wherein Liz is unemployed. again.

[edenfalling]

I think I have enough emotional distance to talk about this now.

So.

On Monday morning, I received a call from the temp agency saying that my contract with the health garage had been terminated effective immediately. The agency supervisor did not know the reason for the termination. I had not received any impression that Underboss or the rest of the health garage staff were unhappy with me or my work.

I called Underboss to say that I'd received the message, and asked if I could come in to pick up the stuff I'd left in the office over the weekend. (That stuff was only two granola bars, but I wanted to see her in person and... I don't know... remind her that I am a human being, not a disposable tool.) I then dropped by around 2pm. At that point I discovered that the health garage had not decided to eliminate my position because of the new computer system, which had been my first potential explanation. Instead, they'd simply hired somebody else to do what I'd been doing for four months.

I know this because I saw my replacement sitting in what had been my chair, making appointment reminder calls off the same new system printout I'd learned how to make a couple weeks ago.

When I asked Underboss if I could use her as a reference, she said of course and that she had told the temp agency to tell me that, along with saying nice things about me. (Note: The agency supervisor did not tell me any such things. I don't know if she just forgot to do so, or if Underboss told me a polite lie because we were in public.)

...

I emailed my family that afternoon, explaining what had happened and asking them not to call me until I called them, because I was not in any emotional shape to talk about the situation. They respected that, but Vicky sent a reply email in which she raised the point that a lot of organizations have HR policies that say you can only hire a temp for up to four months, after which you have to actually hire them. In theory this is a kind of worker protection, because if you work for a company that long they really ought to pay you benefits. In practice it tends to make things worse, because a lot of companies just run temps up to that limit and then replace them -- presumably the bosses think this is cheaper, even if they constantly lose the institutional knowledge people build up after a few months and waste their actual employees' time in training up new temps.

I suspect that this is, in fact, what happened. I also suspect that if the health garage has such a policy, Underboss was not initially aware of it, since back in October she called the temp agency and extended my contract through January.

But she had to know about it by last week, because there was no coverage gap. She had my replacement already hired and on the job.

And nobody told me.

That's what really pisses me off (and hurts, too) -- that evidently my coworkers were either such cowards, or thought so little of me, that they couldn't take five minutes to say, "Hey, Liz, I have to give you some bad news. I know it sucks, but because of [reasons] we can't keep you on as a temp, and because of [other reasons] we're not going to hire you as a regular employee. So Friday will be your last day." It hardly even matters what the reasons in question were. The point is to show some basic human compassion and give me a heads-up the previous week instead of making the temp agency supervisor do their dirty work on Monday morning.

This is particularly egregious when you consider that the health garage is an organization whose entire raison d'être is to help people get their feet back under them when they've gotten into bad situations. And yet they were just fine pulling the rug out from under me.

Round of applause, health garage. Round of fucking applause.

Comments

[mme_hardy]

Well, damn it. You are completely right in everything you say, and I'm sorry that it is okay to treat temp workers as if they were action figurines.

[edenfalling]

Yeah, like, what they did was completely legal. And I can even understand not wanting to deal with the complications of adding part-time staff and figuring out what benefits they do or don't get. (Everyone else is either full-time or -- like the doctor and nurse -- a contractor.) But just because you can fire a person with no notice doesn't make it less of a dick move. *sigh*

I do at least have some income this month from my Not the IRS paid training sessions, and I've adjusted my commitment such that if the office manager has hours available to assign to me, I could be working up to 50 hours a week come January, but that doesn't do a lot for me right at the moment. *deeper sigh*

[isis]

That sucks. Good luck.

[edenfalling]

Thanks. I will persevere!

[branchandroot]

That is definitely some shitty behavior, and they clearly do not deserve you. Hopefully Not the IRS will have better sense.

[edenfalling]

I am aware that I'm not always the most approachable person, and I never end up as anybody's best work-friend, but I like to think that my ability to get along with pretty much anyone (and also my general efficiency and competence) compensates for my, um, intense wall of privacy in offline contexts. And even if a person isn't likable, that's not an excuse for not according them some basic respect as a human being.

Not the IRS is already one up for hiring me back for a second year! Now I just need to make the rest of their online training materials play nice with my computer, which is sometimes tricky. But I think my laptop's most recent update-and-restart means now I have a current enough version of Java to satisfy the requirements... *crosses fingers*

[branchandroot]

Urgh, Java. I've been fighting with that lately, too, in my new "all the online learnings" job. I keep /trying/ to tell people that Java is not truly cross-platform any more...

[autumnia]

Oh no, that's totally awful Liz! It really sucks that they didn't even offer an explanation or at least forewarn that this might happen.

I do agree with you about why you were possibly terminated -- I know many companies now are required to hire you full time after working there for a specified range (I believe it was six months at my old company) and if the employee isn't interested (though that's not your case), s/he is required to leave. Hopefully your boss can provide a good reference if needed; if not, perhaps one of your coworkers?

