They hesitated to offer me a job, because they said that when HP offers someone a position, they're basically offering them a job for life.
Sure, you can snicker at that comment, since almost no company would (or can, or should) make such a claim nowadays. But people told me that before I got there, in the mid-1980s, there were big problems at the company. Rather than have any layoffs, they reduced everyone's salary by 10%, and told people to only work 9 of every 10 business days. This included everyone, starting with the top managers.
I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do for the company. And I doubt many companies would do that today. And if they're talking about shedding 30k people, then HP is planning some drastic changes.
But it's sad for me to remember the HP that I worked for at the time, in which there was a strong sense of community, and of "we're all in this together" -- and to think of the people who joined when such an ethos existed, and who will be laid off now.
I'm not sure if there's a real alternative, and I'm a capitalist at heart... but it's still sad to see so many people laid off because it's now in style to break companies apart.