Searching for working

I got my review in late January and it was not good. I was sooo pissed off because it was the topper to a grand week...my boyfriend and I broke up, I found out I had failed the CFA exam I had been studying for in preparation the last 9 months and now this!

I was especially frustrated because I worked my ass off for the previous year trying to keep our department afloat since 2 of our 4 man crew quit within a month of each other. My colleague and I had to put out fires on a daily basis for quite a few months and help the whole business unit with interviewing, hiring and training 7 other people to help us reign in what had to be done and make the workload bearable for all. After all this, cleaning up and reconciling a majority of our most challenging accounts and making all my customers happy, I get told that my work is insufficient, that I have been slacking off and I didn't care about my work.

Now, as many of you mid-westerners know, being told you don't have a good work ethic is like getting told your mama's a ho...you just don't do it because it's insulting. So, I did what any stubborn, highly opinionated woman would do...I wrote a rebuttal, backed everything I said up with evidence and submitted it to my managers (3 at this point in time...kinda ridiculous, right?). Within a few weeks I was brought down to HR and put on probation for being insubordinate. The nerve of those people! Not only is this retaliation, but they did it to someone who won't put up with that crap.

I started immediately looking for a new job, a tiring effort to say the least. Anyone who has worked, trained and tried to search for a new job at the same time can empathize I am sure! You get to where you hate looking at job postings, you get tired of trying to sound fresh in each application and new cover letter you personalize and you just want it over and done with. And then, the miraculous happened...I got my revenge!



One of the great things about my job was that they gave out sweet bonuses...we're talking 20-30% of your salary. I had actually timed things so perfectly that I would get my bonus, give my notice, leave 10 days later, go to Brazil and then start fresh at the new job on my return. Talk about amazing timing! I could not have planned it better if I tried.

Since then I have kept in touch with a few people I worked with and gotten updates. Sad to say for them, things continued down hill and now given the economy, they are laying off 25% of their work force and the stock is not doing well. I feel somewhat glad that our department was never the same after I left, but I feel bad at the same time that the friends I left behind are suffering under a larger workload, some impossible managers and a stressful work environment given the unpredictability of layoffs. I hope things look up for them soon, but I sure am glad I got out when I did.