Author: Jennifer Kuntz

BRANCH STATUS CHANGE
>
> The Board took note of three new branches, the Shire of Blackwater
> (Olean, NY), the Shire of Gryffon’s Keep (Fayette County, PA) and the
> Shire of Westland Mor (Greensburg, PA). The Board also took note that
> the following three branches have dissolved, the Canton of Wintersedge
> (Springville, NY & Vicinity), the Shire of the Wastelands (Enid, OK),
> and the Shire of Dun an Chalaidh (Lincoln County, OR).

The above is mainly of interest to the people who keep up with SCA matters (not that anyone who reads THIS journal would fall into THAT category).  This new group is in the area in which we used to live and is what we were in heavy discussion about while we were there.  I’m glad to see the group established and recognized at the Society level.  It feels like the beginning of something exciting! 

So, Tiernen is now officially out of a job.  He called in yesterday and the sales manager asked to see him in person that day at 3:00 PM.  When he told me about it, we both pretty much knew what that meant.  If he were going to come back, they would have just told him to show up the next morning.  So she gave him some limp twaffle about “did you think about what we talked about?” and when he replied that he wasn’t given any specific information about what he did wrong or any target for improvement she said that they had decided that they could get along without him and they would be “letting him go”. 

I can’t be too mad at the girl who did the firing.  She’s the sales manager, not the office manager who had the problem with him or the mad cheap boss who decided to get rid of him this way because he was too cheap to say  “we’re eliminating your position” and let him go with some dignity.  She got picked to do a crummy job and did it as kindly as she could.  They, I am mad at.  They picked a terrible way to deal with a person who has been loyal and responsible just because there was some personal conflict and they wanted to see if they could save money by getting rid of his job.  

Really, this is coming pretty much out of the blue.  Tiernen’s last performance evaluation gave him a $1.00 raise.  The boss called HIM over New Years for damage control when the stupid schmuck lost his laptop and cell phone in Las Vegas.  To turn around two months later and fire him smacks of some kind of plot, and knowing the cheap bastard invloved, money lies at the root of it.  

Even if there wasn’t a plot, it was still an excrescent thing to do.  And now I have a sad, angry husband to deal with.  It’s terrible to go through something like this when you can’t help and everything you do seems to make him feel worse.  I try to be supportive and upbeat, but at the same time I am so ANGRY.  I am angry at the cowardice of these people.  I am angry at a system that allows this to happen.  I am angry at myself for encouraging Tiernen to stand up for himself and I am angry at myself for being angry at myself.  No one should have to be treated as an emotional doormat, just to keep a job.  It’s hard to have to write off the last two years on a resume as a bad job because of the events of the last two months.

I expect something else will come along.  We will persevere.  But please keep my hubby in your thoughts and prayers.  He’s had a pretty rough birthday week.         

Did you know that workers in a business of less that 50 people have basically no rights in our state? Small business is such a hallowed institution in this country that the boss of a small company can hire and fire his/her workers on a whim, cut their hours and dock their pay and it would take a flagrant civil rights violation for someone to get legal redress.

I must have finally gotten enough sleep. I’m having a good day. Got lots done at work and I’m looking forward to the weekend. There was an interesting piece on NPR this morning about nasal lavage (basically washing out your sinuses with some saline). I’m going to try it for a while and see if it helps with my coughs and sniffles. Tomorrow I’m in human resources training all day, then a weekend with gaming and a cook’s guild meeting. Should be fun.

We had a very low key weekend, I swear I slept for most of it. Didn’t make it out to anything I had planned except gaming on Friday. I’m still working on a persistent dry cough that I would really like to get rid of. Otherwise, things are OK and I’m hoping to get out and about as the weather perks up this week.

Just an update post. I am alive. Took off from work on Mon. and Tues. with evil crud. Back among the living now. Possible library storytime and then SCA meeting tonight, training at work tomorrow, then D&D night. SCA meeting on Sunday. Proposed Girls’ (and well behaved Y-persons’) Lunch on Monday. Then back to work to maybe actually get some work done. Stranger things have happened.

