economic downturn (my ass)

As of December 1 2009, I will no longer be an employee of The Big Bad Relocation Company.

Today has been slightly epic for me. A lot has happened. Let me tell you:

So I arrived at work before my boss and the Regional Manager arrived. Once they did, they almost immediately got down to business. I had enough opportunity to tell my boss that I was not feeling well (the Chinese food did a number on my guts in the middle of the night and I hadn’t quite recovered), and she said we’d discuss that once we had our conversation. I should have known then.

We sat down and the RM went over the national call from last Thursday and immediately notified me that I was being “let go”. I started to grin. The RM continued to discuss my options and stress that it had nothing to do with performance, blah blah blah. I was a little shocked, a little pissed, but mostly HUGELY amused that the company thinks that our office can survive with fewer people when we can’t even survive with the staff we have. I was all out smiling by the time she was done, and I looked to my boss and the expression on her face was priceless. She knew what I was thinking, I knew what she was thinking, but the RM had no idea.
So the RM says to me, “you’re taking this very well”. I told her that it gave me an opportunity to take a much needed vacation and go back to the home province to reconnect with friends and family and what not. I then made it very clear that I was certainly not feeling sorry for myself, that quitting this job was high on my to-do list, and that I felt most sorry for the girls I’m leaving behind.
I then also told her that if there’s an opportunity in one of her offices I would like to keep my clean record and maybe work for them again. The office I would like to transfer to used to have a staffing number of 15. They are currently staffed with 8, and, for example, are at least 3 months behind on claims (which are supposed to be done within 3 weeks according to contractual obligations with the Government of Canada). Then she dropped this gem: Corporate has reassessed that office and determined that they are at maximum staffing capacity.

Thank fuck I’m getting out.

So the catch is that I can quit at any time, with no bonus or strings attached. If I stay until December 1st, they will pay me 3 weeks severance. On top of that, I have accumulated vacation pay. So technically I should be fine, pay wise, until January.

The current plan is to return to the home province the weekend prior to Dec 1 (which is a Monday, and I was told I didn’t have to come in that day). I will drive, and take my handsome kitty with me. I haven’t devised where we will live (as my mom is not pet-friendly). I don’t know whether or not I will work.

They sent me home after the meeting to “think about my options”. It’s pretty much a no-brainer that I’ll take the 3 weeks severance. I immediately called my mother, who I’d given a heads-up on last Thursdays meeting and the tentative plan to go back to the home province. I spoke to my sister briefly, but got a call from M in the middle. We discussed what was going to happen.

I got really mad at him because he was going on about not blowing all his tour money and blah blah blah, and I said to him that he was being insensitive, and that he’s not allowed to get upset with me over this because I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING. He has some deep seated issue with women blowing their partners’ money on frivolous things (happens a lot while on tour), meanwhile I don’t even have access to his tour money!! And existing isn’t a frivolity. And I didn’t choose to get laid off.
He apologized then, saying he didn’t want to sound like he doesn’t have faith that I can get through this.
We discussed how this will affect the tour, and he got irritated with my wanting to change my origin from the Capital to the capital of the home province. He said it would screw up payment of benefits and yadda yadda, so I told him I would immediately go in to talk to the deployment services people. And I did. And they said there would be no problem what so ever.

I spent the rest of the day bouncing around. I came home for lunch and 2 episodes of Lie to Me. I went into town for some groceries. I met up with C – who I haven’t seen since our mens deployment – and we made plans for dinner. Which turned into dinner, a trip to Future Shop, me introducing her to Lie to Me, and then cross fit. We have plans for Wednesday to do something similar.

I need to get to bed. It’s been a hell of a day. I miss M, I’ve lost my job, and god damnit I have a love/hate relationship with squats!

Good night.

h&v