FINALLY GOT SOME WORK! Yay! But haven't worked for a while and am a bit nervous ...

[MrsGamp]

I got back in touch with my former boss by email, asking her for a reference for another job. I didn't get the other job, but to my surprise the old boss called me and has given me a shot at doing some relief teaching, and if it goes well I might end up with more solid work.

I am really happy in one way, but in another sense very nervous. It's high school teaching, and I haven't taught for ages. And already I am thinking shit like "how am I going to cope if (as sometimes happens) I have no Dex?"


Also, in my initial email I lied to her and said I had a car. I have no car. She's the sort to notice such things and I can't imagine what to say that won't sound bullshitty ...

But overall it is good news ... thought I'd share! Sorry if seems show-offy. Don't have many people to show off to, tbh

 

[Jabberwocky]

Brilliant. This is fantastic news. Congratulations.

 

[MrsGamp]

Brilliant. This is fantastic news. Congratulations.

Thanks! I'm just un-used to ever being 100 percent sober, though, so it's a bit confronting. But I imagine I'll rise to the occasion ... in the past I usually have done!

 

[MrsGamp]

Brilliant. This is fantastic news. Congratulations.

PS shows that sometimes it pays to just be honest with people ... originally I was fired from job with this boss because my relationship with my ex was so chaotic I couldn't keep things going. My ex made it hard for me to have access to my phone sometimes, so my boss had problems getting hold of me. One time I'd been arguing/partying with ex the night before work so much that I simply didn't show up at all - I slept through. I was woken up by the phone and it was my boss saying "class was meant to start ten minutes ago - where are you?"

All I could think of to say off the top of my head was that I'd had a "seizure" (!).

After that my boss kept asking me how my "seizure disorder" was going. I had to keep the story up. I felt like such a dickhead.

Anyway, when I emailed this lady recently to ask for a reference I just levelled with her. I said I'd screwed up before because of the abuse and stress I was copping from the ex. Obviously I didn't expect her to ever want me to work for her again ... I just wanted a good reference in spite of my past mess ups.

But what a sweetheart, she's giving me another chance!

I hope she's forgotten about my seizure disorder ...

 

[Jabberwocky]

I've been fired a few times (as a consequence of combined mental health and/or drug-related issues getting out of hand). I've been pleasantly surprised at how many times the person who fired me or a close associate was prepared to write a reference when I contacted them later and told them the full story. Although, I did once try to nuke the career of the person firing me by laying super-sized counter-claims about their behaviour. That one I'd never contact for a reference, even though it was for the most senior job and highest paid I ever had. I'm sure she still has the scorch marks I left on my way out the door given her career took a nose dive soon after I was ousted.

 

[MrsGamp]

I've been fired a few times (as a consequence of combined mental health and/or drug-related issues getting out of hand). I've been pleasantly surprised at how many times the person who fired me or a close associate was prepared to write a reference when I contacted them later and told them the full story. Although, I did once try to nuke the career of the person firing me by laying super-sized counter-claims about their behaviour. That one I'd never contact for a reference, even though it was for the most senior job and highest paid I ever had. I'm sure she still has the scorch marks I left on my way out the door given her career took a nose dive soon after I was ousted.

Ten years ago I lost my university job because of a senior colleague who was a real asshole. He always wanted to have these very heavy personal conversations, and would confide in me about how he was in love with his psychiatrist ... that sort of thing. Very unwisely, I ended up reciprocating with the confessional stuff and told him I'd had an alcohol problem on and off.

There was an academic conference we both went to - it was in Kalgoorlie of all places. Anyway, we were all staying in the same hotel. I partied rather a lot and was too hungover to show up for my colleague's paper...

After that semester I never got any work there again.

 

[MrsGamp]

QUOTE="MrsGamp, post: 14955331, member: 532413"]
Ten years ago I lost my university job because of a senior colleague who was a real asshole. He always wanted to have these very heavy personal conversations, and would confide in me about how he was in love with his psychiatrist ... that sort of thing. Very unwisely, I ended up reciprocating with the confessional stuff and told him I'd had an alcohol problem on and off.

There was an academic conference we both went to - it was in Kalgoorlie of all places. Anyway, we were all staying in the same hotel. I partied rather a lot and was too hungover to show up for my colleague's paper...

After that semester I never got any work there again.
[/QUOTE]
PS looked him up the other day on Linked In and now he's Head of the Dept. His specialism is "The Poetry of the Wheatbelt".

What a prick.

 

[MrsGamp]

@MrsGamp.

Would you like to fix your post above (the quote didn't work and is missing a "[" at the very beginning)? Lol!

On a (more) serious note: I couldn't be happier for a person that I don't know. Good for you. There's very few things in life worse than being unemployed and having no income and that constant worry of what's going to happen to you. That said: there's many more benefits to be derived from being employed aside from the income.

You do what you need to do to start that job and work at it and keep it. Fuck the booze and everything else. Keep it for nights or weekends. Easier said than done I'm sure. But give it your best shot anyway.

I'd be really interested to know the statistics, if they exist, of what came first for most people i.e. drug addiction and/or alcoholism or unemployment and no income.

Anyway. Good for you. Really. I wish you the best.

thanks so much!!! but y'know it is only relief teaching, not permanent ...still it might conceivably lead to something more solid. and if nothing else, my CV will no longer be branded with shameful admission that I haven't had a day's paid work in TWO YEARS.

That's a real bad look on a CV!

 

[MrsGamp]

thanks so much!!! but y'know it is only relief teaching, not permanent ...still it might conceivably lead to something more solid. and if nothing else, my CV will no longer be branded with shameful admission that I haven't had a day's paid work in TWO YEARS.

That's a real bad look on a CV!

ps

@MrsGamp.

Would you like to fix your post above (the quote didn't work and is missing a "[" at the very beginning)? Lol!

On a (more) serious note: I couldn't be happier for a person that I don't know. Good for you. There's very few things in life worse than being unemployed and having no income and that constant worry of what's going to happen to you. That said: there's many more benefits to be derived from being employed aside from the income.

You do what you need to do to start that job and work at it and keep it. Fuck the booze and everything else. Keep it for nights or weekends. Easier said than done I'm sure. But give it your best shot anyway.

I'd be really interested to know the statistics, if they exist, of what came first for most people i.e. drug addiction and/or alcoholism or unemployment and no income.

Anyway. Good for you. Really. I wish you the best.

ps you make a great point about the connection between unemployment and substance abuse. It would indeed be interesting to see a study about frequency of addiction FOLLOWING loss of work, rather than the other way around.