Employees at the call center near Sunshine at U.S. 65 say they sold time-share plans for vacation destinations. One said she has been asking for weeks if her job was safe, and was told time and time again that it was -- until Friday.

Tammy Newburn says she showed up for work around 8 a.m. and was greeted by a security guard who told her she had 10 minutes to get all her belongings and get out of the office. She says she was absolutely shocked.

Earlier this week, and at the end of last week, Newburn says another 25-75 people were laid off but the remaining 75 or so employees were led to believe that was it. She says, just three days ago, upper management told everyone else that they were fine, and they'd operate as a lean mean machine.

Now, come Monday, Newburn will be looking for a new job, and hoping it comes quickly.

Westgate is based in Orlando, Fla., and is one of the nation's largest time-share companies. Westgate employees received a memo before leaving on Friday. It says the company has experienced an unforeseen business emergency brought about by the collapse of the credit markets.

In what could be some good news for those employees, both Sunrise Service Associates’ and Chase’s call centers in Springfield are hiring. Sunrise, 3322 S. Campbell Ave., will take on about 30 people. The number that Chase, 303 E. Republic Road, will hire isn’t known.

Another call center for Valdoro Sales & Marketing at 2026 E. Phelps St., closed about six months ago.