December 13th, 2008.
My flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur this morning was bad but what bothered me more is that the home I grew up in Malaysia may be my home for the next few months, or even years. Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting home, it is “living” here I’m feeling a little nervous.
A few days ago in a small conference room in the Bangalore "company" office, I had a conference call with my manager who was in California and my worst nightmare came true; my position has been terminated and I am where near my home in New York. Within minutes, my laptop, cell phone and badge were taken away and I was escorted to the entrance of the office building where a driver would take me back to my service apartment. I admit I have been worried sick about this day but I was also in major denial (or refused to acknowledge I might be a candidate of the layoff) and the worst of all is I had zero back-up plans. Naturally, like any self-respecting Asian, I moved back to my parent’s house.
My flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur this morning was bad but what bothered me more is that the home I grew up in Malaysia may be my home for the next few months, or even years. Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting home, it is “living” here I’m feeling a little nervous.
A few days ago in a small conference room in the Bangalore "company" office, I had a conference call with my manager who was in California and my worst nightmare came true; my position has been terminated and I am where near my home in New York. Within minutes, my laptop, cell phone and badge were taken away and I was escorted to the entrance of the office building where a driver would take me back to my service apartment. I admit I have been worried sick about this day but I was also in major denial (or refused to acknowledge I might be a candidate of the layoff) and the worst of all is I had zero back-up plans. Naturally, like any self-respecting Asian, I moved back to my parent’s house.
January 13th, 2009
It’s been a while since my last blog, so I won’t spend too much time bitching about how the “company” has screwed me over because of unforeseen, uncontrollable and inevitable reasons. To summarize my whine, I won’t be able to work in the U.S. right this instance because my H1b visa is no longer valid (I was on my 7th year H1b visa right before I left NYC – 6 years H1b is the maximum for each alien), which means if I get a job offer tomorrow with a U.S. employer, I am not legally able to work for them. However, I was told that the H1b visa resets automatically if you are out of the U.S. for 365 days. I left the U.S. mid-June 2008, hence I have another 6 months to eat and travel.
It’s been a while since my last blog, so I won’t spend too much time bitching about how the “company” has screwed me over because of unforeseen, uncontrollable and inevitable reasons. To summarize my whine, I won’t be able to work in the U.S. right this instance because my H1b visa is no longer valid (I was on my 7th year H1b visa right before I left NYC – 6 years H1b is the maximum for each alien), which means if I get a job offer tomorrow with a U.S. employer, I am not legally able to work for them. However, I was told that the H1b visa resets automatically if you are out of the U.S. for 365 days. I left the U.S. mid-June 2008, hence I have another 6 months to eat and travel.
