The J-O-B

Well another interesting day in my life. Nothing on minimalizing today, well traditionally speaking. I found out I do not have a job to go back to on February 14th.

Backstory first.

In December I confirmed I would be returning to work and when to my employer. He told me that he didn't have a position for me and I told him I need work as of February. I panicked and phoned the other notary in town and spoke with her. She wanted to interview me (and likely hire me based on she knows my work and track record from how closely all notaries and lawyers work in this town) BUT wanted to clear it with my boss first in order to have no weirdness between them since as stated before we all work closely and help each other out in the industry.

I phone my boss to discuss it and he just starts talking on about how he doesn't want to lose me and what office he'll put me in and how I may have to do some reception before I can say anything. I'm confused. I talk with the other woman who works there and we mutually decide we are ok with sharing conveyance and reception duties evenly and I would be coming back 6 hours a day. She talks to my boss about this and he says I can offer you 4 hours a day so I accept.

I should have seen the signs since every time lately I run into my boss he begins by saying how slow they are. He never full on says I don't have a position though which keeps me thinking it's plans as usual, especially since every time I remind him of my return date.

So I go in today, 10 days before my return date and he tells me there is no work and when there is he can bring me back. I tell him I have mortgage payments to make and can't wait for that. So that's it, I'm not going back.

A meltdown and a breakdown later I'm phoning the other notary again, scrambling. She will phone me later. She phones me back and says I would have hired you had we sorted this in December but I decided to work things out with what I had and now I'm committed to that, not bringing another person on.

By this time luckily I had time to have everything sink in. All day I was bombarded with "that's not fair" and "employment standards act" and "against the law". Everyone was more mad than I was. To be honest I was two things: frustrated and hurt. Frustrated that I could have had this sorted two months ago and hurt because I have always been such a good employee who has helped my boss in any way I could and bent over backwards in some cases (like when I was supposed to have a week off to plan everything leading up to my friend's wedding and ridiculously morning sick or coming in on my maternity leave to help out EVERY time he asked). Hurt because he didn't seem to value me enough as an employee or person to put aside selfishness and let me go in December rather than string me along to the last second and leave me to sort it out. But to be honest I am overall relieved. It can be a very stressful, toxic environment at times and I try hard to keep that out of my life, generally speaking. So everyone that was telling me to fight it and file a complaint so he'll settle, first of all, I appreciate your concern and love for me SO much. BUT that's just not me. I am not doing it not because I'm letting him walk all over me or I don't care that he is being blatantly against the law and has said a few comments that would definitely get him in trouble. I am not proceeding because that path is just all negative. I would end up dwelling on this unfortunate situation for much longer than necessary and the negative energy around it would just eat away at my spirit. I try to live my life with love at the root of all proceedings and that does not fit in with filing proceedings against him.

I am taking this as a sign. I am not meant to be doing this anymore. Maybe if the other notary had phoned me and said, "oh my god, I need a conveyancer so much. I'll pay you whatever wage you want!" Then maybe I was meant to continue. I sat and meditated for awhile on what I wanted to do. I didn't really get anything from it. I did our budget numbers next. If we don't pay anything other than minimum payments on our credit cards, have no personal money and put nothing away in savings I believe we could manage me staying home. That doesn't really appeal to me so much though. Then I thought more about what I want to do and one name kept coming into my head. It's a yoga store here in town called Fruv. I love the ladies who work there, I love the clothes and what they stand for, and it's as close to my yoga teacher career as you can be without teaching yoga. It's the right path for me. It's a big pay decrease but I'm ok with that. I need to stop thinking of the J-O-B and start thinking more about spending my time in ways that is good for my spirit rather than just for our chequing account. They make everything in Canada, they use renewable resources such as bamboo for a lot of their clothes, and they quite often hold charity events. They represent healthy and fun living. These are my people. The only worry if I get hired? My paycheque being reinvested in the store immediately. I sense a lesson in self-control coming. Oh well it will go quite well with my minimalist journey :D

At any rate, whether I'm meant to work at Fruv or somewhere else or not at all, I know I'm on the right path by putting my soul's needs before material needs.