I subsequently made a call to another colleague that I knew would be in the office to see if this was a common theme, myself not having received any word although knowing that out posty doesn't make it this way until at least lunchtime. I was reliably informed that emails and phone calls had been received by the rest of the department, but no letters. The sentiment of each message was the same and all had meeting times for the following day. As you can imagine I was starting to panick a little, perhaps I had been forgotten! By 2pm, still no post, I was thinking of phoning the post office to check if the posty had been down our street (can you do that by the way?) which would mean that I didn't have a letter.
It was 2.30pm when a solitary letter dropped through the letter box, the puppy loudly informing me of its arrival. A simple two paragraph letter with date, time, room number and person holding the meeting and person taking minutes. Time and date being for the following afternoon, which of course I could not make, having duties at my other part time job that I refused to change on principle. The phonecall I made to HR demonstrated their disgust at my lack of flexibility (how dare I not drop everything!) Anyway they agreed an amendment and the meeting was set for 48 hours time rather than the measly 24 hours they intended on allowing.
As you can guess I kept in contact with my colleagues to gain updates on their progress and found that all that was entailed was 5 minutes whereby a the deputy prinicpal read out a letter either stating 'you are redundant, you have until tomorrow to appeal' or 'your voluntary redundancy request has been accepted, sort out the details with HR' As you can see my employer is very caring and supportive! Why have they dragged it out this long if its that simple and what a waste of time and money, sending out letters to invite us to meetings and paying someone to read another letter in the meeting! We would have been more than happy with an email last week instead!
My meeting followed a very similar path to that of my colleagues, although I was relieved to find that I did not have to face the vice principal who proposed I cut my hours before Christmas or quit. Instead my letter was read by one of the senior management team that I have only heard good things about, including the female staff expressing how 'lovely' they think he is. He was pleasant throughout the 3 minutes it took to read the letter and answer my questions. I was given a copy of the letter stating my notice of redundancy started that very same day and was sent on my way.
I may have to work my notice, I may not, I may have to write a course review, I may not, I may get paid my redundancy pay at the end of the month, I may not. I don't know how much my redundancy pay is. Can I get any answers to resolve all the questions I have? No, all staff are in mandatory training for three days! So I haven't returned to work since being given my notice, neither has anyone else, except the one member of the department that managed to stay employed.
I still feel like I am waiting, the situation is unresolved and will probably remain so until they pay me what they think I am owed (there's no way I will get what I think I am owed!)
I did however have cause to count my blessings again this week. The long drawn out process has been depressing, infuriating and stressful, but for one of the lodgers I imagine finding out completely out of the blue that the job you have had since Christmas is now redundant and you need to move back to Sheffield (good job she didn't buy a house here as planned) is much more shocking and upsetting. And again at least I have another part time job as back up, although I am one lodger down when really I need to be one lodger up so we can move into hubby's new work place without worrying about the bills at my house.
This has meant searching for new lodgers again via easyroommate.com which has been very useful in finding all the lodgers so far. Its a bit of a potluck game though I'm afraid. They sound perfectly good in their profiles, work full time, in their late twenties, looking for somewhere quiet etc. Then they turn up to view the room.......nearly 7 foot tall, nearly has to duck to get through the front door, responds to everything I say with a slow drawled 'okay', informs me he works at the hospital doing 'X-Rays' thats Radiography right? Takes several years of training and a degree? This guy seemed like he'd had too much radiation! He also wanted somewhere to store his 'two very expensive bikes' and when I said we had no storage he suggested that he could just take them upstairs into his room on a daily basis! Not sure if you've noticed but its been raining for the past month? I have to take my wellies off at the front door when I get back from walking the puppy, can you imagine the amount of mud he would be trailing upstairs (carpeted staris). Needless to say I did not offer him the room and we are still in search of a lodger or two.
On a completely different note.....the magic non-chip nail varnish I raved about last time, lulled me into a completely false sense of security. Having a posh event to go to in aid of the other part time employer, I brought my lovely pink evening dress out from the back of the wardrobe ans the pink and silver shoes were retrieved from the bottom of the shoebox pile. I felt however that pink dress, pink shoes and pink nail varnish would be a little too much pink. Silver nail varnish would be fab though right? And surely Boots No.7 silver nail varnish would be unchippable (made up word?)
Lovely colour, but chipped with 24 hours, and I paid full price for this one! I have persevered though just because I like the colour, but I am utterly disappointed that my faith is broken. I have receieved two £5 off vouchers for No.7 this week (one through having a £10 eye test, more about that in a minute) though so do I risk a different colour and hope that the quality of the silver is just a blip or am I going to have to expand my one small makeup bag a little with some eye shadow or something else that I will probably only use once a month?
I opted for another nail varnish (what can I say I'm an optimist) and a lovely silver eye shadow, that I commit to using at least once a week instead of forgetting about it in the bottom of my makeup bag.
So the eye test. Well I know I have a dodgy left eye. I had an eye test about 10 years ago where the receptionist was amazed that I am a driver and that the optician had not insisted I wear glasses!
I only had a slight perscription and it didn't bother me. Its been bothering hubby though, I've had headaches for the past couple of weeks ranging from mild to horrendous, probably brought on by the amount of time spent at the computer. Its my subsequent complaining that has bothered the hubby not any reluctance to perform my marital duties (I know how your minds work!) so when I received a Boots voucher for a half price (£10) eye test after having a headache that was so bad I felt physically sick, I booked a test. The perscription has worsened from 0.25 to 0.75 (that may mean more to you than me) and the lenses actually made things considerable clearer. So I have to buy some specs (I have a hard enough time choosing sunglasses) and hubby is hoping for the sexy secretary look and since he's helping me choose he will probably get his way.
Buying spectacles for the first time is difficult! Glasses don't look natural on my face and they are sooo expensive! I dragged hubby round a couple of the normal options, trying on pretty much every pair and hating nearly all of them, although hubby had a few favourites. Finally I found a pair that looked like they belonged on my face, they looked like my glasses, not a pair I'd tried on for a laugh or borrowed from a trendy friend. And best news of all they were only £40!
Thats until I took them to the nice lady at the desk. Not £40 at all, £81 actually and £116 if I want the anti-glare finish. Apparently the extra is for the lenses. So does that mean they would let me take the frames with no lenses for £40? I was tempted to ask, but I'm not the confrontational type (usually)
We left the shop, me very disappointed, hubby wondering how many more shops this would mean he'd have to stand in while I tried on the entire stock.
Its been a week since the eye test and still no glasses, the marking is finished so my time on the laptop is considerably less and headaches so far = zero (touch wood) so I am not in a hurry to get them, but I am still on the look out. The next options are Tesco and Asda or online. Online being the cheapest option, but its not the same as being able to try them on. I just don't see the point in paying around £100 for a pair of glasses that I only need to wear now and again and knowing my track record with sunglasses, will either get scratched or sat on at some point.
And so the situation so far:
Employment: Redundant! Marking finished. Just 3.5 hours a week at my other part time job and that finishes today. High hopes for more hours in September though.
Lodgers: 2 (1 to shortly depart)
Eating out: could have been every day for the past week, but that would have meant a lot of extra running required to burn of the calories so we stuck to 3.
Hubby: 1 (anniversary tomorrow!)
Dog: 1 (still in very good health although a little disobedient at the moment, two frisbees lost in the past couple of weeks and no one is owning up to it)
Stepson: 1 (coming to stay later this month, we are going camping, a first for me!)
No Spend Days: Not bad, a new dress and new shoes courtesy of the many and varied sales that are on at the moment.
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