Sunday, June 26, 2011

Well, I meant to blog but I didn't

Last I wrote, I was handing in my resignation. I meant to blog more about what was going on, but it just didn't happen. For the four weeks intervening the BOMB of a staff meeting and my last day of work, many many many things happened.

So, lets back up to the staff meeting.

Basically, new hours of work and a couple of new expectations meant that school and my job at the daycare became mutually incompatible. This was to take effect July 1. I had time, or so I thought.

Mom and I discussed how things could work financially. That was actually the easy part.

Then came benefits, I would lose those, and can't get them through school. I have a lot of medications that I take daily. Not good.

Then came no childcare subsidy, because subsidy won't support parents who work casually. Shit.

Then came getting to the dentist before my benefits end, and a cavity that needed filling. At this point I had three weeks left.

Then I sat down and worked out how much sick time I had used and how many vacation days I had used. You see, we don't have to earn our time off before we use it, and we must use it before we can have an unpaid day off. Its a really awful system, that means if you leave in the middle of the year, chances are you owe them time/money. I will never work for a company that does that ever again. NEVER.
I had been sick in the Spring, the kids had been sick a few times, it all added up to more sick days than I had earned. Thankfully, I had only used half the vacation time I had earned. That helped. But then, I had my main vacation booked for June. Shit. And due to another policy, I had to take at least half my time in a block of Monday to Friday. That meant that I would be using 7 vacation days in June. I would have used all but one day by June 15. If I stayed until the beginning of July it would mean I would work from June 20 to June 30 for FREE. Yep, I would make nothing.

This realization, that I would be working virtually for nothing for two whole weeks was not sitting well with me. When everything started, I had about six weeks to figure everything out. But I was not working for free, which cut me back to quitting the day BEFORE I left for England, giving me three weeks to sort things out. Double SHIT

Oh, and now I had to research travel insurance because I wouldn't have any emergency medical coverage. Add another thing to the colossal to do list.

Everything got done, I ended my job on June 8th. And I didn't owe them anything. I went to England, had a spectacular time, and arrived home eager for my next challenge.

Now let's back up to the night of the staff meeting again.

My Mom and I agreed before she went home that I was quitting my job. That meant it was time to start a job search. I started that night. I emailed a friend who is the supervisor at another daycare. She had said to call her if I was ever looking for work (the highest compliment ever!).

I received a response on my break the next day, to fill her in when I had the details, and gather up my documents.

I'm now working for her for the summer, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

:)
Gotta love the rewards of being pro active.

Next challenge solved: I have enough work to sustain things around here, and have a little to continue my dream of becoming debt free.