I lost my job right before Christmas. It wasn't my dream job, but it wasn't a bad job. I was working as an office manager/customer service rep for an insurance company. When I chose to take this job I knew it wasn't what I really wanted, I knew it wasn't what my degree was in or even a field I was interested in. But I had to apply for full time work because I was on unemployment. I knew it was a job that I wouldn't mind and one that I could do because I love office work and I was good at it.
I got let go when my daughter's school had two snow days in the same week. The first day, I tried to bring her in to work with me and she misbehaved so as soon as my boss got there, I had to leave and take her home. The second time, I tried to find a sitter and couldn't so I told my boss I couldn't come in. Why didn't I just have a sitter? Well, because my husband and I are picky about sitters. Both of us have been through a lot of judgement over this so I am just going to state my case and stand my ground, if you have something snotty to say, keep it to yourself please because this is the way we run our household.
So we decided long ago that if we had a sitter, we would interview the sitter together and introduce them to our daughter to see if they were a fit. The only sitters that we feel that we do not need to interview are the college women that run the after school programs that our daughter attends when we are both working full time. Because of this decision it is hard to find a sitter living so far away from my family and not having a lot of friends close by either that are able to sit for us.
On the particular day that I contacted my boss that I could not come in, I had been reaching out and trying to find someone since the night before because we almost knew school would be cancelled. The evening before, my boss left work to pick up his kids and take them home. When he did so, he emailed me telling me I could leave a bit early due to poor roads and I informed him I would be looking for childcare immediately for the next day. That night I texted him telling him I would be looking for a sitter as we got the phone calls that school was cancelled. He simply said "ok" never telling me that if I didn't I might lose my job or saying that I could bring her in again if I had to. I was under the impression that I had it handled and if I needed the day off it would not be a problem (seeing as I was supposed to get sick time and vacation time anyway) so when my husband said he could call in but he didn't really want to use all of his time off, I said I had it handled. I could not find a sitter and so I texted him in the morning that I would not be in and did not hear from him at all. The next day, I came in to work and we had a conversation about how I wasn't a good fit and how he knew that I didn't care about insurance anyway and he needed someone who did, someone who wouldn't quit on him in the busy season when they found a great job, someone who would be there for him.
The problem I guess I have with this is that I told him from the beginning that I had a child. I told him from the beginning that I sometimes needed to call in. He told me that I would have sick time and vacation time, not much for the first 90 days but I could have days off if I needed it. I also never was informed that if I called in I would use my job, if I didn't try to come in I would lose my job, if I didn't try to bring my kid in I would lose my job.
We, as a family are trying to make the best of this situation. I have been without work for about a month now. I have been able to clean more and try to get rid of the "junk" we have sitting around the house. I have been able to get a gym membership and workout regularly to improve my health. I am looking for work but I am looking for either my dream job, something that pays exceptionally well, something part-time locally with flexibility or something work from home. I thought I would try my hand at improving my blog, and may get into video but I am unsure of myself. What I have been lucky enough to do though is to sell things on garage sale sites on Facebook and make a little extra cash so I don't feel bad about buying those new boots.....
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