well, the question i posed at the end of this entry has been answered. the answer is 21 weeks and 6 days.
i got fired today. there were a bunch of jobs that got screwed up because the artwork either wasn’t there at all and i had to create it – which i did incorrectly because of the fact that they only had old, incorrect samples to go by and they were unwilling to send the job to the customer for proofreading because it was a reprint of a job that had been printed before, regardless of the fact that it was over a year since we printed the job the last time – or the artwork was there, but it was incorrect from the beginning and, being as how that was the only artwork that was there for those particular jobs, i assumed that it was the correct artwork, even though it had been superceded before i got there, and for some reason the new artwork had been deleted and the old artwork had been saved – all before i even started working there – but because these jobs got screwed up "on my watch" so to speak, even though they were screwed up before i even started working there, i got blamed for their screwups… and as a result, majid went on a flaming, part-farsi (or whatever language it is that he speaks) tirade, made up a whole bunch of completely arbitrary "rules" which wouldn’t really affect anything except majid’s state of mind (or lack thereof), but would only make my job that much more difficult if i actually followed them, and said that if i couldn’t abide by them, that i was fired…
so, i’m fired now.
part of me is relieved that i don’t have to go to work and work with that crew of blithering idiots any more, but part of me is wondering how long it will be before i’m living in a motorhome somewhere, or worse…
and yet another part of me is just waiting to see, now that i’ve got the network a lot more organised than it was before i got there, how long it will be before they’ve totally fucked everything up and come whimpering to me asking me to fix some thing or another that i was able to get to work, but now that i’m gone they can’t figure it out any longer… i wonder how much i would charge to fix said screwup then…
to say i didn’t really like it is one way of putting it… actually the job itself wasn’t that bad, it was the people i worked with that were intolerable. at this point i don’t have any prospects for future employment, but i’ve only been fired for a day, so i’ve got plenty of time.
actually, it was "i want to quit my job", but this way i am eligible for unenjoyment benefits (for what good it will do), and if i had quit, i wouldn’t…
Sorry to hear that. I hope things turn around quickly.
Oh, ouch. But I guess it’s ultimately for the best. It’s obviously a mixed blessing. I hope something else quickly comes up for you. You brought your mantra into creation! What was it? “I will lose this job”? Just start another that addresses what you want next, and keep repeating it.
sorry to hear about this though I know you didn’t really like it there so maybe it’s for the best. do you have any prospects for future employment? Hope a more fruitful/happier employment opportunity crosses your path soon.
unfortunately, in this country, if you can’t pay rent, or mortgage payments, or whatever, regardless of what your reason is, they can, and do turn people out on the street… every day!
i haven’t found my niche yet, but i’m working on it. i have a home-based business on internet, Hybrid Elephant, which i have been working on during my periods of "unenjoyment"… once that takes off, i won’t have to have a "job" in the traditional sense at all…
i’ve managed to get “incapacity benefit” here in this country. we it’s more than unemployment benefit but less than minimum wage, but i get my rent and services paid for seperately so the ‘umbrella’ of our benefits care system keeps me safe and dry.
there is a topup called “diability living allowance” which is a mystery to me how they work out. apparently i am eligible to this, according to the independent DLA appeals panel i went to eventually (been trying to apply for over 2.5 years, this time round valid from february this year if they backdate) this allowance will help towards travel on the one hand, care on the other. i could be eligible for elements of both. it means i can live outwardly like most people and not in abject poverty and worry.
i suppose each country has it’s own systems, but the one thing that a society should do is look after it’s old and ill. it’s like a lottery really. do you end up living to such an age that you need caring for considering family units don’t traditionally look after their old anymore. what about if you become disabled through accident or whatever? that can happen to anyone. therefore there must be a system in place as you can’t very well turn these people out on the street!
i can’t work, travel and physical activity make me collapse. i work 20 minutes then rest for 30. no employer will consider that acceptable for employment. i attend college part time now and have a maximum of 2 x 2hr lessons per day and i’ve had a few bad days already where i’m totally messed up for the second lesson of the day, needing to practically overdose on prescription drugs to cope. then i lose most of the lesson till i’m able to cope and it’s already home time!
theres a difference between slackers and the unfortunate. we fight back through our diatribes on the rest of society who we no longer fully fit in with anymore. once we find and exploit our niche we’ll make sure our doubters know.
just don’t worry too much about your worth. in difficult times just do what i do. go into the centre of the populous, sit down on a bench and watch the ‘normal’ people pass by for a couple of hours. observe their movements, speech and nuances and realise you are still better than the majority of them. the biggest strength we have is the fact that us lucky few still maintain an IQ over the average and can occassionally exploit it!
no, the US has completely arcane and incomprehensible incapacity benefits which are determined by the person who interviews you, not because of actual incapacity… and if you don’t meet the guidelines that the person who interviews you feels are the bare minimum, regardless of how incapacitated you really are, then you don’t get benefits… unless, i’m told, you apply again and again and again, and possibly have enough money to hire a lawyer and take the government to court and even then it’s not guaranteed. i’ve applied – and been turned down – twice now… 8/
not only that, but "unenjoyment" benefits only kick in after you have worked for a year, and are only around a third of what you made at your previous job, so i’m basically out of luck for unenjoyment benefits unless i start another job right away, at which point they won’t make any difference anyway…
and i think the stress of working there would have been about the same regardless of whether i had a brain injury or not, and very likely would have been the same for any artist who knows what they’re doing… they were so phenomenally stupid about most things that i doubt i would have lasted as long as i did under any other circumstances, and probably the only reason i stuck it out for as long as i did was because of my brain injury.
unlucky mate! has the US got a decent incapacity benefits system in place to cover you for rent and food, etc during the period you will be out of work like we have in the UK. once that stress is out of the way you can concentrate on recovery, rebuilding and finding yourself again.
maybe part of the stress in life that wasn’t compatible with your brain was the difficult working conditions you had to work under?