Tale of Two Layoffs: GM v. Lehman Bros.

Roger Olson was laid off from GM in June and Doreen Baird lost her administrative assistant job at Lehman Brothers in New York.

(ABC)

Lehman Brothers Layoff Story

Baird worked as an administrative assistant at Lehman Brothers in New York. When the company went bankrupt, she remembers her boss breaking the news.

"He just said, 'I am really sorry we are going to have to let you go.' He apologized a lot," she said.

"It's hard to explain to your daughter, 'Mommy doesn't have a job.' Every day she comes home from school, 'Mommy did you get a job yet?' It's like, 'No, sorry.' I don't know what to tell her," Baird said.

With no salary, retirement money or benefits, Baird relies entirely on a government unemployment check of $355 a week, and she expects nothing more.

"I don't think the government owes me," she said. "I don't think there should be any more bailouts."

Both Baird and Olson are getting help but from different places.

Olson and other autoworkers are getting job training from GM.

"Job services have been trying to help us find different means of schooling," he said.

Baird relies on her parents for extra help. "I am very fortunate my mom and dad have been very supportive financially… to keep things going," she said. "And they are also helping me out with Christmas, presents and everything."