Well it's been one hell of a week, stewing with anticipation to find out if I would be one of the chosen few to spend three months working in our Chattanooga office. As I mentioned last time my supervisor, J, looked confused when I asked him when a decision would be made since I hadn't volunteered, but that ultimately the decision was up to my not-so-sensitive boss.
Over the weekend, I tried to not let it bother me too much, but I found it getting in the way of even the simplest things like, how many days worth of food should I get at the grocery store or should I be more diligent about getting my laundry done so that I'd have clean clothes to pack.
Monday arrived and I was certain that we would be given an answer. But there was no mention of anything about it. Then on Tuesday, we got an email from J informing us that the client would need "another day or two" to come to a decision about whether or not they trusted our company to complete the work. So that meant Wednesday or Thursday we'd have an answer, which would leave us only Friday and Saturday to prepare for the trip. I was so worked up about it, so stressed out about it, so upset about it...I felt like I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt like saying "F it" and walking out.
But after a few deep breathes and minimal tears shed, I made it through the rest of the day and just before leaving on Tuesday, asked J if I could have Wednesday off. After my mild breakdown, I felt like I really just needed a day to myself away from all the drama, to not think about it, and to not be hearing all the gossip and rumors. I didn't need to stress myself out even more straining to hear bits and pieces of J's conversations, trying to put things together. I had some comp time built up and our workload had been slow ever since most of our stuff had been taken to Tennessee. So after making sure that my more critical work was already complete, J said, "See you Thursday."
Wednesday I spent the day doing errands, laundry and cleaning up some of my crap around the house so that my husband wouldn't have to look at my mess for three months (certain in my mind that I'd be sent to Chattanooga). It was a great day off and I was able to clear my head a little.
And finally, this morning was indeed the big day. I was the first one into work at 7:00. I immediately checked my email to see if any news had been passed along, either officially from J, or just a gossip email from a coworker. Neither. When one of my friends arrived a few minutes later I sprinted over to her desk and asked if I had missed anything. No news yet. J came in around 7:15 and made his usual first-thing-in-the-morning call to the boss to check in. And that's when I heard him say that "most of the five who are going are in the office by 8:00," so they'd have an 8:30 meeting to inform those people all the specifics of their travel.
Before long, I noticed it was already 8:40. I spun around and saw that J was not at his desk. I frantically sent a message to a coworker asking if he could see J, the boss, and five other people in a meeting room anywhere near his desk. Yes, my buddy confirmed that a meeting was taking place. And I was NOT in that meeting!!!!
A huge smile, a huge sigh of relief, a bit of shock that I was actually not chosen! "Who is the drafter in the meeting?" I asked my buddy. It was D...the guy who's wife is seven months pregnant, but who might have been responsible for the initiating error. I knew that he had guiltily volunteered to go for two weeks. So I thought maybe the client had decided to let us take the two or three weeks necessary to finish the project we were already in the middle of, but maybe that was all we would be authorized to do.
But when J came back about an hour later he asked me into a conference room. He said the decision they'd made was to send D for three weeks, then J was hoping I could go for two weeks, at which point another drafter would take over for me for two weeks, etc. He said they may need me to go back and forth more than once since I was the most qualified, but that it shouldn't be more than two or three weeks at any time.
He made it seem like a decent enough compromise, although after initially being told that it would be a three month assignment, I suppose anything less than three months would seem like a great deal at that point. And it really sucks that I'm getting punished for something that I had no part in And although two weeks doesn't seem too horrible right now, I'm sure I'll feel much differently about it that first night that I'm alone in a hotel.
But I'm trying to look on the bright side of a lousy situation...at least I'll have Waffle House to drown my sorrows in syrupy goodness for a couple weeks.
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