The story of our heroes thus far...
Greetings and salutations to my loyal readers! I haven’t been posting but I swear I’ve been reading still, thank you all for your patience.
Our story begins several years ago. I had moved to Portland to become an executive assistant to a regional manager. Upon arriving however, I discovered that the young woman I was replacing no longer wanted to move back to Salt Lake City. I was offered the ‘opportunity’ to become a mortgage processor. Given the lack of contacts I had in the region, I accepted.
A year later, the company was experiencing the bottoming out of their stock and complete loss of consumer confidence. It was purchased by another large company and I was notified that I would not have a position in the regional office.
Three months later I got a call that they were swamped and could I please come back? I did so, and thus began the descent through the many layers of hell that was employment with the Big Bad Bank. Big Bad will now forever be the worst company I worked for, if only because it lasted so long. The level of frustration and stress experienced by everyone there made getting through each day a mental and emotional challenge.
This last October, I finally started looking for a new job, mostly because I got a random call from another company asking if I was interested in interviewing for a new position. I’ve finally made enough contacts in the local community that this sort of thing happens I guess! I went on a bunch of interviews, but finally settled for working at Medium Sized Local Bank, which also has repeatedly been voted a ‘best place to work’. Figuring I was in a good place finally, I started the process of getting my very first house for myself, instead of just working on other people’s home loans.
Finally, in February, I found a wonderful little starter house and the contract was accepted by the sellers! Then, the inspections went well, and the appraised value was higher than my offer! We shifted into the final phase of getting my mortgage approved through the internal employee loan program at the beginning of March.
I walked into the office on the morning of Friday March 8th with high hopes of hearing good news that afternoon. I got my tea, settled into my cubicle, and noticed a missed call from my manager. I walked over to her office to find out what she needed, and she asked me to close the door.
Yeeeeeeaaaaaah….. that wasn’t good.
She let me know that the company was restructuring, and my position had been eliminated along with 24 others. That we would receive a two week severance, and I could go ahead and pack up my desk; my files would be redistributed amongst my remaining co-workers.
Poor timing, to say the least. No job = no home loan. I quickly called my agent and loan officer and let them know status; they both advised for me to take the weekend, research other jobs, and see if I thought I could get a new position quickly. If so, we’d keep moving forward and wouldn’t even mention it to the seller.
Mr B’s response sums up my feelings at the time: What the fuck??? Fuckowitz!
We went on a walk for lunch, wandered over to the Hollywood district and sat down to eat. As I waited for the burgers and Mr B had a cigarette, I got an message from a recruiter. He’d heard from a (now ex) coworker saying I was available, and would I be interested in applying for a position with Large National Bank?
Holy Mackerel!
By Monday I had applied to a few different places and had a bunch of interviews lined up, by Thursday I was told I would be receiving offers. Friday morning I received two, and accepted one and faxed back the contract that afternoon. One week from no job to new job! Plus, I got the two weeks severance and a bit of unemployment, since it took some time for the new place to complete my background check.
So after a 3 week ‘vacation’, I’ve started with New Mortgage Company as of April first. Previous employer did manage to final approve my home loan even with the job change, and I just signed the closing package yesterday! After work today, I’ll be driving over to our new house and picking up the keys from my realtor (mad props to sage_and_sea!)
I’m extremely excited, and I’ll be posting pictures hopefully soon of the house. I’m also going to be getting back into my art again, I’m tired of not having anything to show for all those years of college. We’ve got the room in the new place for me to have a separate art studio space, I’m going to take advantage of the new environment to kick start my creativity, possibly by doing a huge mural on the wall within a few weeks. :)
The next week will be the big moving push, and then we’ll see about opening up the house for a BBQ or something since the weather is finally turning around. For anyone that wants to reach me in the meantime, this handle at the gmail works best.
YAY!
Our story begins several years ago. I had moved to Portland to become an executive assistant to a regional manager. Upon arriving however, I discovered that the young woman I was replacing no longer wanted to move back to Salt Lake City. I was offered the ‘opportunity’ to become a mortgage processor. Given the lack of contacts I had in the region, I accepted.
A year later, the company was experiencing the bottoming out of their stock and complete loss of consumer confidence. It was purchased by another large company and I was notified that I would not have a position in the regional office.
Three months later I got a call that they were swamped and could I please come back? I did so, and thus began the descent through the many layers of hell that was employment with the Big Bad Bank. Big Bad will now forever be the worst company I worked for, if only because it lasted so long. The level of frustration and stress experienced by everyone there made getting through each day a mental and emotional challenge.
This last October, I finally started looking for a new job, mostly because I got a random call from another company asking if I was interested in interviewing for a new position. I’ve finally made enough contacts in the local community that this sort of thing happens I guess! I went on a bunch of interviews, but finally settled for working at Medium Sized Local Bank, which also has repeatedly been voted a ‘best place to work’. Figuring I was in a good place finally, I started the process of getting my very first house for myself, instead of just working on other people’s home loans.
Finally, in February, I found a wonderful little starter house and the contract was accepted by the sellers! Then, the inspections went well, and the appraised value was higher than my offer! We shifted into the final phase of getting my mortgage approved through the internal employee loan program at the beginning of March.
I walked into the office on the morning of Friday March 8th with high hopes of hearing good news that afternoon. I got my tea, settled into my cubicle, and noticed a missed call from my manager. I walked over to her office to find out what she needed, and she asked me to close the door.
Yeeeeeeaaaaaah….. that wasn’t good.
She let me know that the company was restructuring, and my position had been eliminated along with 24 others. That we would receive a two week severance, and I could go ahead and pack up my desk; my files would be redistributed amongst my remaining co-workers.
Poor timing, to say the least. No job = no home loan. I quickly called my agent and loan officer and let them know status; they both advised for me to take the weekend, research other jobs, and see if I thought I could get a new position quickly. If so, we’d keep moving forward and wouldn’t even mention it to the seller.
Mr B’s response sums up my feelings at the time: What the fuck??? Fuckowitz!
We went on a walk for lunch, wandered over to the Hollywood district and sat down to eat. As I waited for the burgers and Mr B had a cigarette, I got an message from a recruiter. He’d heard from a (now ex) coworker saying I was available, and would I be interested in applying for a position with Large National Bank?
Holy Mackerel!
By Monday I had applied to a few different places and had a bunch of interviews lined up, by Thursday I was told I would be receiving offers. Friday morning I received two, and accepted one and faxed back the contract that afternoon. One week from no job to new job! Plus, I got the two weeks severance and a bit of unemployment, since it took some time for the new place to complete my background check.
So after a 3 week ‘vacation’, I’ve started with New Mortgage Company as of April first. Previous employer did manage to final approve my home loan even with the job change, and I just signed the closing package yesterday! After work today, I’ll be driving over to our new house and picking up the keys from my realtor (mad props to sage_and_sea!)
I’m extremely excited, and I’ll be posting pictures hopefully soon of the house. I’m also going to be getting back into my art again, I’m tired of not having anything to show for all those years of college. We’ve got the room in the new place for me to have a separate art studio space, I’m going to take advantage of the new environment to kick start my creativity, possibly by doing a huge mural on the wall within a few weeks. :)
The next week will be the big moving push, and then we’ll see about opening up the house for a BBQ or something since the weather is finally turning around. For anyone that wants to reach me in the meantime, this handle at the gmail works best.
YAY!