Career Setback Survivor Mugs

"He got demoted from human cannonball to human gumball."

"Hey, you stick your neck out on a regular basis, it's gonna happen. The important thing is to just get up and keep moving forward."

'I clawed my way to the top and then I clawed my way back to the middle.'

'I can't believe I didn't get that promotion. So many people have passed me by I feel like a road sign on the highway to success.'

"Wait, you're firing me?! But I was Time magazine’s Person of the Year!"

Caged Businessman

I feel better than ever physically but I'm totally obsolete at work. In life 60 is the new 40. In the workplace 40 is the new 60.

"He's writing a novel for the first time in decades. It has less to do with the urge to create or say something new, and more to do with the fact that all his previous books are now out of print."

"Events seem to be headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, it's not taking me with it."

'Let me guess - you lost a fight against a young challenger who has now replaced you as the company's alpha male!'

Man watches sales chart drop through the floor.

"My ship had finally come in. . . then it sank!"

Ed is upset because he didn't get the promotion he had promised himself.

'How long's he been out there?'

And so, Rudy unwittingly became an investor in The Infant Restaurant Critic. At first, he was furious having lost his weekly paycheck. But then it dawned on him: He was back in the dot-com game – for the first time in 20 years. He was practically a venture capitalist! I'm a social media investor. It's a multi-platform play with, obviously, huge mobile capability, global reach, soaring audience share. Revenue model? What? Huh? Beat it.

"Mr. Joyner, while you were out, your carefully constructed financial empire collapsed like a house of cards."

"I'm not going to shoot the messenger, but I'm also not going to renew his grant."

"I'm gonna ride it out!"

"'Can correctly complete a CAPTCHA image 8 our of 10 times.' Any other skills?"

"He told me I was a flip phone expected to do a smart phone job."

"At least we no longer have the pressure of handling so much money."

"Night of the living adjunct professor" "What's a sabbatical?" "Tenure is boring!" "I have four desks in four schools!" "I have more prestige than a grad student."

'Think of it as a buyout package, Bob...without the 'buy' and just the 'out'!'

Still Here

"Help, I'm being micro managed."

'This is where the company started handing out sick bags!'

'So you see, no matter how you look at it, it's all downhill.'

'You're overqualified... so you'll have to act stupid.!

Don't jump! Just think what it will do to your wife and kids not to mention your career as a motivational speaker!

"We'll double our chances of recovery if we buy two lottery tickets."

"I refuse to go down with the ship."

"Your money is no longer working for you. It got laid off."

'Really?! You didn't get fired today, either?! That's 60 days in a row! I'm so proud of you!'

'Your 401 (K) went down the drain, but if it's any consolation, you can keep the commemorative cup.'

"I think there's been a mistake... I applied for the caretakers job."