Thursday, March 26, 2009

Paybacks, put offs and playing the game



The writing prompt was proposed to me, among several others, to tell the world what I am putting off right now. In order to complete this weeks Writers’ Workshop, which involves time to write to complete, I am putting off the work that sits on my desk.
As most of you know by now, the national economy is in the toilet, and there are a lot of people out there who have lost a job or have a job but no work to do. My employer is in the same pickle. We have a very sporadic workload right now, and I have found myself twiddling my thumbs now and again. However, today I have work to do, and instead of doing that work I am writing a blog post (sound faintly familiar?). So, you and I understand that I am putting off my work to type this to you, but I also realize that if my boss were to find out, that he would be put off too!! BONUS!!
See, I really don’t mind at all, because my boss and I have history.
This is not the first time that I have worked with this company. Eight years ago, I was previously employed by these people, and I worked seven long diligent years for them. And one day my boss chewed my ass fiercely for something I did not do. I made the minor mistake of taking my frustration out in an inappropriate manner. I typed the f bomb into the current document on which I had been working. I was so angry that I checked out for the day and took a four day weekend. When I got back my boss had seen what I had done and terminated my employment for it. So I packed up my John Lee Hooker record collection and down the street I went.
I ended up in Fort Worth and stayed employed there for five years. Then I transferred down to Austin to spend another two years with the same company.
At that point, I came home to help my mom, and here we are. So when these people who fired me, heard I was coming back to town, they offered me a job immediately. I haggled with the boss man and got everything I wanted except for one thing. They gave me a raise, my own office, latitude to travel to see my kids, matching money for my 401K, and two weeks of vacation a year (I asked for three). But I watched my dad wither and die from 300 miles away. I traveled every other weekend to spend time with him. It was not good for either of us and I won’t forget it at all.
So when the man who started the whole mess offered to re-employ me, I took it without hesitation. I sit here working on my post instead of his work, and I let him pay me to do it, because I don’t care about his crummy company and I am going to ride his coattails for as long as I can before I move on down the road again. I have two more years of child support left and I intend to let him fund my living through this mess, after which I get a do-over for my life. Don’t get me wrong, I will work for him…..some. But if he is honestly expecting loyalty from me after treating me the way he did before, he is just plain ignorant. Paybacks are a bitch, aren’t they?
I am not currently accepting applications for a conscience, but if you want to leave me a comment on how this makes you feel, then I will take the constructive criticism and use it as I will. So did I just put you off?

4 comments:

  1. I was going to do this prompt, but the list got too long. Sigh.

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  2. I'm a procrastinator too but it's usually for all things mundane.

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  3. Wow. I am sorry about how this man treated you. It makes my heart hurt! I am working for a company right now and I feel that they do much the same thing as your boss. Get all they can and kick you to the curb when they are done. I would like to do a shoddy job just because I am SO frustrated, but in the end, the thing that always stops me is that I would feel bad if someone judged me by work that I was not proud of. Does that make sense? I got a great forward email today that I think you might like. If you want to see it just send me an email : ). Hope your evening is sensational.

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  4. Nope, you haven't put me off at all. If blogging from work gets you through the day, so be it.

    I'm in one of those positions where putting off work only ends up biting me in the butt later, but it doesn't exactly stop me when I have better things to do!

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