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this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Asklemmy
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I used to own a business with employees. It was a small company objectively, but in a small town where I'm from that was a HUGE deal.
The company survived COVID, but due to total chaos with supply chains that happened after covid, my business got on hard times. I saw the writing on the wall, and started firing my employees and closing the company in order not for things to get any worse. I closed my company and landed a job in another company; a never missed a single salary.
It's absolutely shocking how quickly everyone drops you once they hear you've gotten on "hard times". All my friends, relatives, in-laws... EVERYONE drops you like you're burning pile of shit. Want to call an old friend for drinks? You're out of luck, nobody is taking your calls anymore, because now you're a "failure".
And let me repeat once again that I haven't gotten into any BIG trouble, just closed everything down before it did actually SHTF. It's just the optics of "being in a bad place" and poof everyone's gone! You're on your own now.
Have you considered that being a small business owner might not have made you a better person?
What did you do for employees who were fired? Did you try to help them line up another job, or just told them you were downsizing and moved on?
You said this was a big deal for the small town you were in. What was your reputation as a business? Did you get the job done at all costs, or did you start cutting corners towards the end?
I've met plenty of small business owners in 20 years of industrial manufacturing. Not a single one of them was a good person. They took the hard decisions they had to make to run their business and applied them to every aspect of their lives. Everything is a fight, and every compromise is a war. Its hard to be friendly to someone who competes with the rest of the world at large.
Idk, I went through some serious shit that really left me broken into pieces, and at that time yes, many of my friends just weren't there for me. But some actually got closer and helped me weather my difficulties.
I'm glad for you that you were lucky to have such friends
Nobody knows you when you're down and out