Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The budget, the budget, the budget...

I had to report to work early today... seems I had two meetings to go to. The first one wasn't so bad, My immediate boss told me to write up evaluations on the level one supervisors here and hand them in to him. That task took about 30 minutes... no biggie.
The next meeting was a bit of a surprise; a shock really. I met with the director of my department along with two members of Human Resources... egads!!! Well, I was informed that due to the recession, there was no longer enough money in the budget to pay me! I felt like the floor was puled from under me! All I could think of was my wife, my kids, my mortgage, my bills... in just seconds my thoughts were spinning around in a miasma of fear and worry... then the two HR people, apparently seeing my thoughts play out on my face, assured me that I was not being laid off. They told me that there wasn't enough money in the budget of my present department to pay me! Sheesh, I'd nearly had a coronary. They told me that they'd look for another, larger department with enough of a budget to take me in. They said I wouldn't lose any pay and may even wind up in a place where I'd be earning more, maybe even my old department (which I loved!). They also said that if I found a position in the Job Postings that I felt I qualified for, to let them know via email and they'd put a good word in for me! Man, what a revelation... in the space of just a few minutes I went from jobless to maybe even getiing a better job! Wow.