AS TOLD BY GEHRETT ELLIS: I was hired as a product manager in October 1999. After spending years working for Internet research and development firms in Washington DC and small online agencies in South Jersey and Conshohocken, CDNOW was a breath of fresh air. I was surrounded by talented and creative people who loved their jobs and clearly had a passion for music. What more could a person ask for in a company and co-workers?

The first six to nine months of my tenure at CDNOW went pretty smoothly. I was responsible for the site’s shopping cart. This position allowed me to be involved in several areas of the site’s management (marketing, business development, customer service and merchandising). While I initially felt like a fish out of water, I learned quite a bit about how an online store works. However, the good also came with the bad. After a fellow product manager asked to be relieved of his responsibilities for another area of the site, I was asked to take over his duties. This was when I really began to experience the in-fighting and backbiting that began to occur at CDNOW during its last several months. My schedule became filled with meetings deemed necessary by the manager of the site area that was now my responsibility. There would be countless e-mails each day demanding that I complete miniscule changes and updates to the site. While I tried to be accommodating, said manager showed complete disregard for the site rules set-up by the product department and felt that things should be implemented her way or not at all. It got to the point that several VPs and directors had to intervene in order to smooth things over and make sure that both sides were in eventual agreement.

In addition to the territorial nature that some employees maintained in regard to their role(s) in the company, there was also the skepticism and sense of fear that began to emerge once CDNOW was sold to Bertelsmann. Despite VPs and directors reassuring their departments that they would be safe, everyone was nervous. Every single time there was a closed door meeting involving senior staff, the halls were buzzing with rumors and gossip. Who was going to get laid off? When was it going to happen? Sadly, this atmosphere prevailed during the remaining days of CDNOW’s existence in Fort Washington.

My layoff occurred in April of 2001. After many merchandising people were let go that morning, most of my department seemed to think that we were in the clear. Of course, we were wrong. My favorite part of my being let go was when my VP sent out an e-mail to those who were lucky enough to keep their jobs announcing that there would be a department meeting. However, what she failed to realize was that she sent the e-mail out before she laid me off. When a co-worker in the cube next to me said that he had just received the e-mail, I immediately knew my fate. Five minutes later my phone rang and I was called into the VP’s office and let go. Of course my termination story isn’t nearly as awful as a writer in our department. She was at home sick and was let go over the phone. You would think that with all the money that the company spent on leadership training and workshops that they would have shelled out the extra dough to give their senior staff a lesson in how to layoff their employees.

All negativity aside, I can’t forget the positive side of working at CDNOW. I learned quite a bit not only from my co-workers in marketing, customer service and tech, but also from Matt and Jason Olim. In addition, I gained a number of lifelong friends who are smart, fun, and talented. What CDNOW ended up being for many people was a place to develop professionally, meet interesting people, have a little fun and then go on to the next job. In hindsight, maybe CDNOW was never meant to last any longer than it did. If it had, it never would have remained what it initially was for so many former employees—a fun, creative place to work.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am.