Category: Work

Yes. Yes I do indeed have a job. WHEE!

I have now have a badge and employee handbook; and I filled out W-4s and all kinds of other paperwork, and I am an official employee of the RISD. 😀 I still don’t know exactly how much I’m making, but I have a ballpark minimum figure, and I’ll find out the exact dollar amount when I go in again tomorrow to get fingerprinted.

The one thing that made me go O.O is the pay schedule. I get paid just once a month. And, because I’m starting on the first day of a new pay period — I don’t receive my first paycheck until February 27th. Wow. That is a long way away!

Because I’m paraprofessional staff, I do have to take Staff Development classes. Because I’m starting halfway through the school year, I have to have 6 hours of SD completed by April 1. Then, it’s 12 hours per school year. That’s not too bad at all. I haven’t looked up what all is offered yet.

YAY JOB!!

Just a quick one…

Finally got more info. My last day here will be February 8th. That works out nicely — I’ll have work for the next 2 months, then one week after I’m laid off is time for my vacation to LA. That week before going out of town, I can file for unemployment, so I’ll have some kind of income while I look for a new job and try to go through vocational rehab. And, since the layoff date is so close to the vacation date, I don’t have to worry about trying to get time off at a new job. I should get a severance package including having 3 weeks of vacation time paid out, so I’ll be fine on money for the vacation. (Plus, I’ll be getting my tax refund shortly thereafter. Whee!)

Still a little grumpy at the idea of having to find a new job, but I’m glad that I finally know when it happens. And I”m glad that it worked out perfectly that I don’t have to cancel my vacation. 😀

ETA @ 11am – I am starting to get incredibly pissy. I’m finding out that because we were notified prior to 60 days that we were being laid off .. we likely will not get any kind of severance package. And, because there is no written policy in place (that I’m aware of) they very likely can get away with not paying out our vacation time, either. Since the layoffs at the beginning of the year, lots of people jumped ship. But I was a loyal employee, staying with the company, having faith it could be turned around. And I get screwed because of that. Gee. Thanks a lot.

ETA again @ 4:15pm – Apparently enough people have been asking questions about whether or not we will get severance packages, that they are supposed to be sending a mass email about them (and hopefully vacation time payout) either later today or some time tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me, please!!!

There’s no way to know when I’ll live my last tomorrow

The weather sets the mood perfectly today. It’s dark and grey, a nasty misty haze everywhere. The cold front finally moved in, so that extra chill in the air just puts the cap on the depressing mood of the weather. To make it even more fitting, that mist was beginning to turn into rain as I pulled into the parking garage at work, waiting to find out how much longer I’m here for.

That’s the part I’m hating most — the freaking waiting. I’ve been here for 5 hours now, and I still don’t know any more than I did when I left on Friday. Consensus seems to be that we won’t find anything out until closer to the end of the week, and that makes me crazier. I just want to know how much longer I have my job, so I can make doctor appointments, and make sure I’ve got the medication I need, or am off stuff that’s not as needed; since I won’t be able to afford most of it when I’m unemployed. Most of the stores know how much longer they’ll be open, so they are more informed than those of us here at corporate!

One of the amusing things though — the old head honcho of my department is actually back here as a consultant for the company that bought us/is closing us down. He popped in to see us earlier, just to say hi. It’s nice to get to see him again, even if it’s under these circumstances.

I’m pretty good, though, other than all the depressing unemployment crap. That MRI I had on my knees a while back came out ok – nothing torn/broken/etc. There was a lot of fluid on the knees, and the doc was pointing that out to me in the scans, as well as the arthritis. Final diagnosis was that I managed to severely wrench my knee. It’s pretty much better now, most of the problems I’m having with it are my normal arthritis ones. I’m still having issues with my heart, they haven’t been able to get the extra beats under control. I’m headed back in there this afternoon for a check up. While I’m in there, I need to let him know I don’t know how much longer I’ll have insurance, so we need to come up with a long term plan, since I won’t be able to go in every few weeks like I am now. Ugh.

Mom’s citizenship test is this coming Saturday. She’s getting more and more nervous the closer it gets. We’ve been over all her documentation a few times now, making sure she has everything she needs to take with her.

The owners of the building our offices are in are having their annual Christmas treat for the tennants today. They’ve got tons of cookies and sweets set up, different drinks, and a violinist playing. Someone in line joked that we had our very own violinist to play as the ship sunk. haha. It is ironically fitting, though.