I'm ready to tell the story of how I discovered I no longer had a job.
I am much more into to the idea of not having a job to go to each and every morning than I was last week. In fact, Monday mornings when you do not have to go into work are WONDERFUL. REALLY GOOD.
I thought I would find humor in the unceremonious way my resignation was accepted and the last day of my employment after being with the organization for 11 years. I haven't totally grasped the humor of it, but there have been some moments that made me chuckle.
Let's begin the story last Monday, August 19th. I was a bit late for work that morning, as I knew my boss was taking leave that day to assist his school-teacher wife in her move back into her classroom. I was doing my job and culling through his emails. I saw one email with the subject line of my name. My old boss was asking my new boss to meet with him to discuss me. A short time later my old boss's secretary called to set up a meeting. I told her it would have to happen the next day, so we set it up for Tuesday, August 20 at 9:00 a.m. Awesome. It appeared that a decision was going to finally be made. Part of the back story is from this blog, Why I'm still working. This portion, in particular, sums up where I stood, employment wise, at this moment.
On Wednesday, July 31st I carried my letter of resignation UPSTAIRS to my old boss. I now work down in the basement and my new boss had not been hired yet. Anyway, the date I put on the letter as my last day was August 8, 2013. I was DONE! When my old boss took the letter he was not happy. He asked if this had anything to do with the fact that I had asked for a raise in January, written up a new PD and duty list in March, and he had said he would move forward on this and then had done nothing at all. (oh, did I tell you he got a $100k raise in his new position? awesome.) I said yes. Yes it did.
He asked me if I would wait a couple days and he would go to HR and see what he could do about my raise. Fine, I said. So I waited... A week later I'm told that HR told them they could not reassign my position in a way that would allow me to get a raise. BUT..., would I continue working for 3 or 4 more weeks until the NEW HR director they just hired is on board and in place. Looking at my job description and seeing about my raise would be the first thing this person will do. My NEW boss said he would make this his TOP priority.
At 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20th my boss went upstairs to the meeting about me. He returned at 9:35 a.m. He didn't look at me. He didn't speak to me. He hurried into his office and got on the phone. He managed to spend the 25 minutes he was stuck in the office with me talking on the phone and then left, at 10, for a 2-hour walk around the campus. He used the entire two hours. He returned and told me he was going to lunch.
Really? He wasn't going to say ANYTHING to me about the meeting about ME?
As he was walking out the door, I called him back. I asked him what was the result of the meeting that morning? What had they decided to do about ME? He got a funny look on his face and told me that he and I had a meeting scheduled in HR at 3:00 p.m., and it wasn't going to be a good meeting.
Really? Not a good meeting? What was going to happen? Were they going to FIRE me? I mean, that wouldn't be bad. I was ready to go. If they fired me I would be able to collect unemployment for 99 weeks. I'd be good with that. So I asked, what's going to happen at 3 o'clock?
He told me since I had submitted a letter of resignation, they were accepting my resignation at 3 o'clock. They wanted me off campus immediately.
Really? It was noon and they wanted me to keep working until 3 and then they wanted me to leave. Huh? I began to clean out my inbox and download all my personal files to my flashdrive and began to clean out my desk. Then my phone rings... it's my boss... he's decided to tell me I can clean out my desk and leave now. There's no need to wait until 3.
No kidding there's no need to wait until 3. I'm outta here. I told my boss that this was not a bad thing, for me. I had put in my letter of resignation weeks ago. I wanted to leave. I was only here because I was doing a favor for him. He had ASKED me to stay a few more weeks. He was working on getting me a raise. (evidently, he didn't work very hard at it.)
I packed up my stuff in a box and I carried it out to my car. On the way to my car, I passed my old boss (the new CFO of the college) on the path. I said "good-bye" to him. He said "good-bye" to me. It was 1:00 p.m. It wasn't the end of the day. I was carrying a box. He knew what was happening. Neither he, nor my current boss thanked me for 11 years of service. Nothing. I don't expect my phone to ring and be invited out for lunch either. This was an incredible display of classlessness on the part of the upper administration of the college. I shouldn't have expected anything more.
The thing that has made me chuckle in this whole evolution occurred last Friday. On Friday evening my husband carried the mail into the house. Included in the mail was a manilla envelope with a DVD of the movie Office Space in it. No note. Just the DVD. (I had loaned the DVD to my old boss when he moved my office into the basement. He, of course, didn't understand why I would make a reference to this movie. I asked him if he had ever seen the movie. He, of course, confused it with the tv show The Office. I told him that Office Space is a classic comedy about business management and the corporate working world. I have no doubt that he did not watch the movie. But at least he had enough class to ask his secretary to mail it back to me and not steal it from me. He's AWESOME! not).
I am able to laugh about this. Now, does anyone want to take any bets on whether or not I get a good-bye lunch? Hahahaha
467. Levis 505s for $10 for my son (I have to hem them)
468. Time to hem the jeans
469. Neighborhood picnic (fun to catch up with neighbors I don't see very often)
470. A new goal (earn enough $$ by selling stuff to buy a new laptop)
471. Friends that are truly happy for my new state of unemployment
472. Advice to take it slow and not commit to anything for a month or two
473. Feeling absolutely great about this decision
474. Happy that I have enough to do to occupy my time and not have to "twiddle my thumbs" while my husband works
475. My son's resume is being forwarded for a part-time IT position (please pray God's will be done on this. my will is that he gets the job.)
I am much more into to the idea of not having a job to go to each and every morning than I was last week. In fact, Monday mornings when you do not have to go into work are WONDERFUL. REALLY GOOD.
