Thursday, July 28, 2011

My Unexpected Extended Vacation

As a single mom being able to take a big vacation is something I never planned on doing. First of all, I never figured I would be able to afford it. Second, I couldn't imagine taking off on some big vacation with just me and my daughter.


Fortunately, this year an opportunity to take a vacation to Florida with my daughter became available, and I jumped at it. I had money in savings to cover the cost. I had PTO saved up, so I could take the vacation without losing any pay. My aunt invited us to join her, her husband, and her grandson at their timeshare, so I immediately began planning.


I took off a week and a half from work to have time to get ready, go to Florida, and then re coop before returning to work. We went to Florida for a week and had an amazing time. We spent five days at Disney and a day at Sea World. It was wonderful! We both had a great time, and when we returned home I felt rejuvenated and ready to go back to work.


Saying I was ready to go back to work is a big deal, because my job had been causing me nothing but grief for almost a year. My supervisor and I were not getting along, and every morning I had to drag myself out of bed to go. I hated my job. I read somewhere that if you work somewhere that you're not happy "you die a little each day". This is truly how I felt.


Anyhow, after our wonderful vacation I felt rejuvenated and ready to go back to work and make the most of it. I hopped out of bed the morning of my return to work and was ready to head in early. I knew with my long vacation there would be a lot to do, and I was ready to jump in.


My supervisor met me at my cubicle immediately after I walked in and said the owner wanted to talk to me. I figured it was about something that needed to be done or maybe about our annual reviews which were coming up at the end of the month. It didn't matter what he wanted. I figured I'd run in and get back to work.


When I walked into his office, I immediately realized this wasn't a normal meeting he wanted to have. My supervisor closed the door after I entered and sat down in a chair off to the side. Neither seemed to want to make eye contact, and I sat down wondering what the heck was going on. It didn't take long to find out. My boss looked up and said "I really don't like doing this, but I'm afraid we're letting you go."


I sat there in disbelief. My head was spinning trying to figure out what was happening. Was this some sort of sick joke? Was he serious? Why wouldn't my supervisor look at me?


He continued on by saying "We know you haven't been happy here and you haven't been able to get the amount of work done that we need."


At this point, I realized he wasn't kidding. This was no joke. He was serious. The one day I came into work feeling happy and ready to go...I got canned.


Then with a shaky hand, he slid an envelope across the desk to me and said "We are giving you a check for your remaining PTO and a generous severance check." (There was a long pause) Then he asked, "Is there anything you would like to say?"


I was speechless.


He said he would be happy to provide me with a good reference for my next job, and said my supervisor would help me clean out my desk.


I looked up and took my envelope. He looked like he was going to cry and my supervisor wouldn't look at me. I stood up and walked to my cubicle and immediately began cleaning out my things. My supervisor brought me a box and asked if she could help. I said "No."


It seemed to take forever to clean everything out. It was amazing how much crap I had accumulated in the almost four years I was there. I think I was still in shock the entire time. I couldn't think about anything except boxing up my things. I was terrified someone would come over and ask what was going on, and I'd have a complete break down. I just wanted to get my shit in the stupid box and get out of there.


When I was finally all packed up. My supervisor asked for my keys and walked me out. It took every bit of strength not to scream at her for being a bitch or break down in hysterical sobs. She made it sound like it was another person's fault that I was leaving, but it was her. I knew it was her.


I threw my box in my back seat and plopped into the driver's seat. I tried to keep my composure until I got home, but the tears were flowing beyond my control. I wasn't sad to have lost a job I hated. I couldn't believe I was fired. I've never been fired before, and the idea of dealing with it was horrifying.


I just wanted a vacation with my daughter. Our week in Florida was perfect. Now I don't have a job, and I have no idea when my "vacation" will end.

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