donna723
Well-Known Member
I'm back! After two weeks without a computer at home, I finally have a brand new laptop that I'm still very fumble-fingered with but I'm learning.
Just when I thought everything was going very well for a change, I suddenly find myself job-scared and starting to panic. I was hoping some of you level-headed folks might have some suggestions. As most of you know, I work for the State and have for the last 24 years. I only have a year and a half before I will be old enough to retire and get full social security benefits. If I had to retire now I would get so much less, I wouldn't be able to live on it!
So there's only three of us where I work with the same job title of Secretary, but our jobs are completely different because we work in different areas. We are not interchangeable. All three of us have been here about the same length of time and have been in the same jobs the whole time and we all do some very specialized things that take a lot of training. The other two I'll call "D" and "S". So we get a new "Acting" second in command - my bosses' boss. "Acting" means temporary but could turn in to permanent. We'll call him "A". OK, so "A" decides that "D", who works in his office, doesn't have enough to do - easy enough to fix. But he decides that he would rather have "S" than "D". But to keep it from looking like he's got something against "D" he calls us all in and tells us that as of Aug. 1st, we will all be rotating jobs - indefinitely! We all just sat there stunned! It was all I could do to keep from throwing up! We all do different things, we all use different computer systems that are very complicated and required formal training. We can't just walk into each others' jobs!
The other two don't like it any more than i do but they are both a few years younger than me and are sort of stuck with it. i am just in the middle for appearances. But there is a huge problem with me going to the job they want me to be in! The institution we work in is ENORMOUS! The worksite of this other job is a full quarter mile walk across a huge compound and at the bottom of a giant hill down 85 steep, hot concrete steps. If I ever have to go up those steps, I can barely catch my breath by the time I get to the top, too out of breath to even talk! Those steps seriously scare me! They're so high, when you're at the bottom looking up, the top seems to disappear into the clouds! Folks, I'm 64 years old! Not as skinny as I was twenty years ago! I have a heart murmur, my knees are already shot, I have arthritis in my ankles and probably my knees too, my feet and ankles swell on hot days and the veins in my legs and feet are getting very painful. And if that weren't enough, the temps here have been in the high 90's with a heat index of 104-105 almost every day! So my choices are between being forced to retire early and being even more poverty stricken than I was going to be ... or risk having a heart attack or heat stroke trying to get up those &%$# steps!
I've already filed a grievance - it hasn't been heard yet but I'm not looking for much help there. This was done with the knowledge of the big boss who doesn't like "D" either! To take it further can take months. I only have about three months leave I can use, and I know that if it comes to that, it will take that long to get my SS and retirement in place. I am soooo scared! The only thing I thought I could really count on was my job and now apparently that's gone too! I would think that it was an attempt to get rid of some of the older, seasoned employees, but it is clearly a crude attempt to get rid of "D" with no regard to the affect it is having on all of us. I guess being left alone for another year and a half was too much to ask.
If you made it this far, thanks for listening. If anyone has been through something like this before or knows of any legal goodies that might help my cause, PLEASE let me know.
Just when I thought everything was going very well for a change, I suddenly find myself job-scared and starting to panic. I was hoping some of you level-headed folks might have some suggestions. As most of you know, I work for the State and have for the last 24 years. I only have a year and a half before I will be old enough to retire and get full social security benefits. If I had to retire now I would get so much less, I wouldn't be able to live on it!
So there's only three of us where I work with the same job title of Secretary, but our jobs are completely different because we work in different areas. We are not interchangeable. All three of us have been here about the same length of time and have been in the same jobs the whole time and we all do some very specialized things that take a lot of training. The other two I'll call "D" and "S". So we get a new "Acting" second in command - my bosses' boss. "Acting" means temporary but could turn in to permanent. We'll call him "A". OK, so "A" decides that "D", who works in his office, doesn't have enough to do - easy enough to fix. But he decides that he would rather have "S" than "D". But to keep it from looking like he's got something against "D" he calls us all in and tells us that as of Aug. 1st, we will all be rotating jobs - indefinitely! We all just sat there stunned! It was all I could do to keep from throwing up! We all do different things, we all use different computer systems that are very complicated and required formal training. We can't just walk into each others' jobs!
The other two don't like it any more than i do but they are both a few years younger than me and are sort of stuck with it. i am just in the middle for appearances. But there is a huge problem with me going to the job they want me to be in! The institution we work in is ENORMOUS! The worksite of this other job is a full quarter mile walk across a huge compound and at the bottom of a giant hill down 85 steep, hot concrete steps. If I ever have to go up those steps, I can barely catch my breath by the time I get to the top, too out of breath to even talk! Those steps seriously scare me! They're so high, when you're at the bottom looking up, the top seems to disappear into the clouds! Folks, I'm 64 years old! Not as skinny as I was twenty years ago! I have a heart murmur, my knees are already shot, I have arthritis in my ankles and probably my knees too, my feet and ankles swell on hot days and the veins in my legs and feet are getting very painful. And if that weren't enough, the temps here have been in the high 90's with a heat index of 104-105 almost every day! So my choices are between being forced to retire early and being even more poverty stricken than I was going to be ... or risk having a heart attack or heat stroke trying to get up those &%$# steps!
I've already filed a grievance - it hasn't been heard yet but I'm not looking for much help there. This was done with the knowledge of the big boss who doesn't like "D" either! To take it further can take months. I only have about three months leave I can use, and I know that if it comes to that, it will take that long to get my SS and retirement in place. I am soooo scared! The only thing I thought I could really count on was my job and now apparently that's gone too! I would think that it was an attempt to get rid of some of the older, seasoned employees, but it is clearly a crude attempt to get rid of "D" with no regard to the affect it is having on all of us. I guess being left alone for another year and a half was too much to ask.
If you made it this far, thanks for listening. If anyone has been through something like this before or knows of any legal goodies that might help my cause, PLEASE let me know.