When Good News Is Bad News, And How To Break It Gently
Sat Jun 28 2008

I want to start by saying that I really don’t mind working at Sears, and if I had no ambitions or goals I would happily toil away for years making peanuts. Correction, I don’t even make peanuts, I make pe. And that’s if I’m lucky enough to get a week in which I work more than 15 hours. The people are nice, the job is easy, and very little thought really goes into it other than remembering to not punch in more than 6 minutes early, or 6 minutes late. Heaven forbid you punch in 6 minutes early and 6 minutes late ON THE SAME DAY. Butt chewing ensues in these cases, because (gasp) that gives you TWELVE WHOLE EXTRA MINUTES in the day, and if you are lucky enough to get three days in one week of doing this, they are FORCED to pay you for an additional 36 WHOLE MINUTES! But I digress.

The job I’m in has only two people working in it (OK, there actually is a third, but she only works on Sundays, never on any other day). Out of everyone working in the store, only two of us know how to do what we do. We have been telling every member of management since almost day one that I got there, that they really need to have at least one or two other employees learn how to do the job in case something were to happen to one of us. Our suggestions, and pleas for this have been dismissed or outright ignored.

Which leads me to what I intended to write about…

Wednesday Hubby gets a call from a gentleman he knows, who let him know about an opening where he works (a local government oriented, but not military agency). It is a contract position, and they had been having a dickens of a time filling the slot. This un-named gentleman gave Hubby the specifics, and encouraged me to forward my resume to a point of contact he was kind enough to provide. So, I forward an e-mail with a cover letter/letter of introduction and my attached resume to the point of contact (who shall be referred to as J).

4:15 that afternoon J calls me on the phone and we do a brief phone interview. He lets me know that he would like to meet face-to-face, and would I be available Friday? We arranged to meet in his office Friday morning at 11. It was a bit of a drive, and Hubby happened to have the day off, so we made something of a day of it together. Hubby brought along the portable DVD player and Star Wars to watch while I was interviewing. Since we had no plans other that my interview, we were looking forward to spending the day together just tooling around while we could still moderately afford a tank of gas for the PT.

I get to my interview and introduce myself to J, and am interviewed by J and another person in his agency. We chit-chat a bit, get into the meat of the interview, and to my shock and delight I was given a verbal job offer on the spot, pending background checks coming back clean and references checking out. 40 hours a week at a LOT more than the peanuts I make in a good pay period at Sears.

I don’t think my feet have touched the floor since the interview!

I will be meeting J on Wednesday at the actual location of the job, giving him paperwork and meeting some of the folks I’ll be working with/for. Then (again depending on background check, references and other paperwork) I will be starting work on Monday July 7, which brings me back to why I started this entry with the comments about working at Sears.

I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way into work this morning, and when my boss was free I went into her office, setting down an offering of dark chocolate and a box of tissues before seating myself. When she asked what they were for, I let her know that I start a new job on July 7, and after next week I will only be able to work on Saturdays until they can find a replacement for me.

She took it surprisingly well. I expect that to change as it sinks in, and when she realizes that the one other person in the job is going on vacation the day after I start my new position.

I’m excited about this. So much so that I repeat to Hubby at least twice an hour how excited I am. While he is excited for me, he’s starting to get tired of my expressions of the emotion. I’ll have to start expressing them to the kids. And the neighbors. And EVERYONE in my telephone list. And…

12 Comments
  • From:
    Franisbueno (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    oh my gosh!!! I'm so excited for you!!! It is currently 0008, so I will wait until later to call and get details!!! Hooray!
  • From:
    DancingButterfly (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    congratulations! You absolutely deserve this! Hooray!
  • From:
    Jamisinc (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Congratulations (pending background checks, etc. LOL)
  • From:
    SummerPlace (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Congrats!!

    Summer

    (still giggling at "I don?t even make peanuts, I make pe")
  • From:
    ImNotLisa (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Congratulations!! That is fabulous news!
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Mazal Tov to you too! ImNotLisa got a raise, you got a new job! It's a great day here at Dear Diary!
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    WoooooooooHoooooooooo! Congrats!
  • From:
    Richardsworld (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Hot Damn and Congratulations. Sounds like a great opportunity and you certainly deserve it.
    Big Hugs, Richard
  • From:
    InStitches (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 29 2008
    Congratulations!

    No more peanuts for you....... pass the gravy! :)
  • From:
    BakeACake (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Jun 30 2008
    Congratulations on your new job!! What will you be doing?? I'm very glad for you. That is awesome.
  • From:
    Kaliko88 (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Jun 30 2008
    This is just too funny and coincidental. My SIL just did the same thing, and the other two managers (her position is not being filled) will have to *gasp* actually work! She didn't bother with the chocolate and tissues, though. She doesn't like her boss. :)

    >^..^<
  • From:
    Salamander (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Jul 03 2008
    heh he I like your approach. If I cared much about my company, I'd do the same thing when my time comes. Frankly, I intend to keep the chocolate when it's my turn, though.