The Sopranos In Loincloths
Mo turned on the Tudors in order to view the season-ending episode and the first scene involved some guy suffering a flaming death at the stake. There is ample fornicating, treachery, and violence to go around. If Rome was the Sopranos in togas then the Tudors is the Sopranos in doublets.
So last Thursday's call about the job that wasn't has been followed by confirmatory meetings, phone calls, commiserations & c. It turns out that "these are the rules" and "no there's nothing we can do" and "we work in an uncaring system... we don't care!" govern the situation. We know we have ourselves to blame for this predicament. We do not understand the arcanery of the language employed in collective agreements. I can no more easily navigate the Bering sea with a bottle cap and a flashlight than that document. So now Mo will not return to work in a month as planned. She will stay at home (so to speak) for a number of months more while we try to figure out what's next.
We are reasonably secure in terms of financial prospects and Mo can now spend more time with our kiddies. Mo can consider her career options, like more book learnin', or other jobs in library land, and that is very cool. But for this situation we may not have looked at what prospects there are. We are, in other words, lucky to have this problem.
The manner in which this has come down has been a mite unsettling. The "notice" of this procedure was vague and nearly incomprehensible. Mo did not have the hammer dropped, so to speak, until one month before her anticipated return to work and after we had gotten ourselves organized for the event (for once!). I don't like seeing Mo upset and this has been, hmm, upsetting. Again, I know we are in good shape, and we probably should have seen this coming, but still, fuck!
I can only speak for myself (unless paid to do otherwise) but I must say that Mo's employer, which I will not identify herein, is a... words fail. Cockwad.
Signed,
Sascha Pluperfect Hound.
Labels: black clouds, silver linings
posted by p-man at 9:42 p.m.
6 Comments:
Argh fucking bureaucracy and the people who administer it. A grand, hearty smiting to them all.
Condolences.. may that shining, silver path present itself just in time.
Neat! The google-bloogger identity box knows my name! I feel so exposed.
I can't convey to you both how outraged I am by this. There's something to be said for the bureaucracy being f-d up in this instance and there's something to be said for the union being messed up as well but, ultimately, I'm kinda seething as a feminist right now: a mother takes an extended mat leave that her workplace says she is entitled to and then her job is gone when she returns? It would be one thing if you weren't entitled to the leave in the first place BUT to be granted it without anyone saying anything about your actual job going down the river? That stinks. It's no bloody wonder we have a declining birthrate in this country. The union needs to get the memo that in the next round of bargaining, it ought to be a priority to tie a woman's job to her parental leave. Anything else defies logic. But then, you won't be working there to help push the issue nor will other mothers in all likelihood. Grrr.
Cockwad doesn't go quite far enough, P-man.
Ever yours, Delilah Metric Canary. Also a huge fan of Dead Dog. In fact, I think you need Jasper Friendly Bear in your corner fighting for you.
p-man,
You posted a photo of an egghead your daughter made for you in playschool (Happy to be Daddy). I am a school teacher in the UK and would like to use the picture on some badges I'm making up for my class - is that ok by you as the copyright holder?
Thanks
cockwad is a lovely word and deserves its own doublet, but the news itself is just...appalling.
and like Mad said, outrageous. extension of parental leave - particularly in the wondrous bureaucratic sea - should simply, clearly have zero possible connection to job loss.
it's not Mo's fault and i hope she eventually gets that message. but until then, just lots of empathy. and smiting to the cockwads.
Wow, I missed all kinds of stuff in my month of being too busy to visit everybody all the time! Gah! Can they just whisk away a job like that? Are you at least getting some kind of severance business? It's nice that you're being all philosophical about deciding what you want because I'd be pissed at being forced to be adrift at a time when I had not had a chance to prepare myself for it. But maybe that's my issue... Anyhow, I hope your cloud has a platinum lining and all things turn out perfectly. Yes, I'm a cock-eyed optimist, and I hope I am right!
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