At least you got some training out of it, and that's never a bad thing. Going to keep my fingers crossed that you'll be a lot happier wherever you end up next.

[edenfalling]

Well, Underboss did say she'd be willing to give a reference, so hopefully that was true and not simply public politeness. And yeah, I now have more experience dealing with phone systems (Not the IRS is kind of rudimentary on that front), learning to use proprietary computer systems, and maintaining medical levels of confidentiality, which is nice.

I think I will enjoy doing actual tax stuff at Not the IRS, but I'm not sure what's going to happen after April 15th. Presumably I could apply for unemployment again at that point, but I'd really prefer to have another job lined up instead...

[musesfool]

Oh that sucks. I'm so sorry. I hope something better comes along quickly, and the tax stuff continues apace.

[edenfalling]

Thank you. The tax stuff is going well -- we're into the role-playing part of training, which feels incredibly silly and awkward but is reducing my nerves about how the real job will go -- and I will step up my job searching again. *sigh*

[heliopausa]

I am really, really sorry to hear this. The four-months-and-you're-out policy sounds pretty certainly the reason, and that stinks in itself - and yes, it's made more sickening by the fact that no-one there had the gumption or the decency to make it clear that it was going to happen. I hope something very positive and restorative happens for you today, and on the weekend.

[edenfalling]

Well, I treated myself to a movie on Tuesday! That was nice, and I would not have had the time if I'd had to work that day. I will get to spend more time with my family over Christmas, and probably even get back to NJ for a friend's family's traditional New Year's Eve part that I haven't managed to attend for a decade. And I scheduled myself to give blood at a drive that would have been logistically impossible to reach if I had work that day. So there are three (small) silver linings.

[sabriel]

I'm really sorry to hear this. They clearly don't deserve you, especially if that's the way they treated you. I've been let go once, unexpectedly but at least my boss had the guts and courtesy to let me know in person!

I hope you have better luck in your future jobs!

[edenfalling]

Thank you! I think this tax season with Not the IRS should turn out all right. It's what to do after April 15th that has me a little worried...

[marmota_b]

Ouch. Ouch. Triple ouch.
The not letting you know part is definitely the worst on the emotional hurt scale.

[edenfalling]

Yeah. I just... would it have been that hard to mention the problem in person and sooner, so I'd have had some time to prepare? I would not have worked any less diligently at setting up the changeover to the new system; I am sometimes a very petty person, but not in that way. And is avoiding any potential intra-office awkwardness REALLY worth treating a person you've worked with for four months like a non-person? *gnashes teeth*

[transposable_element]

I'm sorry. That is truly despicable behavior! Jerks....

I wish I had something more useful to say, but honestly, I'm speechless.

[edenfalling]

Thank you. Yeah, I am... not happy, let's put it that way. But life goes on! And I will have a job in January with Not the IRS, so it's not the complete disaster it so easily could have been. (And yet, the fact that it could and would have been a disaster if I didn't have a backup makes me wonder what might have happened to someone else in my situation... *sadface*)

[askerian]

oh no, that's such a shitty way to handle things :( i'm really sorry it ended like this. uuuurgh. *hughugs*

[edenfalling]

*hugs you back*

[monkey5s]

I am sorry to see that this happened to you. But, let me make you hate humanity more for just a minute here.

Near my SmallTown Ohio home there is a massive Kroger (supermarket chain) warehouse. They are pretty much always hiring. This is because they have a firm (UNOFFICIAL! Higher-ups deny deny deny!) policy of keeping people only until the day before they would be required to be made regular workers. They merely have to say "It's not working out for you here" with no details given (details could be contested in a lawsuit) and the worker is out the door.

The thing is, everybody knows that this is how they operate. If you work there, you might make it that long (they have relatively unsafe productivity requirements, among other things, so they weed out the weak and sensible pretty quickly) but you would be considered a fool if you expected to be made permanent. Perhaps you were expected to "just know this is how it would go" when you started there.

Alternatively, your coworkers might have had a prohibition against talking about things like that, particularly to the temp workers affected. Because hey, if you KNOW your job will be ending regardless of what you do, why bother working your hardest? Also, once again, if you are told of this (quite certainly UNOFFICIAL) policy, you might be able to make trouble for them. Sure, it's not illegal, but you could certainly bring unwanted attention to them.

As far as making the temp agency do the dirty work, well, that's part and parcel of why temp agencies exist.

In all fairness, I do want to note that it is pretty much never the people with whom you work that are making that decision to churn through temp workers rather than train a permanent person. It's always the bean counters who see it as a cost-saving move- if they don't hire a permanent person, they don't have to have HR work with them, or put them through the employee review process for promotion, pay them benefits and be expected to work around their time off, etc. And no they don't think of the person who has to repeatedly train the new person.

But FUCK YEAH, getting the shaft like this from an organization that is set up to help people who have been similarly shafted, wow. That's like irony to the nth power.

