I made it through the week

Friday was a day of total craziness. But to make a long story short, I have employment on Monday.

So, in the knitting front, I am making some of the "clutchettes" for Margaret Nicole. In fact, I am picking up materials a little later this afternoon. Very exciting!

ANd on Monday, I will be back at the Dodgers, as a Dodger. I have been offered a temporary gig there until the end of the year. My situation will be evaluated in December to decide what is happening from that point on. The staffing company also made an offer. They wanted me to "train" at various locations for 2 months and take on a record center at a law firm at the end of the year. Yes, that would be permanant. Yes, I would be paid my salary through the training. Yes, it would be a safe choice. But something I learned in life is the safe answer may not be the one that makes me happy. Right now, I am at a place that I like even though it is only for a couple of months. I'm okay with that. It will get me through the holidays and I can jump off the next bridge when it arrives.

Okay. This week drained me to no end. I realized that I was hired, fired, re-hired, re-fired, and re-re-hired by the same company in the course of 2 weeks. I SO need a vacation, now - which, by the way, is only 3 weeks away.

Much Happier End to the Day

After a thoroughly wacky day at the office, I meandered over to the Shecky's Girls Night Out. This is an event that I bought a ticket to attend over a month ago. For the bargain basement price of $30, I got a goodie bag that included:

one.6 Chardonnay-full bottle
Monkey Business by Sarah Mlynowski
Killing Bono by Neil McCormick
Goody Spiral Curling Iron, Curling Iron Travel Bag, Hair Pin and Hair Elastic with Metal Piece
Biatta Panties
Ban Antiperspirant
Atkins Morning Start Bar
Lumene Skin Care samples
Revolution Tea 5 pack
Swab Plus lip and eye swabs
redken Blow Dry lotion
Healing Garden Spa Theraphy Sample Pack and Body Butter
Bawls Caffeine Drink
Sample CDs from Joshua Payne, The Shades and Toby Lightman
Wild Sexy Hair Product
Sample of Finlandia Vodka in Mango
Seche Vite Nail Top Coat
Curl Friends Purify Shampoo sample
Zone Perfect Nutrition Bar
And coupons for Esprit, Laser Cosmetica, New York Sports Club and Gloss Day Spa.

Plus there were booths for MANY cool vendors, including Magaret Nicole and her adorable hand knit clutches. So I made a point to find this booth (I looked all of the vendors over before hand). The clutches are even cuter in person. So, I had a little chat with her about how the bags are made. She suggested that I e-mail her about possibly doing a little something. But, she also inspired me to think further about a niche product that can be sold for a substantial amount (covering all costs of course) without feeling guilty about overcharging. Since it looks like I may have some time on my hands very soon, this may be something that keeps me out of trouble.

I think the fan may have been a direct hit

I found out about an hour ago that my life here at the new gig is over on Friday. That would make it 2 weeks before anticipated. To top it off, the "signing bonus" that was supposed to be in my first paycheck was nowhere to be found.

So, forgive me if for a while I turn rather bitchy and bitter. I did nothing to deserve this situation. I knew nothing about it until it was all too late. All I did was come in, knowing that things were a bit of a mess, and try to make things better.

So, what about the staffing company, you may ask. It looks like the best they are likely to do would be to place me (with a pay cut) at some law firm, taking care of records or something like that. I think I would rather take unemployment than go through that. I could at least have my days free to find something else. In the grand scheme of things, isn't it better to take the pay cut and be able to look for a job than to do a job that a) I don't want, b) I am WAY too overqualified to do, c) would do me no better financially (or at least minimally) and d) a step down from any other position I could have elsewhere?

Holding Pattern

Well, I am still working and probably will for the next few weeks. But, I have done A LOT of thinking about my situation. Although there are some possibilities in salvaging something from all of this (although slight at best), there is a part of me that is leaning toward some time off. I mean, I have been working for the past 12 years without any break. I have never been unemployed in my adult life. Maybe a little break would be a chance for me to put a few things into perspective and such. Not only that, but I am going to Paris the week after the lay off, and family will be in town the following week. By then, we will be knee deep in the holidays (which are always a challenge for me to survive). I think the new year would be a great time to start fresh.

I don't think this realization is particularly defeatist, but actually much more freeing for me. I have actually embraced a part of life that I never thought I would.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather find some other way to get through this mess. And since there are many changes afoot within my company, we can never know what any of us will end up doing.

I'm Still Employed...For Now

Thank you all for all of the kind words of encouragement. It means a lot to me to have a cheering section behind me. Sometimes, I forget that the strange things that happen to me are not all that strange. Well, maybe they are.

Anyway, I am sitting at my new and soon to be old desk. I am on day 2 of the questionable employment. so, let me bring you up to speed.

....

Well, there really aren't too many changes in the situation. At this point, everyone seems to think that I have a job until the middle of November. At that point, I will be going off to Paris and can think of much happier times and places. Or something.

