A Timeline of My Day
This is how my day went:
I took my car to the garage to get a new tie-rod. I like my mechanics a lot, so I wasn't too upset that I had to wait a bit longer than anticipated. I had told my boss that I'd be late for work, and I spent my time reading, talking to and joking with the mechanics until my car was done.
I was in a very good mood when I got to work, so much so that I was joking with everyone (a marked change from the last few... uh... months, when I've been pretty subdued there because I was so unhappy).
One coworker went to lunch, and another went on an errand, and I was left alone with my boss, who immediately sat beside me and said that she had bad news. I was being let go... in two weeks. July 30th would be my last day.
I sat there for the rest of the day, seething and mortified and defiant all at once. Of course everyone else in the office knew.
I had been told, while these two coworkers were out of the office, that two schools had complained about me. One I knew about, and my boss had yelled at me about this school all spring, before finally admitting (with no apology) that I was not entirely or even mostly at fault. The other school is one I'd never had a problem with, so I was surprised that they'd had a problem with me.
Also, two teaching artists had complained about me. Again, one I knew about, and several times over the past year I had complained about how hard it was to get in touch with him to my boss, who had agreed and said that they'd had several problems with him over the years. The one concrete instance of a problem he'd had with my work was actually something that my boss had handled. Of course, he was never told that. The other teaching artist is, again, one that I'd never had a problem with, so it shocked me that she was so against me.
And two of my coworkers wanted me gone. I wasn't told who, exactly, but I have my ideas.
Of course I was looking for another job, and everyone in the office knew it, through no fault of my own. I can't help but think that this is one reason why I'm being let go. Another reason I can think of is that I don't participate in all of the backbiting, the sycophantism, the oversharing that goes on daily.
I was, until recently, naive enough to believe that if I stayed out of the office politics, I would be safe from the very thing that is happening to me now, BECAUSE I held myself separate from all of the badness of office life.
I've been told that they won't fight my unemployment. The next two weeks are going to be a special form of torture, but I'll get through it, and I'll spend as much time as I can looking for a new job. It's not the end of the world. It never is.
I took my car to the garage to get a new tie-rod. I like my mechanics a lot, so I wasn't too upset that I had to wait a bit longer than anticipated. I had told my boss that I'd be late for work, and I spent my time reading, talking to and joking with the mechanics until my car was done.
I was in a very good mood when I got to work, so much so that I was joking with everyone (a marked change from the last few... uh... months, when I've been pretty subdued there because I was so unhappy).
One coworker went to lunch, and another went on an errand, and I was left alone with my boss, who immediately sat beside me and said that she had bad news. I was being let go... in two weeks. July 30th would be my last day.
I sat there for the rest of the day, seething and mortified and defiant all at once. Of course everyone else in the office knew.
I had been told, while these two coworkers were out of the office, that two schools had complained about me. One I knew about, and my boss had yelled at me about this school all spring, before finally admitting (with no apology) that I was not entirely or even mostly at fault. The other school is one I'd never had a problem with, so I was surprised that they'd had a problem with me.
Also, two teaching artists had complained about me. Again, one I knew about, and several times over the past year I had complained about how hard it was to get in touch with him to my boss, who had agreed and said that they'd had several problems with him over the years. The one concrete instance of a problem he'd had with my work was actually something that my boss had handled. Of course, he was never told that. The other teaching artist is, again, one that I'd never had a problem with, so it shocked me that she was so against me.
And two of my coworkers wanted me gone. I wasn't told who, exactly, but I have my ideas.
Of course I was looking for another job, and everyone in the office knew it, through no fault of my own. I can't help but think that this is one reason why I'm being let go. Another reason I can think of is that I don't participate in all of the backbiting, the sycophantism, the oversharing that goes on daily.
I was, until recently, naive enough to believe that if I stayed out of the office politics, I would be safe from the very thing that is happening to me now, BECAUSE I held myself separate from all of the badness of office life.
I've been told that they won't fight my unemployment. The next two weeks are going to be a special form of torture, but I'll get through it, and I'll spend as much time as I can looking for a new job. It's not the end of the world. It never is.
Comments