A recently redundant Surf Company executive has been faced with a series of incredibly difficult decisions since losing his job as part of a company restructuring earlier in the year.
“I had given my heart and soul to the company for 20 years,” said Scott McMahon, 43 from California. “I has treated it as a job for life, and now the rug has been pulled out from under my feet,” he said.
Speaking from his architect designed beach holiday house where he has been forced to spend most of time since the layoff, McMahon said it was the little things that had been the most difficult.
“I mean initially, even clothes shopping was really hard. I hadn’t bought clothes in two decades, and then was faced with this huge array of different brands and clothes. It really confused me.”
That was just the start though as his life unravelled. “I had to buy a phone. Do you know how much they cost?” Asked McMahon, clearly shocked. “And the paperwork was incredible. It took me a whole week to sort that out, and even now, I’m constantly worried about my data limit.”

And while he is mortgage free, and the redundancy package was considerable, he says it is more loss of self worth that is the most worrying. “You know I had a pretty emotional day yesterday. I had to go and peel off all the sponsor stickers off my 27 beachhouse quiver,” he sighed, still clearly upset. “To me that was more emotionally draining than letting go of my stock options. On my first surf this morning, to not have the logo, the very symbol of my status and success, that showcased who I was and what I stood for, was heartbreaking.”

McMahon though said he was trying to look for the positives. “Look I had a good run and made a lot of friends. And during the 90s, some of the budgets I created and spent were out of this world. I remember once booking the Indies Trader IV, with chopper, just for a weekend!” he laughs. “But with my experience and contacts I’m sure I’ll land another job in the industry. In the meantime I am learning Facebook and Twitter, and going surfing. It’s only been six months, something will come up, right?”