My boss and I are the only ones who know how close I came to quitting yesterday. I went into work early just so I could talk to her. All morning long, I'd felt so sick, in anticipation of this conversation. It could only go two ways: a better working schedule, or quitting.

We sat down at the table in her office, and I told her about my feet and all the difficulties I've had with them the past few months. She said she was sorry to hear I'd been having physical problems. She also said I "win the grand prize" for having the most missed workdays. Egads! I know I'm a slacker, but I didn't think I'd called in sick that much! Honestly, I think some of it was due to scheduling mix-ups (in which I didn't show up because I didn't know I was scheduled). But I digress...

I told her that I either wanted to work fewer shifts, if at all possible, or that I probably shouldn't work there anymore. She said that she wants to keep me on, and that everyone likes me. She also said that my two supervisors have both mentioned to her that I am really good with customers, and that I'm great at covering the front desk for Office Guy. So we talked for a while, and it looks like this is the plan:

1) Since I like it and it won't bother my feet so much, I'll continue working Tuesday and Thursday evening shifts.

2) Since I'm good at it, and I can be off my feet, I will work at the front desk (hence becoming Office Girl) on Office Guy's day off -- Wednesday.

3) Since the Volunteer Coordinator was laid off several months ago, the volunteer department has been severely lacking in guidance. One volunteer (who I like, but who has drama queen issues, also) has sort of taken it upon herself to be really into training the volunteers. So basically, she will not get to do that anymore, and I'll be in charge of organizing the volunteers and even training them. Holy macaroni! That's craziness. That is a huge job that used to be managed by a full time employee!! Then again, it could be cool. My boss said she'd need me to do computer stuff, like data entry (apparently, I'm the only computer literate employee there!), and making phone calls to the various volunteers, getting them on a schedule and whatnot.

So, the first two points in the plan are pretty set, and then the third one is something she'll look into and try to plan out for me. I might lose my free Saturday, because volunteers need training on Saturdays. I told her as long as I absolutely have one free weekend day, that that would be okay with me. (Joe and I need our weekend days to bum around together!)

I'm pretty happy with this arrangement. I can't believe I'd be taking over Cathy's old job! And not being paid anywhere near Cathy's salary!! But that's okay. She was laid off because they couldn't afford her anymore (not a problem in this case, because there's no raise anywhere in sight). Essentially, they couldn't afford to keep anyone who was making much over the $8/hour everyone seems to be getting. So we lost two awesome people. But we've done okay since then, and everyone seems to be coming together on the same page and working nicely as a group. Not always... But usually. And for now, that's good enough for me.

And actually, this would be a different kind of position for me. Being in an education/training position is a really cool opportunity, and could possibly help me in future jobs.

So, good stuff. I still have my job. No quitting on the horizon just yet.

For now, things are okay. I'm hanging in there. I'm also crossing my fingers that I don't pull my hair out and scream at the customers and volunteers. We'll have to wait and see! If you see entries being posted about the comfort of the cozy padded walls, you'll know things didn't quite work out...

~Meg