went home.  My new job started in two weeks, so I basically had a two-week vacation and then a couple of months double pay. Nice! For once getting laid off was a good thing.  

The combined Bell Atlantic and NYNEX was later renamed Verizon and their fiber to the home program was suspended. Finally in September 2005, Verizon Communications began offering a fiber optic digital television service, which became available for 9,000 customers in Keller, Texas. Called FIOS TV, the service aimed to replace copper wires with optical fibers. A few years later it came to Reston, and I quickly replaced my cable TV service with FIOS.

Updated: 04-03-2024

Caving