Jobs...they come; they go.....

Two weeks and two days ago, Blake and Jeannine (his co-worker) were called into their company's Alabama HQ. Evidently, even though the contract was not at its end, the Pentagon ended the contract to move it up to DC. In fact, they had already, unknown to anyone here, had a bidding process and hired 5 contactors (at DC wages...?) to replace the 2 here in Alabama. How does this make sense to anyone? Anyhow.....they were told to come to HQ at 1030 and not be late. They get there and the dude that tells them not to be late....well, he was 20 minutes late. So they sat with the VP and chatted for 20 mintues waiting for the "dont be late guy". What did they chat about? Oh, you know Christmas, shopping, trips......all light hearted things. Never saw what was coming.....
Late-man shows up...the meeting begins. On the way to the meeting, Blake and Jeannine rode together. She kept reassuring him, if something was up the company would take care of them. They always had. They'd work them in the HQ office till a new contract would start or a job came available. But, the contract wasnt even at its end, the government LOVED them both. No worries.

WRONG.

The VP informs them that effective in one week, they would no longer have a job. Yep, thats right folks. 20 days before christmas. 10 days before Kayleigh's birthday. Oh, and there was no severence package offered. They did agree to pay out all vacation and sick leave.....all three days of it...woohoo. They also have us on their insurance until Jan 1. Can you say...we are ALL getting new glasses and any other thing we can think of on this great insurance that had absoluetly NO deductibles for anything. They said there is just no projected work, and with the way things are, they can't afford to keep them on without work in the future. :( Whatever folks.....

After all this, the VP asks if he can have some feedback....hahahahah!!!!!!! Not sure what he was going for here. "Sir, you did a fantastic job firing us. The way you talked about Christmas for 20 minutes and put us at ease before the meeting started really made the "you dont have a job in 7 days that much more dramatic...Kudos to you!" Jeannine, who is a bit of a firecracker, evidently had feedback for him. I was told something to the effect of: "you just fired us 20 days before christmas. I've worked here for 8 years, and this is what I get. What kind of feedback do you want. THIS SUCKS"

The company really is upset that this has happened to (supposedly), and did not know it was going to happen. They really do love Blake there.
So, after the meeting they head back to the base......they get to the office and tell the people in the office what has happened, and they are floored. They had no clue either. Shock, Disbelief. Fear. Sick to your stomach. Dread.

However, the people in the office...like I said, they LOVE Blake and Jeannine. They got their resumes and before Blake left work that day, it appeared he had a new job. The Project Lead got Blake's resume from another lady, and came to see him. He is supposed to retire in a little over a year, and told blake he would hire him to replace him right now if he could! In the end, they hired Jeannine on as a Config. Manager (dont know what that is, but she did, and now does it) and hired Blake on as Asst. Project Lead and as the Program Manager. He is positioned now to take over as Project Lead when the guy retires.

It has been a blessing that 20 days before Christmas Blake lost his job. We kind of kept it a secret till we knew for sure he had this other job. We felt like we had JUST done this..oh yeah, we had....and were hopeful the unemployed time this time would be much shorter! The job offer came officially on Wednesday. He started work Thursday at 7am! With his generous vacation/sick leave from his old job, we went exactly one day without pay! Oh, and this job comes with quite a raise (he went from being the low guy on the ladder to the boss of the whole schibang). They will also be paying to send him to some PMP boot camp and pay for his PMP certification! (Dont know what it is, but it is supposedly pretty expensive and impressive? as long as I get a paycheck....who cares!) Here's the thing....they told Blake that if he hadn't had that other job....he never would have gotten this one! THey had applicants that already had their PMP andMaster's Degrees completed. But, they knew him and his work ethic. They know he is a MASTER politician, is a quick learner, and is an effective leader.

When he got the first job, we were frustrated because it was nowhere near the level of responsibility (or pay) he was at in the AF. We wondered why it was all he could get when he was qualified for so much more. We know now that it was a way in for a much better job!

We are so grateful right now for his new job (we know this economy is scary!) and for the people he worked with that saw his value and who also took care of "their own".

Anyway, that is our news....

We read a statistic that after leaving the AF (or military) it typically took three jobs to get the "right one". So, if that is the case, we should be set!