My 5 year career…
It fits in a box about this big... (and no, I'm not stealing sharpies, just the box. I had to put my "stuff" (random notes and drawings from my guys, penis figures they welded out of scrap copper, a marriage proposal from a guy that TFL later threatened to kill....). I can't even describe the emotional mess I was carrying the box to my car...
I quit my job – TWICE!
It’s been a whirlwind of a week – emotionally and mentally. First, I quit my job after finding out my boss didn’t trust me.
Come to find out – the president of the company called and explained that it wasn’t a matter of “not trusting me”, it was a matter of “other people got big raises, and you didn’t, and I didn’t want you to complain about it.” His exact words were:
“I was being sneaky and trying to save a buck, and I got caught. I’m sorry.”
While his apology was much appreciated, it wasn’t enough to keep me.
My direct boss asked me what it would take for me to stay.
Simple. I want a $10,000 dollar a year raise, and an office.
She of course said no to that, offered me half and no office. I had to think about it for a few days because I wasn’t expecting a counter offer.
I thought about it. Today (01/27/2012), when I came into work in the morning – I told her my decision.
And I quit – again!
Am I positive I’m making the right choice? No. I constantly live in a world of “what if” and a state of “wondering”. I’ll probably never grow out of that, though I should work on it.
Do I feel like I’m doing the right thing? Yes. I told my boss that this place was crushing my soul. She cocked her head to one side and blinked at me like a confused kitten seeing a squirrel for the first time. I almost felt bad for her not being able to understand….
FREE toothpaste (Price Chopper)
Arm and Hammer brand tooth paste is BOGT (Buy one, Get two free) this week. They are priced at 3.00 each. The math looks like this:
(3) Arm and Hammer Tooth Paste @ $3.00 each
=$9.00 (before sale)
-$6.00 (Sale price)
=$3.00
BUT
There is also a $1.00 off any Arm and Hammer tooth paste coupon (you can get them online I’m pretty sure, or they’re “peelies” attached to the cat litter made by arm and hammer)
Total = $3.00 before coupons
Use (3) $1.00 off coupons
Final Price = (3) tubes of tooth paste FREE!
(I have enough tooth paste for probably a year, so I’m going to pass on this deal – but thought I’d point it out for other people. Yeah. By that, I mean you. The one with the stinky breath!)
FREE Friendly’s Fribble (For NY only)
Friendly’s is celebrating 76 years of being in NY, by giving you a FREE fribble milk shake on JANUARY 21st, 2012 from 12pm-5pm.
For more information, you can see the post on the Friendly’s facebook page wall: https://www.facebook.com/friendlys?sk=wall
I’ll be convincing TFL to go out with me today, and we might just have to stop and get one to share. Isn’t that cute???
Update: Coupons and the Ninja
If you’ve read the blog posts below – you’ll understand that my life is soon to be upside down and I am going to be in a huge scramble to save money.
I’ll be falling back on coupons, hardcore. I haven’t been doing much coupon blogging because 1) the only people who ever comment on the posts are my panda loving tribe and I feel kinda dumb, 2) I don’t want to be “just another coupon blog” and 3) When I post match ups it’s usually after I’ve actually tried out the deal – and then the deal is over, or soon to be over. Most importantly, 4) my iPhone has decided to finally shit the bed, and doesn’t take or send pictures anymore, and let’s face it – blogs with out pictures are kind of boring.
BUT – Putting all of that aside, I’ll be posting deals on my blog again. If you do them, great. If not, that’s fine too – but maybe pass the link along to someone who can use the freebie, OR – do the deal and give the items to someone who could use them, or to a local pantry.
Additionally, I plan on doing a lot of work with my Ninja. I have some ingredients that need to be used up soon, and it looks like I’ll have some free time on my hands, so I need to get to work in the kitchen. What better way to accomplish that than using the Ninja?
So that’s it folks. I’m pretty blogged out at this point. Sorry to blow up your phones and email with notices. If you need to blame someone, blame the Whabbit. She made me do it.
Update: Work
So here’s my big news.
I’ve resigned from my job.
Yep. I quit. I handed my boss my letter of resignation, and told her I’m done. I gave her 3 weeks notice, and offered to help train my replacement.
Here’s the kicker.
