Moving out
Did you ever have anyone who just wants to screw with you, just because they can? Color me surprised that my boss, Benny, has struck again. What’s odd about this behavior is that I’m leaving the agency, permanently, to go work somewhere else.
For those of you who have read my rants, you already know I work (for now) for the Department of Homeland Security. Due to family concerns I had been applying for different jobs, closer to my parents, so that I could help my sister out (she is helping take care of them). My parents are mentally competent, but they are elderly (80s) and their health is failing. Neither one of them drives (any longer) and they don’t live near public transit.
I had received an appointment letter, from the US Capitol Police, and we had negotiated a mutually advantageous start date. Cue Benny to try to screw things up. In hindsight, I guess my big mistake was in trying to treat Benny (and the agency fairly.) I had given the agency a head’s up (way back in May of this year) that i was selected for another job and would probably be gone before 10/01/08. I kept the agency advised of my status and when I finally got a start date- I promptly advised management at my current agency. I also suggested that we might meet on Monday (yesterday) to discuss the impact of my departure and to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. I further indicated that I wanted to take “terminal leave” so that I could move. All in all the agency has had about four months of warning and will have had three weeks of formal notice. You’ll see why this is important later.
Monday morning comes around, and I am doing my thing at work (I wear about four hats there). Everything seems to be cool and groovy, so after lunch I fill out my terminal leave request and take it in to Benny’s office. Benny decides to screw with me. First it’s “we can extend you for 30 days.” When I asked whether that was his intention, or not, he said “I’m not saying we will, I’m just saying we can.” Of course my response was “If you’re not planning on extending me, then why bring it up.” Benny ignores my question by saying that he “doesn’t have to approve my leave request.” So, I ask “are you GOING to disapprove my leave request?” I get another one of those “I’m not saying I’m going to, but I can” responses.
We do this dance two more times, at which point I tell Benny that, perhaps, we should continue this conversation in the big Kahuna’s office. Benny doesn’t want to go, which (when coupled with his refusal or inablility to tell whether he was going to screw with my departure and if so, WHY he would do so) tells me this isn’t direction coming from above, it’s Benny being a class A prick. Oh, and I forgot to mention the fact that a delay will end up costing me about seven thousand dollars (because I’m paying for my own move and would have to maintain two households for a protracted period.)
At this point I am more than a little “perturbed” and want to punch Benny in the mouth. I didn’t, but maybe I should have done so. I’m more than a little steamed because Benny had ample opportunity to talk to me about this issue over the weekend and Monday morning. Of course he couldn’t actually “man up” and talk to me. No, the little punk bitch hid in his office, like he usually does.
I took this issue to Benny’s boss. We’ll see what happens. My feeling, at this point is that while I was willing to have this departure work out so that everyone was happy, I am not going to sit back and take it. If Benny’s boss (Mark) fixes this problem, then it’s all good. If not, then I have no problem spending every hour of every day, between now and the day I was supposed to leave, pursuing this up the chain of command. If I have to, I’ll take it up to Julie Meyers. If I have to take it outside the region, then EVERYTHING (management’s fuck ups) will be on the table. I don’t want to burn this bridge, but if it’s going to burn then I am going to make DAMN sure that they know it will never be rebulit.
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