Monday, August 31, 2009

Back to Business

Apologizing for not posting enough is the ultimate blogging cliche. So I'm going to skip the part where I say I'm sorry, but the whole illness, fire and rehire thing pushed the blog to the back burner.

I haven't felt quite like myself because I haven't been knitting, crocheting, spinning or blogging. When I'm not at work, I've been watching TV, messing around on Facebook and taking naps.

So I've decided to start with the blogging, and the rest will follow. Although I feel unmotivated now, I know I'll start to feel better once I get back to things I love.

I think my elbow is better now. I went the morning they announced the layoffs, so I forgot about it for a while.

I didn't see my usual doctor, I saw someone else in the practice. I brought in my top secret project to demonstrate the motions I'd been making with my arms. It turns out she was a knitter. She was working on something from the new Mason Dixon book. She could even identify the yarn I was using for this top secret project. Awesomeness!

Meanwhile, I finally got some glasses, but none of these. I'll post a picture later.

The first two weeks with glasses were fine. I had no idea how bad my vision was until it was corrected.

Then the glasses started to hurt.

After several visits to EyeMasters, I realized that the nose pads were upside down. Apparently, this makes a difference. However, my glasses still hurt after turning them around, and then trying smaller nose pads. The skin on the bridge of my nose is raw. I've been choosing between the headache from eyestrain and the headache from glasses that don't fit.

I e-mailed EyeMasters customer service. I got reply asking for the location where I purchased them. I replied back. Hopefully I'll find a way to get around the 30 day limit on the money back guarantee.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Don't call it a comeback!

(This is one of the motivational phrases my boss likes to use.)

The past couple of weeks since they announced the lay off have been... interesting. Lots of drama.

Today was going to be my very last day. (Our team had officially had it's last day as a team on Friday, but they offered us the chance to come back this week for a project to keep our benefits another month, yada, yada, yada.) But still, last day.

And then they rehired me.

They rehired almost all of us.

I watched the season finale of I Survived a Japanese Game Show last night. When someone is voted off of the show, a gang of Japenese men wearing black suits and sunglasses comes and carries you away. They're called the Sayonara Boys, and everyone sings "Sayonara, Sayonara" as they take you away.

(You can see the Sayonara Boys at the end of this clip.)

I decided that was how I wanted to leave my job. I wanted the Sayonara Boys to come take me away. I was going to think about that when I felt sad.

On my lunch break I updated my Facebook status to reflect this.

When I got off the break room computer, I ran into a coworker who had just been rehired. It was one of the two internal positions I had applied for. I congratulated him, but I also thought this lowered my chances of getting rehired.

So I finished my lunch break and went back to my desk. I realized several people were getting good news. It was about that time one of the managers called me in.

I got offered a job. The one I wanted. It's not the lead generation I've been doing. It's more of account managing. It's hard to explain. All you need to know is that I'll be happier there. And I get to keep the supervisor I like.

So almost all of us are back on. Somehow there were more jobs available than we had thought. It's almost like the end of a movie. Unlike the lay off, I did not see the rehire coming. I would have cried tears of joy if I hadn't been so shocked.

It's time to call in the Congratulations Boys. They wear white suits, and they only come for the winners.

(Seriously, you have to watch this show.)

So there's still a little hiccup. I have one day of another project tomorrow. Then I'm off until I restart on Aug. 20, with a fresh, new project and a new start.

So let's see, I was off of work for most of June and July because of illness, I came back part time in late July, got laid off, continued to finish my time while job hunting, got rehired and now I'll have to go another week and a half without pay.

That makes for a pretty crappy "summer vacation." I hate the summer.

It's still not the worst summer I've ever had, but you'll have to wait for the novel to hear the rest of that.

Or maybe the movie.

Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for two and a half years.