No Stablity - Sales Service Representative Quad Employee Review

I was let go after 26 years after the company went public. I felt I worked so hard all the years I was there. It has been several years since I am out of there. It seems when I contact my colleagues, they too have been let go. How can a company take employees that have been working there practically their whole lives and toss them out like pieces of garbage. The only people that are safe are the VP's and top management. Everyone else is expendable,