Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Hope

I am on the job hunt again. I hate it. (It was just two years ago, that this same thing happened, just in time for the holidays.) And I hate writing this post. I am not going to mince words. During my job interview with my W2 job last February, I was very clear with them. In fact, after I started we were so clear, that the two owners (a married couple) and my boss and I signed a statement saying I would be in the office from 7am until 2:30pm every day. At no time during the interview process was it discussed that my job would require me to work almost every weekend, the first of every month beginning at 12am PT and many nights. Never discussed.

The Reality of My Working Hours

Since I started in March, I have worked all but 6ish weekends, and at least 3-4 nights a week I must do something either overnight or after I leave the office. I’ve actually been okay with that. Just did it. I’m used to crazy hours as an entrepreneur and I just did it.

In August, I worked 6 days straight with minimum sleep as a HUGE project was dumped in my lap just two weeks before the due date. A project that I had been told up until it was assigned to me that someone else would be handling it (a 3rd party vendor.)

Not one time have I been offered comp time for these extra hours, no flex options and typically no thank you. I have been truly fine with it.

We Don’t Like This

A couple of months ago, they started making noises about not liking that I left at 2:30pm every day. No complaints about my work, no missed deadlines, not a word about issues with my work. It boiled down to they don’t like where I sit when I do the work. Literally. If I am not at the desk in their office…absolutely crazy.

They then pointed out that if I wasn’t in the office I need to take PTO. I said, that’s fine. I will do that. But I don’t want to hear complaints or get emails all day saying “do this now.” (I took PTO last Friday for Gymnast meet and received no less than 12 “it’s on fire, fix it now” emails.) I am the only person who can do what I do, there is no redundancy or anyone with my skill set. That gave them pause, but not enough to say what they said next.

We are Letting You Go if…

If you don’t work 8am-5pm, we need to let you go and replace you. BUT only after you do all the work through the end of the year and take care of our big seasonal web flip in February. Seriously, we are firing you after you do everything we want you to do.

This is a snippet of the email they sent after the meeting (I added the notes in italics for clarification:)

• Early January – we will determine if we will continue with this schedule or be able to adapt to another one at that time based on scheduling shifts that may be happening for Hope. (I have never wavered that I must leave at 2:30pm, Gymnast must be in training by 4pm, leaving at 2:30pm gives me just enough time to get him and get to gym. Then I sit down and work for another 4 hours on what ever I need to work on.)
  • If we do not see a schedule change in the future then we will all work towards a February 16, 2018 final day of employment.

If a February 16^th final day is where we are heading (we will know for sure in early January 2018) then the following are the commitments from each side:

• Company Name will not start the search process until after January 1, 2018 and will continue employment for Hope through February 16, 2018.
• Hope has already started the job search process (I started the job search a month ago when the owner came in and made it clear she didn’t like my work schedule, the writing on the wall was getting clear to me then.), however, she has committed to complete the Spring & Summer 2018 website and iOffice transition (February 2018) without interruption – even if she finds another job that she accepts – she is committing to seeing this project through to completion for the company.

Here I am back on the job hunt. I love what I do. I actually really like most of the people I work with at my W2 job. I do not like being dumped on, taking advantage of and being bullied.

I know it won’t do any good and I’m over trying to fight for this job, but I am now documenting all the “extra” time I put in beginning with today. I received all the graphics, video and text for something that must be put out tomorrow night (Sunday at 12 PT – I must get up at 3am ET) at 4:18pm yesterday. This is very typical. I must now create the format, export contact lists, send the test emails and wait for approval (texting people to review since they aren’t working,) schedule the sends and so on.

I have learned a lot from my foray back into the corporate world after 11 years away. I don’t know if it is the right fit for me, but I am working with several headhunters now, and plan to begin pounding the pavement, literally, to see if I can pull in some new 1099 clients.

Hope

Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.