*sigh*
No one has told me, "Hey, your last day is X," but I am a contractor and my contract has a week left in it with no renewals pending. Add to that the big to-do the week of the 8th when everyone had to be in the office the whole week for "scheduled meetings with HR".
Contract was last renewed in late September, for one month starting 10/1, ending 11/1, and the (blank) timecard for next week ends 11/1, Thursday, instead of 11/3, Saturday.
The problem is that September of last year was when the Fort Meyers call center went live, and they are moving all support functions down there except for a handful of Corporate support people who will stay on in Illinois. But a contractor is extremely easy and cheap to lay off, so I'm the very first on the chopping block.
Such is life.
...integrated all these facts and came to a bad conclusion. I expected to be given the hidey ho on the 8th, and I waited on tenterhooks for the fall of the axe. But Fri the 12th came and went without anyone saying a word to me. Sure it would be the 15th (because Oct 15 is a bad-luck day for me) I soldiered on, but no news. On the 20th I finally sent my supervisor an email laying out my observations and asking WTF was going on.
She explained what the meetings had been about, confirmed there were no amendments pending to the contract, and advised me, "You should probably have your resume ready." That was Monday afternoon, the 22nd.
I'm unhappy about this, but I wasn't promised a rose garden, so I soldier onward like a professional. It's not unfair, nor is it even bad business. This is what it is, and this is what I knew it was going in. I wanted to stay on there, to be hired full-time, but because they're shifting everything to Florida, my wishes aren't really all that important.
That chapter is not closed, though; I have two apps in for full-time positions there for which I am eminently qualified. We'll see how that goes. I'm not being fired for poor performance, and I'm not the only person in the call center who's going to be losing his job; this is a layoff. And because it's not a performance thing, that door's not closed.
Meanwhile, once I knew the scoop I contacted my recruiter at the agency, and she's got a position almost exactly like this one that I'd fit nicely. The schedule is a little rough--12-hour days on weekends, 7a to 8p, plus two other days during the week--but it's entirely work from home for the same money I'm making now. No gas, no tolls, which is anywhere from $70-100 per week I'm not spending. That's like getting a $280 a month raise, right there.
And three days off per week.
It all sounds too good to be true; then again my current job at $Major_Hardware sounded too good to be true, too, but that was the best job I've had in an extremely long time. Sure, it's had its moments, but every job does, and if it was unalloyed bliss they wouldn't have to pay you to do it.
I will miss the Saturdays where I had so little to do that I watched anime all day. I will miss the handy cafeteria. I will miss lots of things. But as far as jobs go, it was damned nice, and I liked it.
Still: having a good solid lead lined up takes a lot of stress out of it. Still gotta interview etc so it's not in the bag, but hearing what my wife has to say about trying to hire good (or even decent) employees makes me think I might just have a shot. Here's hoping!