Remember, 4 compliments to 1 complaint (the ratio for world domination).

I had a nice birthday. I had to work, but the monotony was relieved somewhat by an unscheduled fire drill and chicken cordon bleu for lunch. Dinner with the SCA crew was lovely. We visited On the Border and were waited upon by Roland (the young man we taught to LARP). Tom sat out the festivities due to illness but he did a great job setting up the party and inviting everyone, so full points for that. Today I have a nagging cough, so I’m going to hang at work until my vendor comes at 11:00 and then I’m out of here for the day. Will go home and take a nap, then clean up and pack for Ymir. I have to be here tomorrow as it is my co-worker’s scheduled day off. Then it’s off to the Northland (well, Wake Forest) for Nordic style fun.

Ah, the nostaglia continues. I have to send out some appreciation for those boys (you know who you are) who hit on one in a constant, mostly non-threatening manner. Gay boys are great at this. They are sexy and appreciative and make you feel interesting and desirable, but there usually is a boundary, tacit but substantial, that keeps them from being uncomfortably creepy or allowing the flirting to stray into dangerous territory. I have noticed more of this behavior since I’ve been wearing the “chain of one link” as the Wooby likes to call it. (I guess married women are safer targets as they’re unlikely to take one up on any given proposition) It might also be because we are doing more SCA stuff and SCA guys are good at the random compliment/chivalry thing, too. It’s a fine line, I’m sure. I expect that random distribution of woo exposes some guys to unexpected and scary obsessive behavior from some women. But in my case, I have to say that the right flirty guy can really help when you are feeling ugly, lonely and unloved.
So, thanks firty guys. Keep up the good work.

I watched Mean Girls last night. It’s the kind of movie I can only watch when Tiernen is out of the house for a while (he was at a work thing last night). And I woke up thinking that I would have enjoyed high school a lot more knowing then what I know now, both academically and culturally. It’s not only the opportunity to make different decisions about who I would hang out with and what I would choose to get stressed (or not) over, but also the four years of relatively unencumbered time to read, write and do research. That’s the really appealing thing, to be completely honest. I know I’d watch a LOT less TV and I think I’d have gotten involved in SCA and some other community stuff a lot sooner. I think I also would have gone out for a sport. Our school had a swim team, and if I had participated in that and improved my swimming, I could have gotten my lifeguard certificate. That would have opened up some great employment opportunities for me in high school and college. I like to think that if I had gotten involved with a sport then, I might be more inclined to exercise now. As I hate to sweat, swimming would have been a great choice. I guess we should just chalk that up to “regrets”. So, is there anything y’all would have done differently?

It is part of my theory about life that everyone, no matter how they were raised, spends some time in their life rebelling. By “rebelling” I mean getting all surly with the family, acting irresponsibly and probably doing the opposite of what your parents raised you to do. I think a certain amount of this has to do with conquering fear. When I went through my phase during and after college, I spent a lot of time seeking out dead things and adult lifestyle stuff I found to be very scary and intimidating when I was growing up. I also believe that most people get tired of rebellion or have an epiphany and then go and put their life back together. For me, it was going to graduate school and finding a profession and a husband I love. Hopefully you work your way out of whatever trouble you got yourself into and learn something from the whole experience. I can’t condemn anyone for doing this, but I also think that people should be held responsible for the mistakes they make. Otherwise you don’t learn anything. I bring this up because a friend of mine was talking about his 40 something sisters-in-law who have moved into a new home that they bought together after the recent death of their elderly father. He says they are wining and dining themselves and hitting him up for money and basically acting like wild women. Then he explains that they had been living at home with their parents until this past year, never married and work as teachers in the local school district. And I had an “aha” moment. These women are experiencing their teenage rebellion, only 20 years later. They are tackling their fears about being alone and responsible for only themselves for the first time in their lives. I hope they get through it.