I don’t have another job lined up. I’m jumping head first into the void. I don’t have anywhere to go, anything to do, or a plan. I don’t have a list, a full calendar, or a way to pay my bills.
Ready for something better than that kicker?
I’m not concerned. I’m not sure how, or why, or if I’m quite possibly losing my mind – but I’m not really scared…
Let me back up and explain why.
As everyone who reads me is aware, I’ve been unhappy at my job for quite some time. I felt that I’m over worked, over qualified and under paid. I figured that I’d eventually get the raise that I deserve, because rumor had it that 2012 would be the year for salary to get compensated for the raises they’re owed.
About a week ago, my boss started having closed door meetings with the president and vice president of the company. Typically - I am involved in these meetings, or at least get a run down of what they are about. These meetings? I heard nothing about. It was a big secret.
Then? My boss called our payroll company, which I am the “super user” of (I control everything to do with payroll), and demoted me from super-user to administrator. I was send an email that she had made changes to salary employee’s files, then the email that she demoted me.
I asked her point blank about these changes, and she insisted that it was “at the request of the president”. That irked me, but I didn’t say much.
A form (the “Wage theft protection act”) had to be signed by all employees – salaried and hourly alike. When it got to one salaried employee, he told me that the wage was incorrect. I let him know that I pulled the information from his check last week, and he said “Right, but salary finally got their raise, and it’s a BIG raise, so I want that paper to reflect it.” He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder and sent me on my way. (I later found out he assumed I got this big raise too.)
Monday rolls around, which is payroll day. My boss was on vacation so it would be interesting to see how i could process payroll with out being the super user. Come to find out, I couldn’t! She had to come back from vacation to process payroll herself because of the settings she chose.
When I was speaking with her on the phone, she was bitching about how inconvenient doing payroll was and how she’s not happy to be doing it. I asked her why it changed, and she defaulted to the answer that it’s just what the president wants. I told her:
“It’s weird. I just feel like he doesn’t trust me all of the sudden.”
With out hesitation, she replied:
“That’s because he doesn’t.”
She came back and processed payroll, meanwhile what she said was playing in my head and eating away at me. There is nothing that I have done that would make it so that he doesn’t trust me. If anything, the company has made me do things that makes ME not trust THEM! I have bent over backwards to help them, cover their asses, and put in the extra time and effort to keep us all floating.
I decided around 3:00 on Monday, that I can’t work for a company which doesn’t trust me. I typed up a letter of resignation and text TFL. He told me to do it. Said that enough was enough, and it’s time for me to stand up for myself. I called him, and said I needed to hear him say it. He told me “Fuck that place baby. Quit. Quit that bullshit job, we’ll be okay. I love you. Do it.”
I went to my boss, and handed her the letter. “What’s this?” she asked. “I can’t work for a company that doesn’t trust me. That’s my letter of resignation.” She tossed the letter on her desk and it fell on the floor. “Nice. Thanks a lot Arie, thanks.”
I turned around and went to my desk and cried. Yep. I cried. The hyperventilating holy-fuck-did-I-really-just-do-that kind of cry. Luckily, it was pretty quiet, and the office was pretty empty.
A few minutes later, she told me that I could go home because I was upset. On my way out, she said she “understood how betrayed” I felt and that she was “really sorry it has come to this”. I just nodded and went home.
I called my pseudo-mom in tears as soon as I pulled out of the work parking lot. I remember squelching “ohmigawdIjusquitmyjobwhatwasIthinking” and her telling me “What? Breathe. I can’t understand you!” I told her what had happened and she gave me loving and encouraging words (as always) and made me laugh through my tears. She single handedly made me feel okay with my decision.
As I hung up with PM and pulled into the driveway, my boss was on the phone. She told me that I was taking this “much too personally” and wanted me “to reconsider”. She said she wasn’t going to tell the president or vice of my decision until the next morning, and she would “shred up the letter and no one would have to know about it”.
I thought about it. I weighed the possibilities. I made a list of what I’ve done for the company, and what the company has done for me. One side took up the front and back of three sheets of paper. The other side was “Provided me with life, dental and health insurance.” and “given me 5 years of experience” and “introduced me to TFL”.
I went into work the next morning and told my boss “My resignation is firm. I’m sorry it’s come to this.” and walked to my office.
So there you have it.
I quit my job.
