I reached back like a pimp and I slapped dat ho

So yeah, running a music server from home so I can listen to good stuff at work. I apologize if I don't seem terribly dedicated to the job.

Check it out, it's Boyz-N-The Hood!

The Sh!ts Goin Down...Ya Better Be Ready

Yeah, sadly I owned that CD in high school. Maybe it was a cassette tape. Yeah, pretty sure it was. Anyway, sure is a good thing I grew up. I'd really hate myself if I still listened to that junk.

So I finally went to my boss yesterday and asked him what was going on with my status as a contractor. I was tired of waiting for him to come to me. I found out why he hadn't come to me.

He was trying to avoid the awkward situation of telling me that I'm going to be unemployed in 5 weeks. Yep, that's right. They do not have the money in the budget to bring me on as an employee-contractor. Yet they do have money allocated to contractors. They can only keep a contractor for one year. My year is up on April 23rd. So I'll get dumped to the wayside, and get replaced with another contractor, who may or may not get hired on at the end of his contract depending on what they decide they have room in their budget for. Never mind the fact that the company made $1.13 Billion in profits last year. Employees just got 5 digit bonuses. Yet somehow, I get thrown in the unemployment line because they can't afford to hire me on.

Now, a little bit of history.

When I was brought on a year ago, it was a 6 month contract to hire position. I didn't really want to go 6 months before being hired on, but I figured for the pay, I could deal with it. It's not like I've ever had a problem getting hired on before. Hell I was star employee at the last place.

That 6 months approached, so I in turn approached my boss, asking him what was going on with getting hired on. That's when he told me they won't be hiring anyone on as an employee. They'll be brought on as an employee contractor. The main difference being that the employee contractor doesn't get sick pay, no employee discount, and no tuition reimbursement. You're paid by the company, not a contract agency, but somehow they can do this by classifying you as a different type of employee. Oh yeah, and you don't get severance pay if they get rid of you.

So once my boss realized it was time to hire me on, he panicked because he wasn't ready. He called my agency and extended the contract to 1 year. So now, they changed the terms of my contract (note that I never once signed anything agreeing to this.) I don't know if I have any legal recourse against them since they changed the contract without my approval. Not like I'd go through with it anyway.

So now my year is almost up, and all of a sudden they can't afford to hire me on. So I sit here at work, still working on projects they've assigned to me in the last week. Doing things to help the company in the future that I won't be part of. It's tough. I can't afford not to, because if I say screw you guys...they'd probably end my contract right now. So I give the fakest smile I can conjure up, I laugh at my boss' jokes, I do my best to show them they're losing a valuable asset. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life.

Next week I'll try something even harder. I'm going to try and find a job in this economy. I really don't think I'm going to find something that pays as well as this job. I don't know how that's going to work, because I can't be picky, I've got to have a new job lined up in a month. If I don't make what I'm making now, then I'm screwed because between bills, college loans, car payment, car maintenance, and rent, I'm stretched about as thin as I can be while still making all my payments. So it should be interesting.

Can ya tell I'm skeered?

Well, I think I'll go work on my resume now. Nothing like getting paid to look for a job with another company.

Slappy Stick