Today was supposed to be my last day of work. Turns out, it isn't...not totally.
Two months ago, I told my boss Steve and I had made the decision that I would stay home with our baby boy since he had found a good job that would cover all our expenses. She immediately started the process of finding my replacement. I was on the hiring committee along with my boss and another manager with whom I worked. There were times when I wasn't sure we would find someone that all three of us liked, but eventually we did. She started two weeks ago. She didn't learn things as fast as I had hoped, but I felt confident that she'd get it eventually. Fortunately for her, I had spent the past couple months writing a supplementary training manual for her, on the off chance that I'd go into labor early and just as a good reference in case we couldn't cover everything as in-depth as I hoped.
Things were going well. My replacement, we'll call her Susan because that's her name, shocked me this Wednesday when she told me she'd been offered another job and had decided to take it. She said that she'd applied for the job last week after a day of feeling overwhelmed and not cut out for my job. However, I later thought about it and realized that the job she was offered is for the State of Utah and there's no way she'd be getting offered a job with the state only a week after applying for it. Government jobs just don't work that way. Oh well. That's neither here nor there. I can't say I blame her for taking the other job; it pays about $15,000 more than what she was getting paid for my job (which, incidentally, was $5,000 more than I was making...yeah, I'm still a little bitter), has excellent benefits, and is in her field of expertise, low-income housing. It's her dream job.
My boss totally understood, too, but was totally stressed. She asked me to come in next week to work a couple days. I really didn't want to and couldn't see the point. Susan is staying on until she starts her new job,; September 13 is her last day. She has learned how to do the important things and can work on them while she's still there. It's not like I need to continue training her because she won't be around for much longer. And, I really want to be able to have as much time as possible to relax and prepare mentally for this baby to come. These will be the last days in my whole entire life when I won't be a mom, and I want to cherish them!
Before I left work yesterday, my boss asked me if I'd consider working from home part-time after the baby is born, just until they find a replacement. I'd go on maternity leave for 2-3 weeks after Baby's arrival and once I felt up to it, I'd start working again. I wouldn't ever have to go into the office and would only work around 4 hours a day. I agreed to talk to Steve about it and promised to let her know asap.
I honestly didn't think Steve would like the idea. He's been so against me working beyond this week or even today (I went in to help with the block party even though I was supposed to take the day off) that I thought he'd reject the idea outright. He still doesn't love it but said he's support me if I decided to do it, as long as they really didn't expect me to go to the office at all - not even to train my replacement - and as long as I can stop at any time if it gets to be too much for me. My boss agreed to these conditions, so I agreed. She's working with HR to see what needs to be done to get everything set up. I'm not even going to think about it until I'm asked to sign something or do something. Like I said, I'm just going to relax and enjoy these next few days before the baby comes. I'll think about work after the baby comes.
There are some definite pros to this new, temporary, work arrangement. The little bit of extra money will be nice. We can put it into savings for our vacation next year or use it for Christmas presents. It will also help motivate me to not be a slacker when the baby comes. I've been a little worried about sitting around in my sweats all day not doing anything except watch tv and eat. I'll have a webcam and will be meeting with people fairly frequently so will have to shower and look presentable at least a few times a week. Also, it means I don't have to totally say goodbye yet. I haven't always loved everything about this job...it certainly isn't my dream job...but I've always really enjoyed the people with whom I worked. This will continue my association with them a little bit longer. That makes me happy.
Life has a funny way of coming up with interesting scenarios. I keep thinking that maybe this is all happening for a reason and that the extra money or whatever else that comes from me continuing to work a little bit longer will be a blessing to us. If nothing else, I have to be getting big-time brownie points somewhere for being so helpful. *smile*
Two months ago, I told my boss Steve and I had made the decision that I would stay home with our baby boy since he had found a good job that would cover all our expenses. She immediately started the process of finding my replacement. I was on the hiring committee along with my boss and another manager with whom I worked. There were times when I wasn't sure we would find someone that all three of us liked, but eventually we did. She started two weeks ago. She didn't learn things as fast as I had hoped, but I felt confident that she'd get it eventually. Fortunately for her, I had spent the past couple months writing a supplementary training manual for her, on the off chance that I'd go into labor early and just as a good reference in case we couldn't cover everything as in-depth as I hoped.
Things were going well. My replacement, we'll call her Susan because that's her name, shocked me this Wednesday when she told me she'd been offered another job and had decided to take it. She said that she'd applied for the job last week after a day of feeling overwhelmed and not cut out for my job. However, I later thought about it and realized that the job she was offered is for the State of Utah and there's no way she'd be getting offered a job with the state only a week after applying for it. Government jobs just don't work that way. Oh well. That's neither here nor there. I can't say I blame her for taking the other job; it pays about $15,000 more than what she was getting paid for my job (which, incidentally, was $5,000 more than I was making...yeah, I'm still a little bitter), has excellent benefits, and is in her field of expertise, low-income housing. It's her dream job.
My boss totally understood, too, but was totally stressed. She asked me to come in next week to work a couple days. I really didn't want to and couldn't see the point. Susan is staying on until she starts her new job,; September 13 is her last day. She has learned how to do the important things and can work on them while she's still there. It's not like I need to continue training her because she won't be around for much longer. And, I really want to be able to have as much time as possible to relax and prepare mentally for this baby to come. These will be the last days in my whole entire life when I won't be a mom, and I want to cherish them!
Before I left work yesterday, my boss asked me if I'd consider working from home part-time after the baby is born, just until they find a replacement. I'd go on maternity leave for 2-3 weeks after Baby's arrival and once I felt up to it, I'd start working again. I wouldn't ever have to go into the office and would only work around 4 hours a day. I agreed to talk to Steve about it and promised to let her know asap.
I honestly didn't think Steve would like the idea. He's been so against me working beyond this week or even today (I went in to help with the block party even though I was supposed to take the day off) that I thought he'd reject the idea outright. He still doesn't love it but said he's support me if I decided to do it, as long as they really didn't expect me to go to the office at all - not even to train my replacement - and as long as I can stop at any time if it gets to be too much for me. My boss agreed to these conditions, so I agreed. She's working with HR to see what needs to be done to get everything set up. I'm not even going to think about it until I'm asked to sign something or do something. Like I said, I'm just going to relax and enjoy these next few days before the baby comes. I'll think about work after the baby comes.
There are some definite pros to this new, temporary, work arrangement. The little bit of extra money will be nice. We can put it into savings for our vacation next year or use it for Christmas presents. It will also help motivate me to not be a slacker when the baby comes. I've been a little worried about sitting around in my sweats all day not doing anything except watch tv and eat. I'll have a webcam and will be meeting with people fairly frequently so will have to shower and look presentable at least a few times a week. Also, it means I don't have to totally say goodbye yet. I haven't always loved everything about this job...it certainly isn't my dream job...but I've always really enjoyed the people with whom I worked. This will continue my association with them a little bit longer. That makes me happy.
Life has a funny way of coming up with interesting scenarios. I keep thinking that maybe this is all happening for a reason and that the extra money or whatever else that comes from me continuing to work a little bit longer will be a blessing to us. If nothing else, I have to be getting big-time brownie points somewhere for being so helpful. *smile*