What am I going to do from here? I don’t know. I’m hoping that there’s a career out there for me somewhere which will provide a new challenge where I’ll be rewarded for my hard work and success.
I’m going to miss the people at my job. They’re “my boys”. I take pride in knowing birthdays, anniversaries, weekend plans, births, and family secrets. I’ll really miss the interaction with my welders, the jokes, the chili-cook-offs, the encouragement when needed.
I really am having a hard time leaving the people. I am not having a hard time leaving the position.
So, there you have it. That’s my life which hasn’t been blogged.
For now? I’m searching for jobs online – applying anywhere that has a notice in the paper, and sending unsolicited resumes to anywhere on the island that is rumored to have an opening.
I’m crossing my fingers, hoping for the best, and expecting the worst.
Keep your fingers crossed for me too. I need all of the help I can get…
Update: School
I know that it’s been a while since I blogged anything of substance, so I figured it’s better late than never.
School has been an area of concern for me for quite some time. I seem to have shaken off the shit stuck on the bottom of my shoe (bad semester when I ended up ill and in the hospital and FX’ed out of my classes), and moved forward.
I’ve decided that while having umpteen degrees sounds fantastic, the process of getting there is going to be a huge pain in the ass. After much consideration, I’ve decided to put everything else on the back burner and focus on my Associate’s for Business. I have managed to finish most of the required credits. I plan on testing out (taking the final at the beginning of the semester) on at atleast 9 more credits which gets me closer to finishing. At this point, it looks as though I have 6 classes to finish before I get a degree.
Finafuckinglly.
I feel like I’ve been in school -FOREVER-. I know that’s just a slight exaggeration, but not by much. I’ve spent so much time going from one idea for a degree to the other that I’ve lost all focus on completing anything. Now? I just want to be done – with something.
All hope is not lost. I still plan on getting my Bachelor’s for Human Services and Social Work. Most of my credits from business can be applied towards that. I’m also flipflopping on the idea of getting my Human Resource certificate along the way, as it only needs 2 additional classes outside of my Associate’s.
So here’s the hypothetical plan:
Spring 2012 – working towards Associate’s
Summer 2012 – Finish Associate’s
Fall 2012 – Finish HR certificate
From there, I plan on taking a break because I don’t know (and chose not to guess) what life is going to throw at me. I do know, however, that I’m starting to drown in debt, be it student debt, medical debt, or just “holy fuck I don’t make enough money to pay all of my ‘daily’ bills” debt.
Which leads me to my next post….
Project Idea…
I love crayons – always have, probably always will.
Crayons were my all time favorite activity when I was an art teacher (though I couldn’t be called a “teacher” because I didn’t have my papers. I was more an “art educator” or “art activity leader” I guess.) There’s just something so pure about handing children a blank canvas, or piece of paper, or noodles, or rice paper, or tree bark, or anything else- and saying “create”!
I have an idea for a project (a small one) that I’d like to do, and frame to put on my wall in my office. (To bring with me to whichever office I end up in next. Hopefully NOT the unemployment office.)
I’m not going to say what it is, because if I fuck it up I don’t want to have to admit it. HAHA!
Who doesn’t love art work?
Coral ID – Please help if you know marine life!
I was at the LFS yesterday and in the claws of a emerald crab was some beautiful looking coral. The employee there had no idea what the coral was, and we were both under the impression that the crab was merely grazing, not trying to destroy it.
The coral is teeny – it’s about the size of a small aiptasia, but it’s NOT an aptasia…
It’s a soft flesh coral, which has a foot and very clearly moves around when it’s not happy where it’s put. (It’s currently under a water bottle bottom with holes poked in it. It seems to be okay there, and is attaching to a shell.)
It’s a very pretty lime green color, but I’ve seen it change shades to a sandy colored base as well.
The tentacles are greenish with some warmer tones too.
It has a clearly defined mouth.
It did not actively take mysis, flake or bloodworm for food, not sure what it is or how to feed it, but figured I’d try and see what happened.
For what it’s worth – I have a maroon clown in the tank who is VERY interested in this, and seems to want to either eat it or host it, I’m not sure which. (hence why it’s under a cup right now).
I apologize for the crappy pictures My brother took my phone when he was going snowboarding and fell on the phone. Ever since I can’t get a decent picture.
Please help me identify this. Thanks!
My Stalkers
