A Funny...and a Work Update

I have so many things to blog about, but can't organize my thoughts at the moment, so here's a sort of funny thing I witnessed tonight: I went to this little taco stand (quasi-authentic, Americanized Mexican food, not Taco Bell) and ordered our supper. While I was waiting, a woman came in and placed an order (I think -- I'm not sure she came back for the food).

Customer: How much for 1 taco?
Owner: $1.75
Customer: Okay.
Owner: You want one? (some back & forth) Hard or soft shell? And beef? So a hard shell taco with beef.
Customer: What comes on it?
Owner: lettuce, cheese, beef and tomatoes.
Customer: What about (s-sound), ss- ss- chives?
Owner: No, we don't have chives.
Customer: I didn't think so. Most places don't. What about sauce? Do you have sauce? (She tries to describe something. It doesn't sound like she's describing salsa. There is a large display case/cooler right in front of her full of salsa, so the owner figured she was looking for taco sauce.)
Owner: No taco sauce, just the hot and mild here, or enchilada sauce.
Customer: Let me see the enchilada sauce. (Owner brings out a pan.) No, that's not it. You know, I'm looking for this sauce, it has tomatoes in it...
Owner: (points at the display case) Salsa?
Customer: Yeah, that's it. I'll be back in a bit.

After she left, I said to the owner: I think she was trying to say "sour cream" back there, not chives. He got a kind of "ah-ha" look on his face. The thing is, I'm not convinced she ever actually ordered the taco.

What else? Oh yeah, the work thing
Last time I blogged, I was pretty confused about what was going on at work. I ended up talking to the usurping contract house and also asking around about them. (I had to at least get to the place where they could make an offer, so I could turn it down.) I decided that my first loyalty had to be to me, followed by the company that actually had my best interests at heart. So, I met with my boss and explained that I loved working with him and very much enjoyed my job, but my choices were between my current, good company and this other company that didn't have a great rep, and I was going to have to stick with my current employer.

The day just got weirder. I called the guy from the other co. and thanked him for his efforts, informing him that I was going to pass. It was like a sales call! I finally had to cut him off and hang up. In an earlier call, he expressed doubt/concern because I didn't have an offer letter from my current employer. "I don't need a letter. I already work for them. Nothing will change except where I go in the morning and what I'll be doing." Well, he says, I'd give you an offer letter. "And I'd expect one from you, since I don't know you or your company." I guess the offer my co. made is so rare that no one believes it's real.

I got at least one more voicemail that day, plus an email saying "how much money do you want? You are apparently crucial to this organization." (Hey, that was nice, but I wasn't doing it for the money. I guess if they doubled my salary, paid half of it up front and guaranteed an income even if this project fell through... I might consider it.) Turns out I'd forgotten to log back in on my phone (we have the same phones as they do on The Office -- you can log in at any phone), so I missed the call that went like this (all quotes are paraphrased): "Based on the information we've received, this is your last day. You no longer work at X. Friday, October 31 is your last day. Click."

I knew that my boss was going to continue to try and work something out, but I didn't count on it. I left work Friday, my laptop locked up and my badge and key hidden in a drawer. My boss hadn't been able to reach anyone to work out a way for me to stay, and my contract house had work for me, so just in case, I left everything (of theirs) behind. On my way home, I got at least 3 calls about the situation, with the result being that I reported back to work yesterday, on a day-to-day basis, while they tried to figure something out.

I've never believed it would work out, but I'm glad we got a chance to transition a bit instead of having things end suddenly. I've been trying to document all the processes for my obscure tasks and finish up a few scattered projects. When I tried to catch him up on things yesterday, boss actually said "la la la, I can't hear you."

Tonight, boss called and said that it was a no go. There are still some details to figure out, but essentially, I'm in this position until they find a replacement or my firm finds an assignment for me. I think boss intends to demand a LOT out of a replacement to push things as far as he can. Anyway, I'm there through the end of the week at least. I swear, I have NEVER in my life had two different sets of people going to the mat for me. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

The weird thing about this is how shady it all feels. Not what's happening to me personally, but the whole consolidation thing. It was done through HR, not purchasing or finance, and some kind of deal was struck so this other company could, essentially, breach the contracts that smaller firms have with X. It was just thrown at people with no notice and no finesse. It's why my third loyalty was to boss and not X, and why I wasn't interested at all in working for usurper co.