Today I received my "official" reduction in forces notice. It started with some b.s. like "It is with great regret that I inform you that as of November 13, 2009 your position number 00001674 will be (fill in euphemism for 'you're canned')." I laughed as I read it and noted that it was addressed to me at my home address. Like they couldn't spare the postage. I say this as my supervisor hand delivered it to me. He by the way, had to drive a state vehicle from Waianae to Kapolei, back to Waianae and back to Kapolei again to complete this task. I had to sign the paper and give a copy to my supervisor so he could give it to his boss. I, being the little sassy bitch that I am, signed mine in black Sharpie! Hope everyone is happy.
I have to admit, I was a little giddy when I signed it. It's like I need something larger than myself to get me to leave this pathetic life draining job that I have. I had some great one-liners as I along with 2 other co-workers sat in the conference/lunch room with our boss (herein referred to as "WO"). WO says, "Hey there Raylani, you seem a little too happy about this. Do you want to sit down and talk about it?" THIS?!?!?! from a guy who never encourages anyone or praises anyone??? Talk about it? What is there to talk about? I'm done. My stint is over. Your confidant and minion is going to be history in 90 days. Who you gonna lean on now, WO? (*Erase that question when the RIF does not go through.)
As I read this poorly written letter, I see in the third paragraph that I HAVE TO RE-APPLY! Well, of course they don't use the word 'apply', but that is what is implied. It says to please visit some website on the government's page. Click here and click there and if you are too dumb, you can ask for a hard copy to mailed to you. It's a total ploy to confuse people so they do not re-apply for their jobs. It also said that all electronic submissions must be transmitted by midnight August 18, 2009.
At around 3:45 today, I decided to see what this RIF web page was all about. After navigating the not-so-user-friendly page, I finally came to the APPLICATION! Are you kidding me??? It is a full-blown app! Plus some other survey thing. Like personnel really does not know what I have been up to for the last almost 6 years? Since I have no choice, I start the process. I had to make a user name and all. Name. Address. Phone number. Non-government e-mail address. Education. Work Experience. References. OMMFG!!! (figure that one out...) I complete it and attach my work resume to it. Who am I kidding? I can't be all smug and stand up against the proverbial man...in this case man-woman. I have 2 kids. I need the medical for my family. Have you any idea what that feels like dear reader? The stress is astronomical. For me, the being forced to do something against my will is torture itself. Why must I go through all of these circus hoops to provide a service to the State of Hawaii and the (hmmmm....not sure what adjective to use here, so I will play it safe and leave it blank. Pretend this is a mad-lib) people that live here?
WO was standing over my shoulder asking me if I had checked out the site and what was on it. I told him I had to re-apply. I was stuck on the skills part of the application. What were my skills? Using the f-word in many variations was not something I was going to put on there (although quite useful in my line of work). Making fun of people to their faces without them catching on is not another winner in this situation. Hmmm...I had no further skills. So WO (keep in mind not the helpful or caring type..wait.. he's a social worker...go figure) says, "Um, social networking, you're good at that. How about computer skills? You know how to use the computer really good." WTF? Did I jump into some strange universe where WO cares? Has it finally hit him that I am a valuable asset to him? Has he finally realized that through all these years, I have always..for lack of better cliche...had his back?? Probably not.
What I realized today is that I really don't know what I need or want to be fulfilled in the area of career. When you are a little kid, things are so easy. "Hi little girl, what do you want to be when you grow up?" "A ballet dancer". "A teacher". "A nurse". Simple. No one says I would like to work for the state in a position where I will be taken advantage of, used and abused (literally in my case) and be made to feel unimportant. Now that's dreaming!
What would make me feel satisfied, like I did something important or contributed something to society? I came to this conclusion. Although my dream job is sitting in a dark room with only a computer with internet access, no telephone and very little human interaction I don't know what it is that I do all day exactly. So maybe I could try my hand at this: surfing the web, criticizing people, making up stories about what they do/say/live their lives, social networking all day, correcting people's grammar and spelling, shopping and giving people MY take on things. Does anyone know what kind of job that is and where I can get one like it?
I have to admit, I was a little giddy when I signed it. It's like I need something larger than myself to get me to leave this pathetic life draining job that I have. I had some great one-liners as I along with 2 other co-workers sat in the conference/lunch room with our boss (herein referred to as "WO"). WO says, "Hey there Raylani, you seem a little too happy about this. Do you want to sit down and talk about it?" THIS?!?!?! from a guy who never encourages anyone or praises anyone??? Talk about it? What is there to talk about? I'm done. My stint is over. Your confidant and minion is going to be history in 90 days. Who you gonna lean on now, WO? (*Erase that question when the RIF does not go through.)
As I read this poorly written letter, I see in the third paragraph that I HAVE TO RE-APPLY! Well, of course they don't use the word 'apply', but that is what is implied. It says to please visit some website on the government's page. Click here and click there and if you are too dumb, you can ask for a hard copy to mailed to you. It's a total ploy to confuse people so they do not re-apply for their jobs. It also said that all electronic submissions must be transmitted by midnight August 18, 2009.
At around 3:45 today, I decided to see what this RIF web page was all about. After navigating the not-so-user-friendly page, I finally came to the APPLICATION! Are you kidding me??? It is a full-blown app! Plus some other survey thing. Like personnel really does not know what I have been up to for the last almost 6 years? Since I have no choice, I start the process. I had to make a user name and all. Name. Address. Phone number. Non-government e-mail address. Education. Work Experience. References. OMMFG!!! (figure that one out...) I complete it and attach my work resume to it. Who am I kidding? I can't be all smug and stand up against the proverbial man...in this case man-woman. I have 2 kids. I need the medical for my family. Have you any idea what that feels like dear reader? The stress is astronomical. For me, the being forced to do something against my will is torture itself. Why must I go through all of these circus hoops to provide a service to the State of Hawaii and the (hmmmm....not sure what adjective to use here, so I will play it safe and leave it blank. Pretend this is a mad-lib) people that live here?
WO was standing over my shoulder asking me if I had checked out the site and what was on it. I told him I had to re-apply. I was stuck on the skills part of the application. What were my skills? Using the f-word in many variations was not something I was going to put on there (although quite useful in my line of work). Making fun of people to their faces without them catching on is not another winner in this situation. Hmmm...I had no further skills. So WO (keep in mind not the helpful or caring type..wait.. he's a social worker...go figure) says, "Um, social networking, you're good at that. How about computer skills? You know how to use the computer really good." WTF? Did I jump into some strange universe where WO cares? Has it finally hit him that I am a valuable asset to him? Has he finally realized that through all these years, I have always..for lack of better cliche...had his back?? Probably not.
What I realized today is that I really don't know what I need or want to be fulfilled in the area of career. When you are a little kid, things are so easy. "Hi little girl, what do you want to be when you grow up?" "A ballet dancer". "A teacher". "A nurse". Simple. No one says I would like to work for the state in a position where I will be taken advantage of, used and abused (literally in my case) and be made to feel unimportant. Now that's dreaming!
What would make me feel satisfied, like I did something important or contributed something to society? I came to this conclusion. Although my dream job is sitting in a dark room with only a computer with internet access, no telephone and very little human interaction I don't know what it is that I do all day exactly. So maybe I could try my hand at this: surfing the web, criticizing people, making up stories about what they do/say/live their lives, social networking all day, correcting people's grammar and spelling, shopping and giving people MY take on things. Does anyone know what kind of job that is and where I can get one like it?
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