The week started on Monday with Big B changing my yearly appraisal meeting to later in the week. Then the recruitment company where I am nominally employed wrote to me saying that Big B has not yet confirmed that he is going to renew my contract. The whole week I was in pins and needles thinking about this this. At one point, I even thought that Big B was just sitting out my contract which is due to end in 2.5 weeks since I was having no work to do as it is!

After the appraisal, which to my surprise went well, I am even more confused. Big B is very satisfied with my work and I’ve gotten mostly 4s and 5s on the different parameters (on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best). The only criteria where I didn;t score was relationships. Apparently the people here don’t think I am a happy camper. I need to up my ante more on the office politics (something which I loathe) and as Big B put it, “When you are in a situation where you need to get get approval to get on board permanently, it helps to have more people on your side”. I agree, but I don’t like it!

Apparently since I am in this role for three years now, Big B is being pressured to either regularise my employment, which means making me permanent or let me go and this job will be done by one of the executive assistants as an enhanced role. They are still mulling over what the final decision will be, so in the meantime they will extend my contract for three months. I actually asked Big B “What would happen if they didn’t get the green light for my extended appointment and so does that mean I will be without a job after three months? Should I start looking for a new job now?” I think he was a bit taken aback at this, but he didn’t tell me what, just said he didn’t think it would come to that. So now I am to write a new job scope for myself which takes into account my current role as well as an enhanced version of what I want to do. So I guess my plan of action is to do that and at the same time start seriously looking for a new position.

On the home, we finally put the plans we had to renovate BB & GG’s rooms which we had not done when we shifted here around seven years back. The carpenter will take out the existing furniture and then pre-fabricate the new desk and book shelves in his factory and during the March holidays, will come over to fit it. In the process BB’s bed will have to go as it’s part of the existing built-in furniture, but we will replace it with a single bed which converts to a double one, so this will be useful when we have guests over.

After this, one after the other, my washing machine and laptop have also given up on me. After thinking we need to replace the washer since it’s almost eight years old, I spoke to the company customer service and tried to see if it could be repaired, but it was a no-go as the technician could only give a three months warranty and the repair job would cost slightly less than a new machine. So we went and ordered a new machine and happily, they delivered in less than 12 hours, so now we’re all sorted in that department!As for the laptop, I now need to take it to the service centre to get it repaired once again!

Because I don’t have much work in office, I am reading more than ever! I came to the Goodreads app a lot later than I care, but last year when I got in, I started the yearly reading challenge. I challenged myself to read 100 books in 2015 and completed the challenge just after Christmas. This year’s challenge is 125 books which this time at work helps. Reading fluff books (romances, chick-lit etc) will help me reach the goal faster. According to my calculations, I need to read 2.5 books a week or 10.4 books a month. I am currently ahead in the challenge and I need another 3 books to reach my January mini goal, which should be by the end of next week….

Have a great week people!

The first work and school week of 2016!

We started the week with new chapter in our lives – BB & GG moving on to Secondary school as I wrote yesterday. It was a week full of anticipation, excitement as well as a bit of tepidation as both S & I wondered how GG & BB will cope with a new school, new friends etc. But our fears were unfounded as both have so far (touchwood) coped beautifully in their new school environment.

My first week at work was the usual – no work and plenty of time to think. It’s so much more harder to pretend to be busy than to actually be busy. With the exception of Monday, when I actually had stuff to do for the first half of the day, I was so free the whole week, I was resorting to typing random stuff on my laptop, just to show people I was busy. I’ve managed to snag an appointment with Big B for next week to discuss my performance this year. If that meeting happens (as Big B is well known for cancelling meetings with small minions like me at the very last minute), then I will definitely have a discussion on where my career is going to go in this company. I have been stagnant in the last one year and if this year will be status quo, then I see no choice for me but to start looking for a new job very very seriously (I know I’ve been talking about this for a very long time, but this year I am super serious about it).

Oh, since I am on the subject of Big B, let me do a mini rant here – I absolutely hate it when he never replies to emails. I am not asking for lengthly and verbose replies to my emails, but it it too much to acknowledge my email to you. For almost every email I send him, I need to walk to his office to confirm what I said and get the response I need! I wonder if he does this only to me or to everyone else? Ok, rant over!!

Yesterday, both BB & GG got Edusave Awards from our local Member of Parliament. They got this for being among those with the best progress in their year. BB has been getting this award three years in a row now, GG got it for the first year, missed it last year and got it again this year. We were so proud of them and I have mentioned to both how happy we would be if they won the Merit Awards next year for being the top 10% of their level in school!

Here’s to a happy and productive week everyone!