Once again, I am sorry you're back to square one. And if Underboss extended your contract with the temp agency, probably she did not know the (UNOFFICIAL! DEEPLY, DEEPLY UNOFFICIAL!!) policy. And she might well have told the temp agency to pass along her willingness to be a reference, and the temp agency just ignored it because nobody ever REALLY means it, and they most certainly know that there are a lot of places with the same (UNOFFICIAL!) (lack of) hiring policy.

I'm glad you're taking the tax preparer classes. That's only a seasonal thing, but it is by gum a dependable seasonal thing!

[edenfalling]

Yeah, I do not blame Underboss for the policy of ditching temps, if that is indeed the policy; I am just pissed off at how she chose to handle (or not handle, as the case may be) giving me the bad news. I mean, even if there was a secondary policy of not telling the poor temp ahead of time in order to stave off any urge toward slacking, she could have told me on Friday.

(The health garage doesn't directly deal with unemployment -- that's not a health issue, after all -- but since employment woes are often correlated with the problems they do focus on... nrgh. And they're all about the 'person-centered' approach and stuff. But it's not the counselors who are at fault, either. I blame the CEO and the business office, if anyone. Actually, you know, I remember the CEO asking me how long I'd been working as a temp at one point, which I put off as just making casual conversation, but in retrospect that's may have been a sign. *sigh*)

Yeah, it doesn't look like the US tax code is going to get less crazy any time soon, so. Tax preparation, here I come! (I am going to hate the marketing aspect, I can tell already, but I've put up with that in other jobs and I can put up with it here. I think mostly I will just hand out business cards to people at church or something and call it a day.)

[issen4.livejournal.com]

I feel your anger because the same thing happened to me: asked to go before my probation period was up, which enabled my ex-boss to do away with the need for a notice period. Wanted me to pack my stuff during the weekend so none of my ex-colleagues would know in advance, and ex-boss could present them with a fait accompli. It's unprofessional and rude.

Hang in there.

[edenfalling]

I wonder if there was a certain amount of rationalization to the effect of, "Well, if Misty's last day is Friday, which means we'll have to change the back door lock code, we might as well make that Liz's last day as well so we won't have to change the code twice in rapid succession..."

But yeah. Extremely rude and inconsiderate, albeit perfectly legal. *sigh*

[issen4.livejournal.com]

Yup re the door code thing. Also (I think) a rather paranoid fear that I'd turn up during working hours and confront people.

Just before holidays is not a good time for this, as companies tend not to be hiring/interviewing until well after the new year.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I am really, really sorry, Liz. That just sucks and I just HATE what this temporary, contract economy does to people.

[edenfalling]

I do still have a little income this month from my Not the IRS training sessions -- they are paid, though at a lower rate than actual work -- and I've adjusted my commitment such that, if the hours are available, I could be working up to 50 hours a week come January... but that doesn't help a lot right now. *sigh*

I've lost temp jobs abruptly before, but in one case my boss warned me that the ax might be coming because her higher-ups were doing a budget review and I was the most vulnerable, and in the other I was about ready to quit of my own accord anyway because my unit had gotten a new supervisor who changed several procedures to create a less welcoming environment, and quite obviously thought I was a waste of time and space since one of those changes was phrased such that I was the only person it affected. So there wasn't the same out-of-nowhere shock.

[justicevoles.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is some cold.

Hopefully you can bank some fat overtime next month and build a cushion.

[edenfalling]

As I recall, Not the IRS is not terribly keen on paying overtime, but sometimes things happen to people and time slots still have to get covered somehow. And even if I'm just working 40 hours a week, that will add up nicely. :-)

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

That is an utter jackass thing to do, especially before the holidays.

*HUGS*

[edenfalling]

Well, December 4th falling four months after August 4th is just how the calendar works... but yeah. It was not pleasant timing.

*hugs you back*

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry.

[edenfalling]

Thank you. I am trying to look forward to the holidays and January rather than dwell on the past.

[akatsuki210.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear about that, Liz.

[edenfalling]

Thank you. Oh well, more time for writing?

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is a special level of nasty. Sucks that they would do this to you, and it sounds like this is something that they do on a fairly regular basis.

Jerks.

[edenfalling]

Yeah, it does have the feel of something that's been done before and that will be done again. I think the reason I hadn't considered a hard contract limit as a possibility is that some of my (now-former) coworkers started as temps themselves and had then been hired full-time... but given that, I wonder why they didn't think of me as an option when they were replacing Misty? *sigh*

[rosaxx50.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely goddamn awful and distrespectful. My sympathies and curses on the management at the health garage.

[edenfalling]

Thank you. Ah well, at least I already had the Not the IRS stuff lined up and in-progress.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm sorry that happened to you. It's horrible that those types of work practice exist and are legal. I'm glad you still have the Not-the-IRS, and I hope you're able to find something else soon (though having time for yourself, especially around the holidays will be a good thing, too).

[edenfalling]

Thank you. It IS kind of backhandedly convenient to have more time just now, both for online training and for writing. But I am looking forward to January and actual job hours again.