I have always been more of a social person than one who would  be happy sitting behind a computer for 9 hours straight, in a tiny little cubicle with bad air and fifty million dust bunnies.  I love working with people, talking to people, helping people.

A few of my friends started The Aspen Fund, in order to help me out with my current medical bills.  It turned into a one time event before we all went our separate ways.  I had a dream of turning this fund into an actual non-profit org to help others with their medical bills, where insurance fails.  But from what I have found, it takes a lot of work and help from others to run a successful non-profit.  I am not sure if I am quite cut out for that sort of thing, plus the mystery of where I would get health insurance is a bigger issue.

This leaves me with the ponderance of what am I going to do next for a paycheck.  I have considered going back to school for nursing, but I really don’t want to go back to school.  Also, nursing probably isn’t the best field for someone so susceptable to spreading and receiving nasty germs.  This is kind of where I am at a loss.  I need ideas.  What sort of jobs out there would fulfil my desire to make a difference in this world by helping others?

A lot of speculation has come about with my recent lay off.

It is quite a coincidence of how I was on IVs for three weeks twice (still went to work, with exception to the week I was IN the hospital), sinus surgery (one week out of work), insulin pump training class, along with all the check-ups that have been required from the IVs and surgery, all within the past six months… and then I was the first to be laid off… to quote my nurse “sounds a bit fishy”. All of the above SHOULD be protected by the ADA and FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), but since others were laid off the same day, it is difficult to prove I was chosen because of my lowered (since I was feeling miserable and sick) productivity. (The reason I was given was there was more employees than work, yet I had more seniority than half of the folks there).

I have wanted to keep my work life out of my blog, but my “blog life” and work life has seemed to cross paths recently, so I will write. I want others to learn from my experience and hopefully my readers will be prepared in case it ever happens to them.

What happened… well, that is not only a long story, but multiple long stories. I’ll give the cliff notes version.

I worked for an engineering firm where I was very open with management and my co-workers about my cough not being contagious, and that I had CF. Everyone (mostly) was very understanding and empathetic. I did various engineering and “other duties” while I worked there. When my health took a temporary down turn in January I started working directly for the Chief Engineer doing various tasks, mostly administrative, and non-engineering (such as taking notes in meetings), charging my time to overhead (general office category). This did not make me very happy. Occasionally I was placed on various time-sensitive engineering projects like before, but it was rare. All this time I had a suspicious feeling. Something didn’t feel right, or safe. I like I was on a railroad track headed to failure. I was promised I would be trained to become a Project Manager, yet when 5 people went to Project Management class a few months ago, I was not invited. I had experience in Project Management, I was hired because I had that experience, yet they did not use my experience to their advantage. That never made sense to me. Yet I still trusted that they would follow through with their promise. (*why??? I don’t know!*).

The other day, while my boss was in another state, I was invited into the principle’s office, or so it felt, it was my boss’s temporary replacement’s office. They claimed they needed to cut back on in the “overhead” category and since I was charging to it (under instruction of my boss) I was being laid off. I was placed where I would charge my time to “overhead” because I was ill, and frequently out of the office often due to my medical issues. Other folks WERE laid off the same day, who were on actual projects, not charging to overhead, but if you ask me, the reason I was given sounds quite suspicious.

Anyway, a few lessons I learned:

• Keep a running list of all the projects you work on and what sort of tasks you completed. Makes revising your resume MUCH easier.
• Don’t burn your bridges, you may need them later.
• You can not apply for both unemployment and disability at the same time. One says you are able to work, the other says you are unable to work, which could cause some issues.
• Working for a company/government that does not put in to Social Security will really screw up the amount of disability you would qualify for.
• If you are laid off, bump up your cell phone minutes for the next month so you don’t go over your plan calling prospective employers and concerned family and friends.
• Network. Network. Network.
• Take time to embrace your family and friends while searching for a new job.
• Planting flowers is very emotionally healing.
• Enjoy life.
• Trust your gut. It may not be just a tummy ache, it may be trying to tell you something very important.
• Breathe.