I thought I would find humor in the unceremonious way my resignation was accepted and the last day of my employment after being with the organization for 11 years. I haven't totally grasped the humor of it, but there have been some moments that made me chuckle.
Let's begin the story last Monday, August 19th. I was a bit late for work that morning, as I knew my boss was taking leave that day to assist his school-teacher wife in her move back into her classroom. I was doing my job and culling through his emails. I saw one email with the subject line of my name. My old boss was asking my new boss to meet with him to discuss me. A short time later my old boss's secretary called to set up a meeting. I told her it would have to happen the next day, so we set it up for Tuesday, August 20 at 9:00 a.m. Awesome. It appeared that a decision was going to finally be made. Part of the back story is from this blog, Why I'm still working. This portion, in particular, sums up where I stood, employment wise, at this moment.
On Wednesday, July 31st I carried my letter of resignation UPSTAIRS to my old boss. I now work down in the basement and my new boss had not been hired yet. Anyway, the date I put on the letter as my last day was August 8, 2013. I was DONE! When my old boss took the letter he was not happy. He asked if this had anything to do with the fact that I had asked for a raise in January, written up a new PD and duty list in March, and he had said he would move forward on this and then had done nothing at all. (oh, did I tell you he got a $100k raise in his new position? awesome.) I said yes. Yes it did.
He asked me if I would wait a couple days and he would go to HR and see what he could do about my raise. Fine, I said. So I waited... A week later I'm told that HR told them they could not reassign my position in a way that would allow me to get a raise. BUT..., would I continue working for 3 or 4 more weeks until the NEW HR director they just hired is on board and in place. Looking at my job description and seeing about my raise would be the first thing this person will do. My NEW boss said he would make this his TOP priority.
At 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20th my boss went upstairs to the meeting about me. He returned at 9:35 a.m. He didn't look at me. He didn't speak to me. He hurried into his office and got on the phone. He managed to spend the 25 minutes he was stuck in the office with me talking on the phone and then left, at 10, for a 2-hour walk around the campus. He used the entire two hours. He returned and told me he was going to lunch.
Really? He wasn't going to say ANYTHING to me about the meeting about ME?
As he was walking out the door, I called him back. I asked him what was the result of the meeting that morning? What had they decided to do about ME? He got a funny look on his face and told me that he and I had a meeting scheduled in HR at 3:00 p.m., and it wasn't going to be a good meeting.
Really? Not a good meeting? What was going to happen? Were they going to FIRE me? I mean, that wouldn't be bad. I was ready to go. If they fired me I would be able to collect unemployment for 99 weeks. I'd be good with that. So I asked, what's going to happen at 3 o'clock?
He told me since I had submitted a letter of resignation, they were accepting my resignation at 3 o'clock. They wanted me off campus immediately.
Really? It was noon and they wanted me to keep working until 3 and then they wanted me to leave. Huh? I began to clean out my inbox and download all my personal files to my flashdrive and began to clean out my desk. Then my phone rings... it's my boss... he's decided to tell me I can clean out my desk and leave now. There's no need to wait until 3.
No kidding there's no need to wait until 3. I'm outta here. I told my boss that this was not a bad thing, for me. I had put in my letter of resignation weeks ago. I wanted to leave. I was only here because I was doing a favor for him. He had ASKED me to stay a few more weeks. He was working on getting me a raise. (evidently, he didn't work very hard at it.)
I packed up my stuff in a box and I carried it out to my car. On the way to my car, I passed my old boss (the new CFO of the college) on the path. I said "good-bye" to him. He said "good-bye" to me. It was 1:00 p.m. It wasn't the end of the day. I was carrying a box. He knew what was happening. Neither he, nor my current boss thanked me for 11 years of service. Nothing. I don't expect my phone to ring and be invited out for lunch either. This was an incredible display of classlessness on the part of the upper administration of the college. I shouldn't have expected anything more.
The thing that has made me chuckle in this whole evolution occurred last Friday. On Friday evening my husband carried the mail into the house. Included in the mail was a manilla envelope with a DVD of the movie Office Space in it. No note. Just the DVD. (I had loaned the DVD to my old boss when he moved my office into the basement. He, of course, didn't understand why I would make a reference to this movie. I asked him if he had ever seen the movie. He, of course, confused it with the tv show The Office. I told him that Office Space is a classic comedy about business management and the corporate working world. I have no doubt that he did not watch the movie. But at least he had enough class to ask his secretary to mail it back to me and not steal it from me. He's AWESOME! not).
I am able to laugh about this. Now, does anyone want to take any bets on whether or not I get a good-bye lunch? Hahahaha
468. Time to hem the jeans
469. Neighborhood picnic (fun to catch up with neighbors I don't see very often)
470. A new goal (earn enough $$ by selling stuff to buy a new laptop)
471. Friends that are truly happy for my new state of unemployment
472. Advice to take it slow and not commit to anything for a month or two
473. Feeling absolutely great about this decision
474. Happy that I have enough to do to occupy my time and not have to "twiddle my thumbs" while my husband works
475. My son's resume is being forwarded for a part-time IT position (please pray God's will be done on this. my will is that he gets the job.)
Girl, I hate that they treated you that way. I'm so glad that you're good with the way things worked out. And, I definitely second the advice of #472.
ReplyDeleteok, that sucks...and you know i hope they get their just due one day...after 11 years that is the best you get, seriously? messed up...and what a spinelss jelly fish leading you on...
ReplyDeleteWow...not cool at all! To me, it sounds like being out of there is the best thing for you.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Elizabeth, I think you are right.
ReplyDelete