The Aerie

Gone Again

Well I'm outta work again. I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks because that has been the central reality of my life, and I haven't been proud of it. I didn't want to hide it, but I didn't want to talk about it, so I just didn't write anything.

Six weeks ago I was the hero at my former client site, but four weeks later I was the goat. Basically I was let go because I was not a formally-trained project manager: in my defense, I stated clearly when I was brought on board that I was not a formally-trained project manager. However when I finished the first project six weeks ago, it was my technical skills that made me valuable: when they put me on a new project they now wanted me to follow their formal project management process. Unfortunately they had absolutely no documentation of their formal project management process. None.

One colleague was kind enough to scribble a page of notes on blue-lined notebook paper for me, and to be clear she was eager to help me out, but her support was not enough: I was on a VERY high-profile project, and my unfamiliarity with project management quickly became an embarassing liability for my manager, and I was out the door.

And the way I was dismissed was, well, not the best. I was traveling home from work at 5:15 and my contracting firm called me to tell me the client had canceled the contract. So my manager waited until she saw me leave the building, then called my contracting company and had them do her dirty work. Well, fine, but it's not like I didn't know I was likely to be let go: I would have preferred a professional face-to-face explanation that things weren't working out.

So anyway that was a week ago now, so it's time for me to get over it and get on with life.

Also gone are my twins, off to Boston for a six-night church trip. Exciting! I'm hopeful that they will be able to meet my half-sister while they are there. She's director of undergraduate admissions at a prestigious Boston college, a college that has a hefty scholarship for UU youth, so I wouldn't mind at all if one or both of them got the scholarship and decided to attend her school. Of course, it's a women's college, so my son would have to dress in drag for four years, but that's how Tom Hanks got HIS start...

So this Father's Day two of my kids won't be home, which is sad. Usually on Father's Day I like to have a family picnic at the beach, but this year I'll be lucky if my youngest isn't off playing video games at his friend's house. I guess it will give the spouse and I a chance to practice being Empty Nesters, which awaits us in, potentially, as few as six years. Wow, no job, no kids at home - it will be a taste of Retirement.

So that's the latest, and I've bared my breast of the whole embarrassing actually-got-let-go-for-a-reason thing (as opposed to the stupid "hat" incident at my previous client), so now we can put that behind us... and never speak of it again!

Posted by Albatross at June 14, 2007 9:49 AM | TrackBack