Yahoo! in California went through with its quasi-announced layoffs today.

Hundreds of people were shown the door by security guards (1,500 throughout the state; 200 in L.A.), complete with Christmas gifts in their arms and tears in their eyes.

Generally, even though they were being laid off and truly pissed off at Yahoo! management including CEO Jerry Yang, employees were ultra-reluctant to talk to the media.

But a few juicy notations showed up on Twitter. To wit:

Much crying and gasping (as people find out the next person is gone) and many hugs and "good lucks"s about 6 hours ago from web

I got an email which said simply "I need to talk to you about changes to the organization" - for 10:45 am in a conf room about 6 hours ago from web

Many mgrs and jr mgrs gone -- top performers, too about 6 hours ago from web

Count now is way over 25 about 6 hours ago from web

My manager got laid off and so did i, just now -- and at least two others on my team about 6 hours ago from web

Got off elevator, saw coworker, w/backpack, wlking 2 conf rm w/ mgr. they started promptly. people on floor exchanging xmas gifts about 7 hours ago from web

Not pitiful. Just sad.