Right on the heels of getting out of debt for the first time in 13 years, I’m now hearing that my old supervisor will be returning to my section this week for the first time in 9 years. When I started working this job he was my first “boss,” and it wasn’t too long before I promptly got written up because I had dared to call an outside agency to ask them for advice on how we could make our section more productive and efficient. Back then I didn’t know then that doing such a thing was a no-no, even if my only intention was to help.

I had only been on the job for 3 months, and I was pretty green in the gills and naively thinking I could change the world then, only to get quickly smacked down by reality and a stupid dweeb of a supervisor. The whole experience had left a bitter taste in my mouth ever since.

In all fairness, I don’t think he intended to be malicious, he just wanted to cover his wide trailer, but I didn’t appreciate how he had talked down to me in his droning, Ben Stein voice when it happened. There were probably a dozen ways he could have handled it better and instead he chose the worst way, leaving me with a “friendly” reprimand on my record not even 3 stupid, fricking months into my job. He was unfriendly, uncomfortable to be around with, and micromanaged the most mundane things that had absolutely no relevance to the work we did. To top it off, the dude had no personality at all, I mean seriously NONE, almost as if he had been born without a soul. Ben Stein has nothing on this guy.

That’s why I was glad when he transferred out to what he must have thought were greener pastures. We went through a cocktail variety of supervisors since then, until the last one retired in a hurry and officially left us without a manager again. I ended up taking the supervisor’s desk, since there was no other place to sit, and carved out a little corner for myself in our section that kept me comfortable and boss-free for 2 years.

Recently however, they phased out Mr. No Personality’s position, forcing him to come back to our department once again, although not our specific area (yet). He had clearly done everything he could to avoid getting transferred back to our section, but it looks like the clock finally runs out this week. Judging from the look on his face every time I see him, I can see his untriumphant return as our manager is going to be a real pleasure.

When he does come back, one of two things may happen. He may play it smart and have maintenance carve out some office space for himself, or he may pull rank and evict me out of the desk I’m using now. The reason this is a big issue is because I work with 4 other coworkers, and they all have desks and computers to use. I would have to go back to standing around and waiting for someone to either take a meal break or go home before I finally had a desk that I could access and work on, this despite the fact that I’ve been here 9 YEARS. I swear it’d be like high school all over again, just floating around, never finding a group or a spot where I could finally feel at home.

Yep, this is gonna be fun. Of course, after several years on the job I’m not so green in the gills anymore, and Mr. No Personality will find I’m not the pushover I used to be when I rip his soul-less dweeb monkey’s face off the minute he starts in on me. There’s a reason why nobody wants to oversee our section ya know.

Ironically enough, while there’s no place for him to go, a wave of early retirements that began last week have opened up over 20 new positions for me to potentially choose from, depending on how my seniority compares to others vying for the same job. I know absolutely nothing about these openings though, the hours I’d work, what the people I’d work with are like or what the job entails, only that they’re now looking for people. This is the first time in several years that new openings in my department finally presented themselves, so it’s not something I can just blow off either.

Honestly, the thing that has always held me back from vigorously pursuing opportunities like this was my night pay. My night pay accounts for $300 of my monthly salary, and because a contract concession forces me to work two days a month without pay for 6 months, just the simple act of transferring to another assignment would incur a loss of over $500 a month in income, at least until December.

I hate the thought of losing that much money a month, but if it there was ever a time I could stand to lose it, that time would be now. I no longer need to worry about any debts cramping my finances, and the loss of night pay would just mean I’d have to wait a little bit longer before getting enough cash together to put down for a new apartment and move out. What’s a few months and a few dollars really if it means finally getting out of a job I have loathed for 9 years?

Assuming of course the new job I get doesn’t turn out to be even worse than the old one.

Tomorrow I’ll try to find out more info about these openings and see what’s what. I have to admit the timing of these recent events is pretty curious, and I wonder whether it might be a sign that I finally need to go? After 9 years, as much as I’ve whined and complained about my work, I’ve still gotten pretty comfortable in my job and resistant to change. Facing the great unknown thrills me in a way, but it also frightens me too. I’ve been conditioned to believe that nothing good can ever happen to me when it comes to life changing events like this, and if I do wind up working a job someplace else, I fear it will be ten times worse than what I’m doing now. I wonder if it’s better to deal with the devil I know than charge into the great unknown, even if the devil I DO know ends up forcing me to give up my desk.

I guess I’ll know more by this week’s end what will happen. Heck, I’ve already experienced one life altering event by finally becoming debt-free, so why stop there?

Tags: boss, coworker, coworkers, debts, desk, income, job, opportunities, reprimand, supervisor, transfer
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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So the other day the thought occurred to me, “Why not apply to the local law school here part-time?”

The idea made perfect sense. For one, I wouldn’t have to uproot myself and move to another state, and more importantly, I wouldn’t have to give up my job either. I’d also have a chance to try it for a semester to see if it’s something I can really do, instead of investing thousands upon thousands of dollars only to end up realizing it isn’t for me. Plus, the school is literally just down the road from where I work and they also allow you to attend part time during the day, meaning I wouldn’t have to change my hours either (since I work in the evenings rather than during normal working hours.)

Even though it’s an ultra-liberal school, nobody says I have to STAY there. If things work out and I ace the first semester, I can tell them to sod off and then transfer to my school of choice. It really would be a good way for me to test the waters, because if I can ace the first semester at a secular, whacked out leftist school while working a full time job on top of it, then I’ll know I’m on to something here.

But, there’s still the matter of getting accepted first. They have an early decision process where I could apply and bind myself to attending only that school if they accept me. I believe I’m given priority consideration if I take this route, so it’s very tempting. Early Decision (ED) requires me not to apply to another other school under the same early decision process, and to withdraw my application to any school once and if I’m accepted to this one.

Slight problem though…

I’ve already been admitted (though deferred) at another law school in Virginia, the one I’ve been planning to attend last year. Since my admission has been deferred, then technically, I haven’t really applied to any schools this year. But… if I am accepted at the local school, then I’d have to withdraw my admission to the one in Virginia. Maybe. Or maybe… I could just play stupid…

I don’t want to have to commit to attending the local school just yet, but I do want the advantage of being an ED applicant. Could I pull a fast one here? I can’t see how they’d be able to find out. There’s no record of me having applied to any other schools this year, and there won’t be.

But, Providence seems to have stepped in, as I couldn’t get the ED form to come up on my online application to save my own life. It simply refused to merge with the main application. Very curious. So I finally gave up and applied under the regular process. Ah well… whatever will be, will be.

Tags: ace, admission, application, early decision, evenings, law school, liberal school, local school, nerd, part time, sod, transfer
Categories: Legally Speaking
 
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