I have started sending out my resume, again. Not so much coming up for the holiday season. I may end up on the dole for a while until things get better in the new year. I don't know. Maybe something will happen serendipitously. Well, I am not going to spend a whole lot of time complaining or dreaming as neither will help me out of this situation.

So, when I have free time, I have been adding more metro cards to my cape, knitting up leg warmers to match the capelet and looking for work.

I do have something to share about my Haloween costume. My former coworker designed my logo for Mass Transit Girl. She then uploaded it to cafepress.com and made a pretty t-shirt for me to wear. I would show you all, but I have managed to lose that page. I guess you will have to wait for pictures.

Some days are good, Some days suck

Today, the last day at the job I hate, the day of the conference I have been working like a fiend for, the day I have been waiting for all month, fell apart in every possible way.

No, the conference was wonderful. Went without a hitch.

The job is long gone. No more evil, abusive boss.

Facing a weekend of non-stop sleep.

So, what, say you, could possibly be wrong?

I got laid off. From a job I had not yet started. Anyone able to beat that one? Quitting one job and being laid off from another in the same day. How much sucking could there possibly be?

Apparently, there were money issues raised by the Duch company that runs the theatre company. They laid off 12 people with in the firm, giving them 30 days notice to move out. 4 of those 12 positions were the ones with the outsourcing company (including mine), 8 were regular full time staffers from all areas of the company; some who had been there for years and even decades. Well, in an attempt to not totally screw me, my once and future boss (although not for very long) spent all day yesterday and part of the day today hunting me down (I was at said conference with a dead cell phone) to see if I could rescind my notice at the old company. Of course, that is not really a possibility as they have already engaged someone else for the position - nor do I particularly want it to be an option.

So, the theatre company has delayed notifying the staffing company until Monday, at which point I will actually be employed by them and they can't rescind their offer to me, and have to deal with me as an actual employee.

So, what does this mean?

I don't know. I am going in to work as though nothing has happened. Since my employment is through the staffing company, it is thought that I will be employed for the 30 days that is remaining in the contract. Although, that is not for sure. It could be that they cut their losses and just let me go. At which point (or after the 30 days), I will actually be laid off and could qualify for unemployment. There is also a very slight possibility (VERY SLIGHT) that they could place me somewhere else.

I can't believe that it was just 2 weeks ago that these two companies were fighting over who got to employ me.

I am going to go into a bit of a coma for a while. I hope things will just magically change between now and Monday, when I walk into my new job as though there was nothing wrong. A girl can dream, can't she?

WHAT THE ?!?!

I am at the office at 11:17PM on a Monday (which means I have been here since 7:30AM). I am covered in White Out/Liquid Paper or whatever that heinous concoction that managed to get all over me, my clothes, my hair and my desk in an attempt to make it actually do what it was intended to do - White Out things that are not white. Maybe this is a losing battle here. I just spent the past 10 minutes fighting with the copy machine (the main reason why I'm still here). I don't even like it here.

I think I should just stay here and let everyone see me in my white-out-ified mess, same clothes as the day before, and utterly disheveled. At this rate, I would have to be back here in 9 hours, anyway. Spend 20 minutes getting home and another 20 getting back, 45 minutes for the morning routine, the requisit hour for winding down at home before sleep, I don't think there is much chance for me to actually become human tonight. I don't even know if I can regain the right color.

Oh...brain...fuzzy...must...sleep...have...to...copy.

Wait a minute. Why am I killing myself for a company that I am leaving and a conference that I don't even care about? I have truly lost my mind.

Do I really have to work?

I feel like I am back in High School. Since I submitted my notice, I feel like I have contracted the ever prevelant Springtime illness that hits all high school seniors - Senioritis. There is nothing that can keep my attention here in the office. The weather is beautiful and cool - my favorite. The projects that I am working on are too much for one person to handle alone, so I have lost interest trying to actually make miracles happen. Basically, I may as well just go home. I would be more productive there.

Speaking of productivity, I ran into a bartender from Hairspray (I went back there after a month long hiatus) who had a MAJOR knitting crisis. In a nutshell, she opened her sweater basket to see moths flying out. Two of her alpaca sweaters have missing cables. So she passed them off to me to fix. The good news is both of them are damaged in the back and they are both sweaters that she wears around the house. So, I managed to get through the one with the least amount of damage pretty easily. But, as I was finishing up, I noticed a little bit of movement through the sweater. Yes, there were still vermin living in there. So, after I fixed it, I did a little hand washing. I hope that helps out. I am about 1/2 way through the one that is very much damaged. So far, it is going pretty smoothly. Keep your fingers crossed.

So, I did hear a little piece of information this morning that is a little upsetting for me (an I'm sure for my family). According to the Worker Health Chartbook, the highest risk occupations in the country areConstruction Workers and Truck Drivers. Well, my father is a truck driver and my brother-in-law works in construction. Well, neither have had any major problems or, thankfully, any fatal injuries.