New Office
Today I started in a new office. I still work for the same old government agency, but now a different part of it.
I transferred offices partly because after nine and a half years in one office, it was time for a change. And now that I have recovered my strength, I can handle the change. I hope to get back into more mathematics.
I transferred also because of a depressing event. Eight months ago, my bosses tried to fire me. Okay, I exaggerate a little. My team chief and branch chief had dropped a six-week evaluation program on me. If I had failed, I would have automatically been fired. For a year after I succeeded, I still can be fired if I was unproductive at any time (for as little as a single day, the representative from the personnel department said). My branch chief said he was forced to start the evaluation. Really, what forced him was his own carelessness. He did not check what all his options were, and he overreacted when I slowed down due to the July heat wave.
I didn't post anything to this livejournal at the time, because my management started this the Monday I returned from dropping Xelona and Riverlark off at college. I didn't want to post news that would distract them from their new classes.
I don't believe in karma, but sometimes God's sense of humor has a similar effect. The timing was awful--for my management. The heat wave had ended and I was back to full speed. I finished the six-week goals in four weeks. My performance since then has been unfailingly good, and my bosses admitted it. Due to my bad ratings on record, it took me a while to find another office that would take me, and then because my old office was in a desperate crush I stayed a little longer to finish up my current project. I have eight months of productivity to prove to my former bosses that they alienated a worker that it will hurt to lose. My former branch chief will probably lie to himself that nothing was his fault, but my former team chief is smart and honest enough to realize that he messed up.
My new office calls itself "the lab" and my new coworkers left a squeaky-toy rat, "the lab rat", on my desk as a welcoming gesture. I have known one of them for a few years, because he and I are in a group of lunchtime Magic The Gathering players. So I think I will fit in.
My fatigue illness has been in remission of fourteen months, making this the second longest period of remission so far. I have built up my stamina to pre-fatigue levels. My newer problem, the osteoarthritis in my left knee, is under control. I still walk with a cane, but that is now only a precaution to avoid straining my knee. I could walk without it, and I do so whenever I need two hands to carry something. I am losing five pounds a month on my diet, so I should down to a safe weight in a year.
Erin Schram
I transferred offices partly because after nine and a half years in one office, it was time for a change. And now that I have recovered my strength, I can handle the change. I hope to get back into more mathematics.
I transferred also because of a depressing event. Eight months ago, my bosses tried to fire me. Okay, I exaggerate a little. My team chief and branch chief had dropped a six-week evaluation program on me. If I had failed, I would have automatically been fired. For a year after I succeeded, I still can be fired if I was unproductive at any time (for as little as a single day, the representative from the personnel department said). My branch chief said he was forced to start the evaluation. Really, what forced him was his own carelessness. He did not check what all his options were, and he overreacted when I slowed down due to the July heat wave.
I didn't post anything to this livejournal at the time, because my management started this the Monday I returned from dropping Xelona and Riverlark off at college. I didn't want to post news that would distract them from their new classes.
I don't believe in karma, but sometimes God's sense of humor has a similar effect. The timing was awful--for my management. The heat wave had ended and I was back to full speed. I finished the six-week goals in four weeks. My performance since then has been unfailingly good, and my bosses admitted it. Due to my bad ratings on record, it took me a while to find another office that would take me, and then because my old office was in a desperate crush I stayed a little longer to finish up my current project. I have eight months of productivity to prove to my former bosses that they alienated a worker that it will hurt to lose. My former branch chief will probably lie to himself that nothing was his fault, but my former team chief is smart and honest enough to realize that he messed up.
My new office calls itself "the lab" and my new coworkers left a squeaky-toy rat, "the lab rat", on my desk as a welcoming gesture. I have known one of them for a few years, because he and I are in a group of lunchtime Magic The Gathering players. So I think I will fit in.
My fatigue illness has been in remission of fourteen months, making this the second longest period of remission so far. I have built up my stamina to pre-fatigue levels. My newer problem, the osteoarthritis in my left knee, is under control. I still walk with a cane, but that is now only a precaution to avoid straining my knee. I could walk without it, and I do so whenever I need two hands to carry something. I am losing five pounds a month on my diet, so I should down to a safe weight in a year.
Erin Schram