Curiouser and curiouser

I hadn't been to work this week until today due to the bad weather. As I stepped gingerly out of my house for the first time in two days (you wimp, I hear you cry! Yes, I’m a wimp and proud of it LOL!!), the ice crunched beneath my feet with each step I took. I was surprised at how easy it was to walk on it without falling.

I bought my weekly ticket and went to the station to catch the bus that would take me on the first leg of my two hour journey. It went without incident although I noted when I got to Brixton that the journey had taken nearly 30 minutes longer than it normally does.

The second leg of my journey to Oxford Circus took 30 minutes. I knew that I would now be late for work. On the third leg of my journey, I called work at 9am to let them know I would be there in 20 minutes. The line manager answered the phone; when I told her I would be late she asked me if I had spoken to my agency recently. I said that I had spoken to them yesterday to let them know I wouldn’t be in that day. The line manager then said she had spoken to them yesterday saying that that I shouldn’t bother coming in any more. I was surprised at this, but secretly happy. She said it was bad of the agency not to have told me this, but she would fill me in when I got to work. I was not impressed with this shabby treatment.

I called my agency but kept missing the person I wanted to speak to. While on another call I heard my other phone ringing. I didn’t look at it as I figured the person would leave a message. When I finished the call I was on I switched my attention to the other phone. It was from my agency; I listened to a rather frantic message from the lady who was handling my account saying that she had left a message for me yesterday on my voicemail saying that the contract had been terminated as there wasn't enough work for me to do, or something like that. She said that she hoped that I wasn’t on my way to work.

In retrospect, I can see that this woman was trying to cover herself. She did not leave any such message for me on my phone. She never called me; I think it was the call from the line manager that jogged her memory to the fact that she hadn’t passed the message on yesterday.

I eventually spoke to the lady in question at the agency. She told me that because the professor who I was working for had changed how he works, e.g. he now checked his own emails, there wasn’t a lot for me to do and so therefore there was no point in being there any longer. She said that she had left a message on my voicemail, to which I replied there was no message on my phone. She didn’t challenge that and said she had probably called someone else, although she thought it had been my voicemail. She said it wasn't anything that I had or hadn't done which resulted in the termination of the contract. She told me there was another job available, a junior PA post in central London. I wasn’t happy with this as she knows I am a senior PA, but because of the current climate I swallowed my pride and told her to put my CV forward for consideration.

I eventually got to the place where I worked. The line manager came out and said she was sorry I’d had a long trek in for nothing. She again stated she thought it was bad that the agency hadn’t told me; she also made mention of the fact that they hadn’t told her yesterday that I had called them to say that I wasn’t going to be in. She repeated the same story that the agency had given me, namely that the boss' work habits had changed and this meant that another my post wasn’t required. I couldn’t shift the feeling that neither she nor the agency were telling me the truth, but I really couldn’t care less. I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be working there anymore. I took my things from my desk, said goodbye and with that I left.

I really don’t want to work for people anymore, but until I nail down exactly what I want to do, it’s the way it’s going to have to be for now.

I told you – I’m a weirdo magnet. I think I’ve met enough weird people and had enough strange encounters to be due a break now!!

So, how was YOUR day?