Katie Rife, a senior writer for entertainment site the A.V. Club, was working past midnight on a review last week when her friend sent her a text. It was a posting for her job.
Rife was mulling over an offer by her employer to relocate from Chicago to Los Angeles and still had nine days before the Jan. 15 deadline to make her decision.
"At first I was like, 'Is this a mistake?'" Rife, 38, said. "That is something that I have never experienced in my professional career ... and I gotta say it was pretty disheartening."