See you on the flip side

This is also a quote from Boondock Saints (good movie!).

taps mic

This afternoon I signed a contract with the Other School, and we told them our situation, and spoke with their lawyer. They said that Evil Boss can't hold up our work permits, but they also weren't very willing to shell out the Moving Allowance up front, which is a pisser, because I don't know how the hell we're going to cover our rent over the summer. I can't afford to pay for Flatmate as well as me, and I know that she doesn't have the money.

Argh.

Anyway, I don't know that I'm going to hand this in, but oh, I had fun writing it:

Dear (evil boss),

Thank you for your memo of 16th May.

I understand that you have decided against ratifying the contract that I signed last year, and that thus there is presently no contract of employment between (evil school) and myself. I was very surprised and sorry to hear that you preferred to disregard the contract, but I accept your decision that there is presently no legal relationship between us.

Thank you for your offer of a new ‘standard’ contract to cover the remainder of this year, and the offer of a renewal of said contract to cover next year. I appreciate this vote of confidence in my teaching, but unfortunately I find myself unable to sign any new contract with (evil school).

Since you have been at pains to inform me that we currently have no contractual obligations to one another, I would like to clarify your wishes regarding our present situation.

Believing that I was entitled one return flight per annum and to the salary of £950 per month for the duration of the contract that I signed (August 2003 – August 2005), in addition to rent money of 900LE per month, I have been faithfully performing all the teaching duties that I believed were my legal obligation. (Evil school) has been paying me my salary and rent money as promised, and I have received one of the two return tickets that were promised in the contract. This appeared to be a satisfactory arrangement for all concerned.

Subsequent to receiving your memo, it appears that you no longer have any legal obligation to continue paying my salary. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay the money for the initial two months of my work for (Evil School), which was held back on the understanding that it would be paid at the end of the contract. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay for the return ticket.

By the same token, I have no legal obligation to continue to teach the Year 3 class I have been working with for the past year. I have no legal obligation to continue carrying out assessments of their ability, no legal obligation to level their work, no legal obligation to put in time after hours writing the reports or attending parents’ meetings.

It was my full intention to do all of the above. However, having received your memo I now see that if I continue to honour the contract, I have absolutely no guarantee that I will receive the moneys owed to me over the course of the next four months. I have financial commitments to meet and no confidence that I shall be able to meet them. Naturally, this is a source of concern.

If I can have some guarantee that I shall receive the moneys to which I am entitled, I should be very happy to continue with the daily business of teaching and the process of generating reports.

If, however, you would prefer not to pay me for the work I have already done and continue to do, then I shall be forced to withdraw my labour and find an alternative source of income.

I should be sorry to have to leave precipitously, but I cannot afford to work for free.

I look forward to hearing your response.

That is a very good letter, Fay.

Sounds like an excellent letter to me.

(I'm sad that this year there will be no Hurricane Fay. Think how shiny Florida would be if hit by such a hurricane.)

eek, thunder and lightning, all of a sudden! no rain, which only makes the thunder and lightning creepier.

There would be glitter and sequins everywhere, I promise you. And big hats. Lots and lots of big hats and ridiculous scarves.

Fay, that's a good letter. I would tweak the angle of the last few paragraphs, such that you're stating you're certain they will want you to continue until the end of the term and will fulfill the remaining terms of their contract with you, and that you await written confirmation and/or a signed, short-term contract which states both parties' obligations, rather than outright saying you won't do it, if they won't pay you. Were you able to get in touch with a lawyer?

Also, unless this is a UK/US spelling difference, moneys should read monies.

Send it, Fay. If he calls you on it, you'll make the difference somehow.

I agree, Nora. The rain is finally starting, here. I think this means Julia's T-ball game is off. I can't tell you how glad I am about that, without feeling like a real jerk, but really, I'm dancing as fast as I can.

The pet discussion is fascinating for me. I know the circumstances of Hec and JZ well enough to know that they were blindsided by love, which required (as Hec said) certain sacrifices on both their parts. That said...

But that just seemed self-evident to me, in the sense that if you set your filter that way and sift through all your life choices through that screen then you're going to be plus pets and minus people when you're done.

Not really. I *do* admit to filtering through a Must Like Cats dealbreaker in my dating life, even though I didn't have a cat who lived with me (as opposed to with my parents) until Paul and I were well established. When I was younger, it was actually a higher priority than Wants Kids. I did fall in love and live with someone who was allergic once, but he turned out to be batshit insane, and I realized that in the future, I'd just stick to my dealbreaker guns, because DAMN, I could NOT live the rest of my life without cats. (If Lily were allergic, which she shows no signs of being, I could manage to go the 18 years until she moved out, though I'd probably look into alternatives like medication or a separate dwelling space out back for the existing cats.)

Anyhow, my point is, I'm not minus people. Were there probably wonderful people I never considered because of the cat thing? Hell yes. Would I have been able to be happy with them, knowing I couldn't have a cat in my life? Not leather-pants happy, that's for damn sure.