M.I.A…..
So you may have noticed I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks. Trust me when I say I would rather have been sitting at my lovely desk writing blog posts for you wonderful people, than doing what I have actually been doing. But let me begin at the beginning, as it seems the most logical place to start.
So the 16th of April was pottering along just like any other Thursday. Been to uni in the morning and had then made my way to work as per usual. It gets to about 3.20 in the afternoon and I am asked by a supervisor to come into her office. So immediately my mind goes to any possible recent events I could be chastised for. Nothing springs to mind. I go into the office to find.….another co-worker in there…..and a trouble maker at that. Great, I think, what has she whinged about this time (as she has a tendency to file false complaints about fellow employees). Then another co-worker comes in, who is a good friend of mine and I know there is no way she could be in trouble for anything. I start to get worried again when 3 of our supervisors all come in and ask us to take a seat and make sure we’re comfy. Then comes the “You’re all great workers, but unfortunately the budget has run out and we can no longer afford to keep you on” speech.
What the? They tell us that all casual employees in the department are being let go, they are not allowed to hire anymore people, not allowed to do overtime or anything. I won’t even go into the fact that they had hired 3 full-time employees the week before, and for the last 3 weeks have done overtime every night, oh, and that all the managers in the department were taken to the Gold Coast for an entire week and put up in hotels for a seminar…..no, best not to mention that. So 5 of us casuals from my office are given 2 weeks to finish up, which is only thanks to our supervisors, as originally we were to finish out the week.
Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is working the last few weeks after you have been fired from a job? Going into work everyday, knowing you are no longer wanted there? Let me tell you, it is extremely uncomfortable! Especially when you know for a fact some of the old birds who work there would love to see the back of you. Bloody union, boy-haircut, religious nuts. So I spent my remaining work hours searching for more jobs, and suppressing the unwelcome vibe from certain individuals. Oh, and superior glares from others (flutter your eyelashes one more time and so help me I’ll rip them out!).
The following week I had my mid-semester exams. Great. I was too busy doing up job applications and frantically searching Seek and Smartjobs looking for work to even think about studying. Attempted to cram the morning of the exams. Ended up failing my first exam (although, so did 35% of the class, so thinking maybe it wasn’t purely my lack of preparation). Just passed my second and managed to get 72% for the one I was positive I would fail. Then it was back to job seeking. Oh, and working as much as possible before I had to leave work. Managed to get one group interview. They had 800 applicants….yes, you read correctly – 800 applicants! I made it into the top 120 who went for testing. Unfortunately though, no further.
So as of the Friday just gone I am officially unemployed. And to top it off I’m not entitled to any government assistance to help me until I find a job. Nooooo, because I’m in a de facto relationship, my boyfriend should pay for EVERYTHING. Even though I am a full-time student. Centrelink=wankers.
I am basically applying for everything and anything, as I need something to fit around uni classes, as I’m determined not to let my uni suffer (more than it already has) for work. But, yes, I am freaking out. I am stressed enough about my lack of finances as it is without this happening. But, I know I have experience in a range of areas, so all I can do is keep applying and have faith in the fact that something eventually will come along. Just hopefully not too far in the future!
So keep watching this space and I will try to provide more regular and entertaining posts about whatever lies ahead. Ciao for now peeps!!
**Apologies for the mundane nature of this post, I needed to get this all out of my system. May future posts provide greater entertainment to us all!**
Tagged as Brisbane, Casual, Centrelink, Employee, Exam, Job, Recession, Unemployed, University + Categorized as Me, myself and I
I had a job where I was made redundant and had to work another 7 weeks which was very painful . In the last week before I was to go, they asked if I would stay on for less pay, in a role that was exactly the same but had been renamed so they didnt get in trouble for rehiring a role they had just made redundant.