Work, man. I am not going to go into details lest it somehow gets tracked here, but let’s just say a nationwide org just threw down a massive disruption, and didn’t bother to consult with their busiest fucking office (mine) to see if it’s workable.
Spoiler: it’s not. Not unless you want to hire about six more people, then maybe. And that ain’t happening.
My dad and I are at the hospital. He’s been throwing up and having trouble keeping food down for oh, a week or so (but he’s been refusing to go to the doctor.) I should feel better now that we’re here and he’s getting medical attention… but I’m not. Hopefully, we’ll have info and a course of action soon… 
More hospital news. Dad had an esophageal scope today. They found a narrowing and did a dilation, but they also took biopsies of the tissue… to try and see if it’s cancer or not.
He’s had rounds of scoping and dilation before, but I’m not really sure what the odds are. The doctor who came out afterwards was exceptionally closed-mouthed and seemed to be most interested in getting rid of me as soon as humanly possible so he could get to the next patient. (So much for bedside manner.) Waiting for Dad to be fully awake again… he’s gonna be so disappointed, he was hoping he’d be able to go home tonight.
Please keep us updated. My thoughts are with you and your dad.
Surgeons are jerks but you don’t necessarily want the one with the good personality, so I hope if it is cancer they are catching it in time to do something about it without too much pain for your dad.
Thank you all for the good wishes! Unfortunately it’s looking like we’re going to need them…
Dad was doing better earlier. He ate breakfast and lunch without problems. But he only got a little soup and chicken sandwich down for dinner, and now the stomach pain is as bad as it was before. He’s been admitted to a regular room (when we were hoping he might go him tomorrow. That’s not happening.) And all this is making me worry more and more about what the biopsy results will be… 
I’m so sorry, hun. Take care of yourself and your dad. Let us know how things are going.
I’m so sorry. This kind of stuff is the worst. 
My head hurts, my throat hurts and I am cranky as fuck. No, I am not coming down with anything, this is my normal reaction to smoke.
I’m sorry. Clicking a heart for this post seems inappropriate. Imagine a FB style frowny face.
Once I perfect my time machine I’m going to go back to visit teenage me living in Canada and slap him for thinking 27°C is some sort of hellish summer heatwave.
Now I find 27°C to be a very refreshing night.
It’s okay, I get it. Dad’s doing okay, he seems to do well with clear fluid or soft food diets, but we’re still waiting on the biopsy results. He wants to come home, but he knows he can’t leave without a diagnosis and treatment plan, so he’s putting up with it pretty well.
First day of the new football season, and Carlisle United got beaten.
At least we weren’t Yeovil Town.
At the risk of ruining your meals, let me just say that this morning I’m making my own version of the “Worst Toilet in Scotland”. Ouch. My lower regions…
Last Thursday I got a frantic email from an agency about a designer needed ASAP. It would be starting Monday (yesterday). This would require me to fly half-way across the country, but the rate was decent and it was for four weeks with the possibility of becoming permanent. The last time I worked a solid four weeks was last October — I’m a bit desperate.
Weighing pros and cons I decided to try for it. I had an interview already scheduled for Monday, but this seemed like a better opportunity.
I hear nothing all-day Friday, so I assume someone else was picked by the client. Fine. In a way I dodged a bullet. But late that afternoon I get a call from the agency. They picked me, but they also picked someone else. So I would work Monday, the other person would work Tuesday and the client would decide who they prefer. This made the deal much riskier, but I had enough faith in my tallent that it was worth taking the chance. In any event I would have one day of work to help cover the cost of travel. So once again I agreed, and quickly booked a plane ticket and a hotel reservation for Sunday.
Monday went well. The client was dazled by my abilities. So fine. I have to wait untl today to hear if they ultimately pick me or the other person.
All day passes and I hear nothing.
After 6pm tonight I received this email:
Great news- the team would like to bring you in for a full week on august 14th ( next Monday). They are awaiting budget approval for a longer term, but should know more soon.
How does this sound?
Please let me know as soon as possible.
Thanks!
This is not what I was offered, but what can I do now? I’m here and I need to cover my expences as best I can. If I work one week, I will be in a slightly smaller financial hole than I would be if I left right now. So here I am on a forced vacation until Monday, hoping to end up with at least get 2.5 weeks of work so I break even.
And to be here I had to leave my aging mother behind. She feels she can’t look after her dog by herself, so I knew my taking this job would most likely bring about his end.
So here I am.
I understand being desperate, but that has “dishonest” written all over it. I hope you have been paid already for the one day you have already worked – if they didn’t hand you a cheque as you left that day my suspicions would be cranked up even more.
This was a four week contract, but ooh now it’s one week, and they’ve already pulled two days’ work out of two people. In theory, depending on the project and how the tasks are divided up, they could get all the work done during these “tryouts”.
I’d say whether or not to go ahead with it depends on how quickly and how reliable payment is. If it looks like you’re going to have to beg them for a cheque for days and weeks after you’ve done the work, it’s not worth it.
Possible to counter offer on terms that consider their problems/pain points? Like that it would help them hit their deadline sooner if you start right away rather than delaying and at the moment you’re in a good position to do that due to your travel schedule. (They said needed ASAP, so they’re probably desperate, which is common - but maybe whoever controls the money higher up isn’t as desperate and you need to give the hiring manager some ammo to convince their boss.)
It’s also reasonable to counter pleasantly but firmly with the four week minimum contract, given travel scheduling and expenses. Unplanned travel is quite more disruptive than planned travel. If 4+ weeks is what they need for the project(s), then it would be better for them as well to do it that way than to break it up over time (and possibly multiple contractors if you were no longer available when they were ready to restart it).
Some combination of delayed start, remote work, and/or them covering travel expenses could also be negotiated. If you know their problems well enough that you can offer solutions that sound like a win to them, (or convince them that your way is best for them).
That they said it was 4 weeks to permanent but they only have budget for one week and one day is a little questionable, could be different priorities among different people/departments/levels in the business. So you may need to try to find out what it takes to enable your boss to get that budget for you. Managing the managers (and supporting them doing the same) is not the most fun part of agency/contractor work. 
The show is a bloody disaster. The children still don’t know their lines mostly. It’s impossible to get everyone together at the same time for rehearsals. Our rehearsal space keeps changing which makes blocking confusing. We haven’t yet worked in the actual performance space. I’ve seen it, it’s not meant for performances, it;s meant for business presentations, it has a lectern but no proper stage.
My Peter Pan just recently had a leg operation and can’t leap and bound worth a damn. The girl playing Nana the dog dropped out this week because she’s a Muslim and can’t play a dog. She had at least 2 months to let us know, but waited until now. Everyone for whatever reason still feels free to miss rehearsal without warning.
And I snapped my glasses in two earlier today. Hopefully I can get new frames tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve got my proper glasses taped to the inside of a pair of pinhole glasses, which allows me to read, but makes everything dark and sort of hazy.
We open and close on the 12th.
I’m not too worried about payment. The client was reasonable, the work is on-going rather than a single project and this is handled by a national agency with a decent reputation.
I did, however, make the agency confirm the rate. They, at least, did not make a change to that.
I did bring that up, but this not one individual project, it’s on-going real estate promotional books. I rather think HR is being stingy, as is usually the case.
I don’t mention the travel. It’s hard enough to get work when they think you’re a local.
I wish I had hat bargaining power. In my current situation I have no leverage at all, and my car needs new tires.
No. No it couldn’t. At one point in my career, maybe, but not now.
Yes. I will see what I can do, when I know mare about what’s going on.
Oh well. I’m off now to buy a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread.