Then I went out of town for a week and my friends secretly finished up the project, including making a cat bed on the newly painted radiator cover, and arranged for it to be done when I got back from the airport. It's one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me!

Aw, that's so great!

Boss lady fucked off early for a pointless meeting in another brilliant ploy to not do any actual work. ED wants to stage an "intervention" where myself and two colleagues confront her with all the ways she disappoints, frustrates, and irritates us. Um, no? ED is such a chickenshit. She's had two probations, it's time for him to lay down the law and set out edicts and ultimatums.

airway fire

frostbite in the throat

Aieee! Warn me if we decide to start telling eye horror stories.

So the production manager told me he's posting my boss's job on Monday and wanted to know if I'm interested. I guess I'd better update the resume. No mention of any kind of compensation for only being paid for a fraction of the work I've been doing for the past 4 months.

ED is such a chickenshit

Sounds like ED needs to start reading "Ask a Manager". He needs to manage Boss Lady, and that doesn't include bringing her subordinates into the line of fire.

aurelia, does the boss's job listing have a salary listed? Or are you just burned out and ready to go?

Consuela, thank you.

He's all about the side approach, never saying what he really means as he tries to gently shepherd his staff, and he needs to trail-blaze straight through the bs and be frank about his intentions so there's no mistaking his expectations. The former is fine with employees who will appreciate the gentle nudge for what it is (and avoid the embarrassment of explicit statement of failings).

We have a new part time staff member who has ingratiated herself to the staff with her useful proactiveness and good cheer. So it's not like we're being a mean girls club excluding the newbies. Only the fuckwats.

I just meant I need to update to apply for the boss's job. That seems to be the best path for me at the moment.

Good luck!

A few days I signed the offer letter for the new gig, I got an email from someone at a firm I applied to last fall, asking if I was still looking for work. Today I emailed her, told her I had just taken this job, but that it was time-limited and I would probably start looking again in 6-8 months.

Surprisingly enough, she still wants to talk to me, which is comforting.

On another board I frequent, re: Fred Phelps

"I'll be dancing at his funeral, in leather chaps and pearls and high heels!"
Another person: "Will the chaps be assless?"
"No, I'll be in them!"

That's funny, no matter who you are.

Fingers crossed for both of you, Consuela and aurelia.

Fingers crossed for both of you, Consuela and aurelia.

Thanks! It is a huge relief to know that I will be operating in future from a position of some security. The biggest difference, I suspect, will be that I won't give off that eau de desperation of the unemployed...