Sympathy cards for the jobless

At a loss for words when someone you know is suddenly out of work? Try sending a greeting card.

With unemployment in the US hovering around the nine per cent mark, Hallmark - the nation's biggest greeting card manufacturer - has six cards in its range to cheer up the jobless.

"It's hard to know what to say at a sensitive time like this. How about, 'I'm buying!'," says one card illustrated with a cartoon line-up outside an unemployment office.

Another says: "Don't think of it as losing your job. Think of it as a time-out between stupid bosses."

And a third: "One day, you'll look back on all this with the wisdom that distance bestows, and you'll say: Wow, that sucked."

Though not available at every corner store, layoff greeting cards are selling well, said Frank Fernandez, owner of two Hallmark stores in North Texas.

"We're in the emotional business," said Fernandez.

"You want to say something emotionally correct and give them [your friends] a card that you've chosen to express your own thoughts."

Online companies such as Zazzle and Greeting Card Universe have also begun selling retrenchment cards. The second largest greeting card company, Ohio-based American Greetings, has not produced greeting cards with specific captions about job loss. Spokesman Frank Cirillo said consumers can write their own messages to make the cards more personal.

David Smason, 25, moved to Dallas from New Orleans and was laid off from his last job in the hospitality industry. While standing in line at a downtown job fair earlier this month, he said he was unsure if getting a card would have been all that encouraging for him.

"I do think it's thoughtful," he said.

"But I think you have to have a healthy sense of humour to appreciate that kind of thing."

Stanford University professor Bob Sutton said job loss cards might be a good way to show compassion to someone who needs support during a tough time.

"Treating them as if they are invisible is often the worst thing," said Sutton, who has written several books on management and the workplace.

"It is a very small thing, but may matter to some people."

Still, he said, not everyone would appreciate it, especially those who consider losing one's job a private or embarrassing issue.

That's the reason pre-printed cards are sold, said Emily West, a communications professor at the University of Massachusetts who has studied the greeting card culture. Hallmark and similar companies are taking some of the difficulty out of sending concern and support to a friend who might have lost his or her job, she said.

"The production of the cards can help legitimise a sentiment," West said.

"It can be comforting. It says that it's OK to send a card or to have this sentiment or say these things."

Hallmark has always adapted its cards to the current events, and it has taken into consideration the economy since 1910, said US spokeswoman Jaci Twidwell.

In the past, Hallmark cards have dealt with difficult issues such as the military draft in the 1960s, nuclear warfare and the Great Depression. Cards have also offered sentimental greetings to members of the military during the 1940s and to those who suffered loss after September 11, 2001.

Addressing the current economy is another way for Hallmark to take a cultural snapshot of people's concerns.

"We know these job-loss captions are not going to be the strongest performer," Twidwell said.

"But they are meant to meet a relevant and niche consumer need for many who are looking for it."

The retrenchment cards are sold under the category "encouragement".

McClatchy and AFP