Well, heres what happened…Choice B. Essentially. Basically I went into work and asked Diane, our Human Resources person, about whether or not my insurance premium would jump to $900 like I was originally told by the old HR person. Well, she began working there while I was already on leave so she wasn’t sure. She was like, “Well, Linda comes back tomorrow, we can ask her then.” I wasn’t about ready to walk out of that place without any answers. I’ve worried about it enough, for long enough. I told Diane I was going to go downstairs and talk to Luanne, who is the head call center manager, about my options and if anything happens I’d let her know. I headed downstairs, stopped and talked to Ryan to say hello. He wished me luck and I went at it. I walked into Luanne’s office, sat down and began asking questions and explaining my story. I told her that I was extended until September and I was worried about keeping my job. I told her about how if I keep STD I was unable to play my bills fully because it doesn’t allow me to qualify for any benefits or state help. I was just 100% straight-forward honest with her about everything that was going on. She told me to hold on a moment while she started looking up everything! She told me about how FLMA (family medical leave act) only is for 12 weeks but our STD extends for 26 weeks. So I could stay on, and get paid all the way through November if that is the case. She also explained that the downside of me cutting the insurance would be cutting ALL ties that I have with them. Basically saying, I drop the insurance, I am guaranteed to get fired. I didn’t qualify for a “unpaid leave of absence” because I only technically worked there for a few months. I started in Jan 2007, but I was hired on full time in November 2007. Which simply meant, I only have been “working there full time” since November because all the other time was only seasonal. *Insert rolls eyes smiley here* LONG story short… I didn’t qualify for leave of absence, and if I took away my medical leave I would be basically calling in every single day, which is only going to make them fire me because its termination even with a doctors excuse. So, thats fine. I looked at her and asked, “Well, Luanne, what are my options? At this point, I’ve been under an substantial amount of stress because of all the paperwork and worry that I won’t have a job to return to. I love this job. I don’t want to lose it. I wish there was a way I could just leave until this baby was born and come back next season if you’re willing to have me that is.” She looked at me and became very silent for a short while. It felt like hours to me, but it probably was only a total of 2 minutes. Finally she looked up and said, “I want you to try paychex. Give them a call and ask them what your options are, what are you able to do. I don’t want to make ANY decisions until we know FOR sure what we can do to help you out. I’m going to go upstairs and talk to Ben while you’re calling them and ask him what we can do for you also.” I was like… Wow. Ben is the VP of the company. The fact that she’s doing everything in her power to HELP me instead of saying “Nothing we can. Just quit. Sorry.” was just outstanding to me. I went upstairs and called the company. They basically told me that I’d have to wait five business days to receive any answers, and its only for referrals for other programs instead of actually getting answers. That was basically a dead end. I found Luanne speaking with Ben. I didn’t want to interrupt but I also didn’t want to look like a fool just standing by the door listening to everything so I knocked on the door and told them what was said. She thanked Ben and took me into the conference room. She was like “have a seat”. Here it was, she was going to fire me. I just knew it. She looked at me and said, “You’re one of our better employees if my memory serves me correctly, right?” I nodded and said, “As far as I can say I’d like to think so.” She continued, “As of right now, I think our best option with you in mind is that you put in your resignation today, and we have you come back in Feb. I like you. You’re a good employee. I can see that you like this job. I will have you come back in Feb. That is absolutely NOT a concern. There shouldn’t be any concern on your behalf either. You don’t need to worry about your position here. I will bring you back next year. I would hate to lose you.” :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: Wow. What a compliment. I thanked her and we continued downstairs so I could sign a letter of resignation. I went into her office and basically wrote a letter saying “On this date, I quit because…” Signed. I looked at her and almost began to cry. I was so happy that she was willing to promise me my job. I asked her with hesitation, “Well, are you guys going to call me in Feb. asking me to come back or how is that going to work?” She laughed and said “Thats an excellent question. I’m going ot put on my calendar, on the 12th of July, to call you up and invite you back. You asking that just proves to me how much you want/like this job. We’ll say this as a see you later, not a good-bye. Go home, don’t worry anymore about your work. We will see you next season. I need you back to help train the new people again. We will see you next year.”

I thought I would cry. It was the BIGGEST weight I’ve been carrying around for the past three months, lifted off my shoulders. I couldn’t believe what had happened. So thats what happened… I quit my job. Thats a good thing. I will go back in Feb. or March of 2009. After the baby is born, after my illness has gone away, and after I’m able to work again. So, I now have a six month vacation almost. Sit around and just feel better. I have a lot of bull shit to do now with the paperwork for state help, rent, and WIC but its only going to take a few weeks to get that 100% taken care of. I won’t have to answer to the insurance company every single week and explain over and over how I’m feeling. I won’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay rent, and the bills, ALONG with the copay for the insurance company, and everything else. Sure, money is going to be tight. REALLY tight. I won’t be putting this baby in harms way by worrying about every single little thing anymore. Work and the insurance company was the biggest task I was facing, and now thats taken care of.Wow, right? Yea, thats what I say. Well, there you have it. Two entries today. I’m trying to decide whether or not I’m going to go up north with Mike’s family in two weeks. It would just be Nickolas and I from Wednesday the 23rd until Wednesday the 30th, my birthday. Mike would drive up for the weekend since he cannot get off work. I’m just trying to decide if I could A. Be without him, minus seeing him during the weekend, for a week. B. Handle being with his family for a week. C. Handle being up north, doing limited activities but not be in the comforts of my own home for a week; My health usually doesn’t like that as of lately. We will see.

Filed under: Struggles ||