Some Relief if Not Progress in Everyday Ramblings

It’s raining today, sometimes heavily but this is what the opposite corner where I live looks like right now. Two historical cottages with paper-thin walls rented to young folks and the beautiful restored historic apartment house that is now condos.

I have calmed down a bit about work but I am still mad as hell. I managed to navigate two office days with Motorcycle Man and a meeting with him and Mr. On the Spectrum.

They just want me to go away.

I would love to. Care to compensate me for that Mr.?

After class on Wednesday I had Mrs. Sherlock give me a ride home so I could run this all by her. She has very strong opinions about this as a former manager in health care and a union rep so she knows both sides.

It was hard to hear what she had to say but it was good for me. I need a strategy and I need outside support. No matter how nice the attorney was that I talked to at Affirmative Action she still works for the organization I do and it is her job to settle this thing internally as cheaply as possible.

And reading about the union grievance process, part of our contract is that we have to use arbitration.

So basically I am somewhat screwed. That is baked in. But I can still raise a ruckus and I intend to.

Mrs. Sherlock and I talked about the worse case scenario. That would be having to continue to work with Motorcycle Man for 14 more months while they strip away my Team Lead responsibilities and give me no additional compensation. Meaning I need to continue to work 42 hours a week to maintain my current level of compensation doing boring repetitive tasks.

When I get back from vacation I will check to see if they hired someone else for the tech job I applied for and if they have I lose my chance at that escape and will file the complaint.

Mrs. Sherlock thinks I should get an outside attorney but the rules are stacked against me where I am unable to have anyone else speak for me during the complaint process and also if I go to arbitration. These people who are designing these modern employment contracts know what they are doing. And in particular my institution because it has been sued a number of times.

I have a firm name and I will consider it. There may be a way in. Ideally they will pay me my salary until retirement age and let me go now. But that would be a long shot.

In the meantime I asked for my office days to be changed and starting a week from Monday I at least won’t have to see either of THE EVIL TWINS as I have taken to calling them except for an hour a week.

The cats are still not fully well but they are getting there. I have kitty probiotics on order.

Oh and I was so chuffed because yesterday morning I was able to get my right hearing aid perfectly placed! It only took me two months. I am still working on the left one.

And I had a student fall asleep during the relaxation part of my work class today! That means I am doing my job. If someone is comfortable enough to fall asleep on a conference room floor with a manager three feet away that means we have invoked the relaxation response.

(Technically one is not supposed to fall asleep during rest at the end of class, because it is all about creating an environment of nurturing absorption and altered brain waves but still…)

In less than an hour I will be on vacation!!! Yippee. In spite of the Evil Twins, life is good.

Last updated April 06, 2019