Everything is all rainbows and butterflies during all company meetings. There is never admission to things not being great - so when you are laid off completely out of the blue, it comes as a total shock. Very unprepared.
If you do not have the Greek Life mentality, the culture is tricky to navigate. Your team/ department budgets are VERY SLIM, which is totally understandable for a startup division and appreciated. However when he company mandates parties and celebrations and spends $15K on signage, you start to question where their priorities are. Its all a front. What the outsider sees is what matters. This company would be AMAZED at what it can do if they replaced 50% of the "fun" budget to actually getting the supplies and tools needed for their teams to succeed.