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Lost and Found

  • Writer: Shana Warren
    Shana Warren
  • May 24, 2022
  • 5 min read

Updated: May 29, 2022



Packing up the remnants of my 20-year career was surprisingly quick. I’d been expecting to be laid off for the past six years, and with each round of layoffs I’d clean out nooks and crannies of my office just in case. By the time the actual layoff came, I was down to only a few personal items that sat on a bookshelf across from my desk. It was a menagerie of books and keepsakes that had gathered dust over the years while I waited for my walking papers. These items fit into a worn black rolling briefcase that had traveled thousands of miles with me over my career. Everything on the old briefcase still functioned. The zippers opened and closed easily, the telescoping handle glided up and down smoothly, and all four wheels were intact. Even the handle that I used to sling it up and into the overhead compartment of countless airplanes was as strong as ever. I brought the briefcase home at the end of February, and I opened it for the first time today. Inside is a collection that reflects things that are important to me: curiosity, teamwork and relationships.

Below is a list of these items:

1. Seven books (six of which are from my college days). All of these books focus on writing, editing or public relations. The pages of my favorite book, The Elements of Grammar (1986 edition), are yellowed and dog-eared with lots of pink highlighting and notations. My name is neatly written in each book along with the date and my dorm room phone number if lost and found.

2. My writing and creative portfolio from 2001. The pages are organized in a one-inch binder complete with custom cover and spine. I used this to ‘wow’ my eventual boss during my first interview for the job at a Brazilian restaurant in Houston. The plantains were delish.

3. Pages of notes from my MBA program. I worked full-time while earning this degree, went through Katrina and had my first child one month before my final exam and graduation. Those three letters were hard earned.

4. A bejeweled lacquered turtle with a hinged shell. Inside the shell is a lapel pin from the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR) Patriot Award program. Military causes were an important charitable pillar at the company.

5. A paper weight with the phrase “Every wall is a door” engraved on it along with a picture of an open door. This was a gift from a manager.

6. Three magnetic name badges that I wore on occasion at tradeshows.

7. A “tombstone” from September 2005 celebrating the finance department for meeting the 10Q deadline filing despite the entire company being displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. The tombstone is round acrylic with a hurricane image etched at the top. It was my job to select, design and order the tombstone. I remember fretting over which hurricane image to use. I was physically present at my job but traumatized by Hurricane Katrina. I was zombie-walking through the halls of our temporary office in Broussard wondering how my coworkers were able to function at such a high level.

8. A decorative lady wearing an oversized three dimensional hat made of ribbon, feathers, pompoms, bells and a large silk flower holding a sign that says, “My brain hurts.” This was a Christmas gift from a coworker. I still don’t know whether he was calling me a ditz or acknowledging the breadth of my job, but I’ll go with the latter. He was a nice guy.

9. Eight hand-written notes from executives and co-workers and one note from my daughter. I have three favorites as follows:

· A small scrap of paper with a hand-drawn heart. In the middle of the heart, it says “I love you,” and on the left side of the heart it says “don’t leave” (but the d is a b) and on the right side of the heart it says “again.” This was a note written by my daughter when she was around five years old. This is so my daughter. Is she expressing how much she misses me when I travel for work or is she threatening me? It’s probably both. “I love you. Don’t leave again (or else)”.

· A business-card sized note from my first CEO thanking me for a job well done on an event. The note came with a very large bouquet of flowers. Ironically, the gift was to commend my hard work on the 2003 grand opening of the campus from which I would close-out my career in 2022. The grand opening was a huge success and caused a traffic jam on the highway in front of the campus. I was so stressed by the huge turnout that I dropped several F-bombs over the 2-way radios all of my production crew were using across the large event area. I sought out the company's president to "troubleshoot" the unexpected crowd issues and he looked at me and asked rhetorically: "Shana, is everyone having a good time? Relax. It's all good." That sentence summed up the general expectations of the event production portion of my job. My department created some of the most unique events in the industry and we always made sure that everyone had a good time.

· A thank-you note from an employee whose son was serving overseas. The company did not allow access to Facebook which was the only way she was able to keep up with him. I helped to get her access to Facebook.

10. A black cardigan with the company logo that hung on the back of my rolling office chair for 17 years. I kept it at work to wear when it was cold in the office. This sweater was the first thing I saw when I returned to my office three months after hurricane Katrina hit. I laid eyes on it, closed my office door and sobbed for a good 15 minutes. I’d lost my home and everything in it due to Katrina. The items that remained were a few pieces of jewelry, my wedding China, four pieces of workout wear and this sweater. I will always treasure this sweater. It serves as a reminder of how my work was a constant in my life often providing steady ground when things around me were shaky.


I had a second bookshelf in my office that was filled with items that could be thrown away easily. Several of these shelves had three-subject spiral bound notebooks and calendars on them. I used the notebooks daily to keep track of projects, potential projects, creative ideas, meeting notes, voicemails, etc. I decided to keep these. I like having them around.


The oil and gas industry is cyclical. During my time in the industry, in addition to the usual cycles, there were historic hurdles that our company's management team did their best to overcome. There were acquisitions, divestitures, restructures and a bankruptcy. I had eight bosses during the final 10 or so years of my tenure. In addition to the various supervisors’ personalities and expectations I carefully navigated and adjusted my own ways of working to match, there was Hurricane Katrina, the great recession, the BP oil spill, a departmental scandal, a company scandal, COVID, a refused transfer, a furlough, a pay cut and finally a layoff.

The company, its people and events served as the backdrop for most of my adult life. While employed there I got married, lost my home and way of life to Katrina, moved 10 times, earned my MBA, had my first child, wore my first wig, was diagnosed with a serious disease, had my second child, got separated, reconciled, lost myself, found myself and lost myself again, started having panic attacks, developed hives, went through peri-menopause and menopause, experienced a bout of depression and gained 50 pounds. But through it all I came out on the other end of 20 years with the same values I hold dear: curiosity, teamwork and relationships. And as a bonus, when I get cold, I still have my trusty black cardigan that symbolizes things lost and things found.


Want to see these layoff leftovers? Click the link below to check out the TikTok. Lizzo provides the jams:



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