'Dot-Comet': Burnt Cash, Shattered Lives

More than in any other business circumstance in recent memory, an awful lot of people—individuals, we must keep in mind—have gotten badly hurt in the great dot-com meltdown that continues today. Nationwide, about 300 such companies have, according to one study, shut down in the 12 months ended in February, but the pace of failure of firms serving the printing industry is quickening.

The evidence of loss is everywhere, from mountains of slightly used office furniture, stacks of stationery, and inventories of proposal kits to empty offices, unused networks, and orphan Web sites.

The comet analogy is quite apropos: a sudden and blindingly bright streak, burn rates, billowing ashes of piles of cash and stock devaluations, then a quick end.

And yet in the wake, along with corporate announcements about the familiar "transition" period, the desperate attempts at refinancing, and the big letdown among investors, remains the debris of real lives, the lot of the working staffers. They had been filled with dreams and expectations—but now they have to think about outstanding bills and loans, varied obligations of commitment, tax exposure, and such charged emotions as disappointment, betrayal, and unkept promises.

Double-whammy only begins to describe the predicaments of many. They find they are being terminated at a pretty terrible time: the general economy is grinding to a halt, the job market has suddenly iced over, layoffs are common, and the climate for fresh ideas and new ventures is quite forbidding.

For the newly laid-off, the psychological conflicts can only be huge: from instant paper wealth to (in a lot of cases) real and enduring debt, from daily perks and freebies to cold treatment, from bonafide team member to lonely job-hunter. And among friends and associates, there's the Greek chorus, real or imagined, chanting "I told you so—it seemed too good" seemingly at every opportunity.

Perhaps the biggest impact of the meltdown is not on the very young, but on the older and more experienced managers and workers, those with more to lose in a failure. Who among us doesn't know someone who left an existing career to join a dot-com in the West?

Only a few weeks ago we heard from just such an individual, who recounted a story that could have any listener shaking their head. The process is familiar: a well-researched decision and well-intentioned commitment, a sold home, periodic dutiful requests for assurances from top management, honest efforts on the job, a search for a new home and contracting for the necessary obligations—then the stunning termination notice.

Legal remedy? Not likely; in fact, some laid-off workers had trouble just tracking down income statements for the recent tax season.

For workers who joined from other companies, a return to the previous career is the obvious first reaction—if that job or department still exists. And you can bet that there's more difficult psychology ahead on this score.

The reality is that, while we haven't seen the present level of layoffs for a while, they're certainly not unheard of in the natural rising-and-falling cycles of business.

But the dot-com meltdown is somehow different; perhaps it's the intense psychological conflict between soaring expectation and crushing failure, but certainly one factor is the degree of suffering being shouldered by the laid-off workers, in particular the older and more experienced people among them.