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Please note: This story contains brief mention of suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 9-8-8, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
After Elliot was suddenly laid off, his husband Miles kept working at the same company — in the same office, with the same HR rep, under the same threat that he might be next.
Then Miles heard a rumor: more layoffs were coming on the third Thursday of the month. Danger Day.
In this episode, Yowei follows Miles and Elliot through the horror-movie logic of layoff anxiety: calendar clues, changed meeting rooms, suspicious boss behavior, financial panic, phantom work limbs, and the feeling that one bad meeting can make your whole life disappear. With help from sociologist Ofer Sharone, they investigate why layoffs can feel so devastating — especially when you believed that working hard and following the rules would keep you safe.
From the episode:
— Ofer Sharone — sociologist at UMass Amherst, and author of The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed
New to Proxy? Try Bisexual Wife Guy for a classic case, or.HR by Proxy for the first full proxy conversation, where Miles and Elliot get to ask an HR rep the questions they've been carrying.
For episode liner notes, show gossip, and dispatches from the emotions beat, get our free newsletter File Under Feelings at proxyhq.org.
Proxy is an independent show, supported mostly by listeners. Paid members get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, live Proxy hangs, and the satisfaction of keeping emotional investigative journalism alive 🍏
Follow us on Instagram — @proxypodcast @yoweishaw
Visit — proxypodcast.com
Get in touch — [email protected]
By Yowei Shaw4.8
551551 ratings
Please note: This story contains brief mention of suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 9-8-8, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
After Elliot was suddenly laid off, his husband Miles kept working at the same company — in the same office, with the same HR rep, under the same threat that he might be next.
Then Miles heard a rumor: more layoffs were coming on the third Thursday of the month. Danger Day.
In this episode, Yowei follows Miles and Elliot through the horror-movie logic of layoff anxiety: calendar clues, changed meeting rooms, suspicious boss behavior, financial panic, phantom work limbs, and the feeling that one bad meeting can make your whole life disappear. With help from sociologist Ofer Sharone, they investigate why layoffs can feel so devastating — especially when you believed that working hard and following the rules would keep you safe.
From the episode:
— Ofer Sharone — sociologist at UMass Amherst, and author of The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed
New to Proxy? Try Bisexual Wife Guy for a classic case, or.HR by Proxy for the first full proxy conversation, where Miles and Elliot get to ask an HR rep the questions they've been carrying.
For episode liner notes, show gossip, and dispatches from the emotions beat, get our free newsletter File Under Feelings at proxyhq.org.
Proxy is an independent show, supported mostly by listeners. Paid members get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, live Proxy hangs, and the satisfaction of keeping emotional investigative journalism alive 🍏
Follow us on Instagram — @proxypodcast @yoweishaw
Visit — proxypodcast.com
Get in touch — [email protected]

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