we have lost cabin pressure/work change

[Zoe Girl]

I am still confused and I am not sure if this directly affects me or not, we will see.

My job is called program specialist. There are 2 of us on the grant funded side of the program and 12 on the parent tuition side of the program. The 2 of us on our side have a little cubicle that we share which is nice and enough space. Meanwhile there has been a large group office for the other 12 without any personal storage for their computers and i have no clue what they do with their paperwork. Still my former program specialist always had her work well done when I worked under her.

Just this week they told the 12 that they are not supposed to come into the office to work anymore. They have jobs but they just are supposed to do them somewhere else? In the afternoon as soon as our programs start (and for some people the before school programs at 6:30 am) the PS's go out to sites and rotate between them so really office time is only a half day. None of the schools have office space for them, the typical program space is the lunchroom after school and gym. My former site had a tiny old fashioned desk and no access to a printer for the laptops they carry and limited copier access.

The kicker is that the person who made this decision is someone I have been getting along well with and was my temporary direct supervisor until the new person was hired last week. I have shared some issues about my sites and necessarily about my personal life (since I had to call in when I took my son for an emergency psych eval one morning she knows more than I am now comfortable with). I also had a staff member who trusted me with a previous incident and now I am really uncomfortable having shared that in a work related way.

I just want the understanding and courage to respectfully ask if I should start figuring out how to run payroll out of the back of my Subaru. I cannot work at home and I was not planning on that as part of this job. If I need to start looking at my schools to see where I can land for now (like with all my files and materials I bring out to people and board with all the various schedules that keep me organized). So far sitting tight right now,... and sorry so long

[lhamo]

Have you been told you are not to come to the office? Because from what you wrote above it sounds like it only applies to the non-grant-funded positions. Are you just worried that this might come to apply to you, too? Can you ask for clarification and explain the challenges you will have working from home/your car? It does seem like a very dramatic change and not fair to dump it on people without time to prepare mentally and practically.

lhamo

[Zoe Girl]

So far it doesn't affect me. I have a history of being too accomodating and I am making progress at being more reasonably assertive. So in that mind set I want to have something ready to say. If i didn't know it was coming I would probably just cry (my overcrowded house with oldest moved back in, water leaking and back porch still overflowing). Since I know this is possible I can prepare. What I want to say is that I do not have any other place to work and what would they like me to do with my files, the shared calendar with my coworker and what I am supposed to do to print and copy work. As a back up I will go to my principals at my 4 schools and ask if they have a corner available I can borrow. I could work from home with about a months work at this point, if there are no more crisis' to deal with here, but I really don't want to.

I guess if it never affects me then I just am in the new position of the favored one for a change. Strange

[chrisgermany]

I might ask the decision taker about the reasons and arrangements for the other 12 if there comes a good opportunity (but only then) but would not discuss my own fears with her "in advance".
Nor would I run around and discuss with the principals at school. They have their own agenda and might comment about your request to the heads of your programm or other people who could bite you from behind.
I might secretly collect and practice my arguments why I absolutely need some office space + print/copy facilities, just to be ready should there be a move to involve my own job, too.
I might also secretly explore other options, like work space at home.

[Zoe Girl]

I know Chris, I have just always been the most flexible person willing to do the most outgrageous things just for my job. I can't do that here. I really don't make that much money (but a lot more than unemployed of course which I won't do). I won't talk to people like principals unless there is a decision that I cannot affect in any way and I have to find space.

Working at home, not really going to work. It really isn't. I don't know what to say, not everyone has a home where things are together enough to work.

[Zoe Girl]

Okay I am going to cringe over how much mental energy I spent on this thing. I heard the news from 2 sources so I was fairly confident in what I heard. Today I went in and saw the people (who were apparently banned from the office) working (3 of them). One told me it was really about the people who were not working, on shopping networks, playing scrabble on their phone, having loud conversations that were not appropriate for the parents of our kids to hear. Um yeah. I have to say that one of my sources is a huge offender on that. When I moved over to my new job she warned me that my new supervisor would be very strict but I have just found that I do fine. The work load has not seemed overwhelming.

At least I feel that my work space is not at risk in any way, and I continue to work when I am at work. If there isn't something apparent to do then I work on making great projects to bring out to my schools when I do my site visits or find information on how several of us can learn Spanish this summer. But I do NOT shop or play scrabble on work time, duh.