Déjà vu

Somber Day

So today’s been a bit of a downer. This morning, the Office Manager asked me to send her the list of my duties they asked me to put together months ago, so she can include it into the Justification Letter for making my position permanent. I guess The Boss is gonna pass the list by the rest of the Project Managers during their meeting tomorrow morning, and then send the paperwork on up the signature line.

However, at the same time, O.M. shoots out a top-secret e-mail to the administrative staff letting us know that The Boss is watching us closely and is making noises about proving justification for the existence of our positions. So we need to lay low and mind our p’s and q’s (ie: I need to make sure I look busy, and get my ass to work on time). Mom seems to think this is because Campus Facilities will be getting a new Director soon, and The Boss is just tryin to make sure his own ass is covered in justifying the need for all of the departmental staff. I guess he suddenly has reasons to somehow doubt that justification, and O.M. says that if anybody’s position is disposable, it would be mine since it is still officially only temporary.

Never mind that he has assured me on several occasions that I would have a job in November. Here’s hoping that he’s the sort to keep his promises over covering his ass. Though, I also understand that some things may not be in his control. I guess the day of reckoning is Monday… after it’s had a chance to pass the Campus Facility Director’s desk. I guess I’ll just have to wait until then. Limbo is such a WONDERFUL feeling.

She Told Me So

I just wish I’d have known months ago about this justification issue. Perhaps it’s a concern that has only recently been raised and little could have been done to predict it. Bus Snob reminds me she told me a while back I should start putting out feelers elsewhere just to cover MY ass… and I probably should have listened to her at the time. I simply trusted those who assured me time and time again that they would keep me on. Oh well.

Mom thinks it’s a lotta fuss for nothing. She thinks The Boss is just covering his bases… that he intends to keep everybody, just making sure he can confidently justify our positions if they are ever challenged. I’ve just been too recently burned, though, so I guess my fuss-meter on this particular issue is already calibrated a li’l high. I don’t think I’m gonna have any rest on the matter until every signature has been secured on the transfer paperwork.

Déjà vu

I won’t be surprised at all, though, if things are still in the air by time I leave for San Diego in a week. And the weird part is, I experienced the exact same uncertainty before my trip LAST year to Ohio. BattleAx and I blew up one last time, and I finally gave notice during a meeting early in July. I wanted to give a few month’s notice, considering the length of time it would take for me to find a new job, and for her to find a replacement. However, she was in a snit and informed me I had until the end of July.

My trip to Ohio was already scheduled for the beginning of August and I obviously made little progress in the job hunting quest by that point. Fortunately, BattleAx made even less progress in finding a replacement, so at the end of the month she took back her hasty deadline and we agreed that I’d have until the end of Sept. or whenever I found a new position… whichever came first. The reprieve helped my frame of mind a little bit, so I was able to focus more on enjoying my trip. However, the knowledge still hung over my head that I was gonna be out of a job in 2 months and had no bites on a new one.

As it turned out, I finally secured my current job in November, so I was really only out of work for a month and a half… but it was a total of 4 ½ months of job hunting. That’s the longest it’s ever taken me to find work in Columbia. It was pretty draining, and I don’t really look forward to doing it again. However, I know I don’t need to be afraid of it, cuz I managed to survive the last one just fine.

Good and Screwed

Unfortunately, my month and a half of unemployment screwed me both ways with the University System. It was just long enough to be considered an official severance, so I lost all seniority and benefits accumulation. I had to start over, including my 6-month probationary period… whereas I would have kept everything with a clean transfer.

However, my absence wasn’t a SHORT enough time for me NOT to be considered a transfer in terms of position level. See, when you make a lateral transfer within the system (ie: move to another position on the same payscale) the new department is not allowed to offer you any more money than you were making before. If it’s a HIGHER pay scale, they can offer you as much as they want. But I guess I wasn’t gone long enough, so I was held to the terms of a lateral transfer rather than a new hire, so they couldn’t offer me as much as they wanted to.

So I was well and screwed out of both my accumulated benefits AND a higher starting wage. Of course, I was just tickled pink to be employed. They promised me they’d find a way to raise my salary as soon as they were able (which, granted, they have been trying to do with the process of changing my status) but right now I’m back to just being happy to have a job after next month. *sigh*