Being laid off doesn't make you radioactive, even if it feels like it.

In 2008 I left Starbucks a few weeks before they laid off 12,000 people. I got out clean. Some of my friends didn't.

One of them was Tay. He thought I was crazy for leaving "The Bucks". Then he got cut.

He told me who went quiet. The people who said "let me know if there is anything I can do to help" stopped picking up the phone. Not because they were bad people. Because offers are easy to make, but require action to fill.

So when he called, I answered.

That's it. That's the whole system. I started a list. Not a spreadsheet, not a CRM. Just names: people recently impacted, companies making cuts. When something moves, I check the list.

The check-in itself is nothing. No advice. No job leads unless I actually have one. Just: I saw the news, how are you doing?

When it happens, I check in. Not a LinkedIn heart, or comment. A call.

A layoff isn't radioactive. It's not contagious. Answering the phone is not a hard problem.

Most people just don't.