Work Soap Opera

One of our full-time Circulation Desk clerks is getting laid off. He's the nephew of the other full-time circulation clerk, and the son of a secretary in another building. Both his aunt and his mom are very active in the college's paraprofessionals union, which makes it ironic that he's being laid off by a rule in the union contract.

Our workforce development center, which is supposed to educate and train people who have lost their jobs, was shut down this summer because the grant that supported it was not renewed. So the staff who worked there are now out of a job. That's pretty ironic, too, considering now they have a need for their own services, which have been shut down. The secretary from that department was in the paraprofessional union, and she had seniority over our circulation clerk. Barely-- she was hired two months before him. According to the contract, any paraprofessional who gets laid off can "bump" the union member with the least seniority and take their job.

So this secretary is taking our circulation clerk's job, even though she has absolutely no experience working in a library, and there's nothing my boss or anyone up the chain of command can do to stop it. It's in the contract. (The contract that the clerk's mother and aunt worked hard to pass, but had no idea it would bite them in the butt like this.) On top of that, this secretary is currently using the Family Medical Leave Act to take time off her job to care for her ailing husband. Not only is she bumping our clerk out of his position, but she's not even going to be here for the first few weeks of her new position.

The whole situation is a real mess and no one's happy about it.

But Snark, you say, what does this have to do with your divorce? Why aren't you whining about your pathetic life? I'll get to that.

This whole situation has reminded me that I'm not the only person going through a crisis. Losing your job is definitely one of those stressful life situations that sucks. I may feel useless in my job right now, but at least I have a steady income and some place to hang out eight hours a day. I can't imagine what I would be going through right now if I got laid off. (Luckily, I'm tenured faculty, so that's not likely to happen.)

So whose life sucks more? The guy who got laid off or the guy going through a divorce? I'm taking the emotional side of the divorce pretty hard, but other than feeling like a loser who will never be worthy of love again, the divorce has been pretty stress-free. There have been no lawyer wars, no fighting over stuff, no custody battles, and after dividing everything up, I'm comfortable financially. I just paid off my student loan last week. I also have a great family, two affectionate cats, a fun hobby, a car I adore, good health, and an apartment with an awesome view.

On the other hand, our circulation clerk just landed another job at the public library. I think it will be quite a while before I find love again.