Two week notice

Further to Monday’s post, the head of HR called me to a meeting yesterday; the short version of this is I’m employed until 20 June, and my health benefits end ten days later.

Also—because I’m grant-funded, I get no severance pay. The HR chick parried words with me, but essentially—while they do have a severance policy—it’s at the company’s discretion whether they follow it. (They did for the mass layoff last November. That was a special situation, apparently.) So, hurrah for five weeks of unused vacation hours.

And unemployment? "We won't oppose that." 

Well, at least she closed the door to the room for the meeting. Which was more than my manager did last week when she delivered the news.

If you can believe, while we were waiting for the operations person from my department to show up, HR brightly asked me if I had any plans for the summer. Yes, she did. I told her I’d be looking for a job. Which seemed to surprise her. She repeated many times that was so sorry she was meeting me under these circumstances.

And she offered me chocolates on my way out. Because, yeah, that'll help.

You know—so much of my experience with this organization has been amateur hour. It has to be a good thing that I’m getting out of the place. And at least now I know how long I have.