Just to give another point of data on PIPs. I was placed on one the first year I was with Donlen/GM. Got through it, and 7 1/2 years later, I was running the division. It doesn't always mean the kiss of death. The people that mattered realized that my manager at the time was a micromanaging control freak. I wasn't blameless, but they also knew it wasn't entirely my fault.

Best cry-proof mascara: the Blinc tubular stuff

That's my mascara! I'm a weeper and it's been hiding that from the world around me for years.

So, I've been having this more or less constant low to mid grade anxiety ever since I found out I didn't get the Beverly Hills job. I have even woken up at like 4 in the morning almost every night this week. I was really hoping for some financial stability . I can't handle the stress of freelance any more.

{{{Sean}}}

Wish there was more I could do to help.

Sean, snuggles and purrs and whatever would really be of comfort to you.

Sean, I'm sorry. I wish I had more than that.

Jilli,

can you NOT sign it? What happens if you don't?

Sean, I'm very sorry. I would give you soothing hairpats and distract you with ridiculous stories if I were nearby.

can you NOT sign it? What happens if you don't?

I don't know. I'm going to ask one of the HR minions that tomorrow. But Plei, because she is queen of research, found me a bunch of good links on writing rebuttals. Even better, she found me links with info and sample language for including a disclaimer that essentially says, "my signature on this document is an acknowledgment that I've read it, NOT that I agree with it or accept it." So that should get me enough time for the other team to pull me over. I hope. Unless Umbridge and HR just terminate me because it's an at-will employment state.

Weirdly, I'm not freaked out about all of this. It is going to work out and be okay.. Don't know how, but it will.

oh! I like the rebuttal idea.

I was on a PIP with horrible!boss and survived a while under her reign of terror. They hired a new person and transferred me to him; I asked our executive director if she could not let him see my performance reviews until he'd had a chance to know me without any prejudice. After about a week, he sat down with me, said he'd read the performance reviews, and then sat there kind of waving his hands trying to figure out how those related to the person he'd been working with.

Horrible!boss, having lost any staff to push around and having been effectively demoted, bailed - left with no notice - I'm not sure who initiated the departure. When she left, I came to realize that no one else liked her all that much. And she left a fair amount of confusion behind, as she didn't leave any information about what she'd done ... and with new people on board, I keep having to say that horrible!boss had handled it and didn't talk to me about it. The new person is totally at a loss about it because when she left her previous job, she says she spent the last couple weeks writing up information for the transition.

Good!boss left (sob) but I've been assigned to someone else who seems to be working out. We need to sit down and talk, but with his schedule and mine, just haven't had time.

So ... a PIP isn't necessarily the kiss of death, but it can be a sign that your boss wants you gone.