June 1, 2012
Dear Everyone:
A mere ten months after joining the ranks of the
Unemployed I am, once again, Employed.
For a while.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend, and former
co-worker, called while I was doing my
Physical Therapy exercises for my
back. I try to remember to
put the phone near me on the bed, in case a call comes in.
Usually, it’s a telemarketer or a charitable organization begging
for money.
This is why I pay extra for
Caller ID.
It typically shows the identity of the caller, so you can avoid
answering if it’s some nuisance.
In this case, the Caller ID showed “Wireless Caller” (meaning
someone on a cell phone) and displayed the phone number.
I recognized the number, so I answered.
My friend (we’ll call her “Babette”) is working
on a big project having to do with a new software that her group will be
using (and in some cases, is already using) to manage customer requests,
among other things. She has
a Contractor, “Ludmilla”, doing the lion’s share of the work, but
“Ludmilla” needs some help.
Every time “Babette” would find someone to help
“Ludmilla”, they would get pulled away at the most inconvenient time.
“Babette” was banging her head against a wall when she remembered
that she wanted to have lunch with me, something we try to do every
couple of months, just to stay in touch.
Suddenly, she realized that the “half-year
restriction” was over.
Years ago, people would set up jobs that only
they knew how to do. Then,
they would make sure not to train anyone as a replacement.
When they retired, the Company would be forced to “call them
back” as a Contractor to do the work, and train an actual Employee,
something they should have done before, but people can be sneaky.
So the Company put in a rule that a former Employee could not
come back as a Contractor for at least six months, hence the “half-year
restriction”.
“Babette” asked me to “please” consider coming in
as a Contractor.
This meant going to the Vendor, the company that
supplies Contractors. In
this case, the Vendor that supplies “Information Technology” (IT)
Contractors. They use a
different Vendor for “other” Contractors, including people with
Records
Management experience (read:
“Temporary File Clerk”.)
Normally, if I walked in the door at the Vendor
Company, they would take one look at me (and my Resume) and show me the
way out. Technically, I’m
not Information Technology material.
But, because someone at Company specifically requested me, they
didn’t so much as blink.
Just gave me the information for another vendor company that handles
their payroll for them.
That’s right:
The outsourcing company outsources work of their own.
And, ironically or not, the outsourced company is the same one
that supplies “non-technical” Contractors, i.e., the aforementioned file
clerks. It’s all one happy
ball of wax.
I spent much of an afternoon in the “Martinez”
office last week, filling out and signing many,
many forms.
Monday being a
Holiday, I started work on Tuesday.
What followed was the usual hodge-podge of
Computer Access ID (CAI) not ready; no computer to use anyway; phone not
exactly working properly, Smart Badge requires a photo – photo on file
as of ten months ago, etc.
In other words: Situation
Normal (All Fouled Up) – or SNAFU, as they call it in the military.
In the meantime, I am up to my armpits in “User
Acceptance Testing” (on a “borrowed” computer).
Just like in the Good Old Days.
When the alarm clock goes off at 5:00 in the
morning, I think: “I miss
being Unemployed!” And then
I get up and go to work. For
now.
Love, as always,
Pete
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