not-so-big news on the job front: i got a “promotion”. why is this only not-so-big news, one might very well ask? well in the first instance, i didn’t want the job to begin with. i was basically offered (dumped) a whole new workload, just before I went to south africa. i had two choices, namely a) say no (and you’ll just have to imagine the strikethrough on those words because i can’t seem to create that effect in blogger, and saying no was not an option) or b) agree to do the work and get a new job title. the fact is, i was gonna have to do the work anyway, so why not get the “promotion” that went with it?

why do i keep putting the word “promotion” in quotations? another fine question. well, dear reader, i don’t think it’s really a “promotion” if you have to apply for it. yes, the council can’t do something as simple as “promote” someone. they have to create a whole new job post, then advertise it, then make you apply for it, then make you interview for it (assuming you get shortlisted). did i mention i am already doing the work anyway? and have been for the past 2 months? now granted, i should take this all with a grain of salt, because i was, in fact, the only person stoopid enough to apply. so really, it was me vs. me. if, after jumpiong through all those hoops i *wasn’t offered the job*, or *didn’t take the job*, i would still have to do the work anyway. to compound the idiocy, I was supposed to take a test – luckily i was exempted from that somehow – and i was supposed to be formally escorted to the interview room.

i work on the fifth floor of the building. the interview room is on the seventh floor. i come in at 8:30. the interview was at 9:00. they wanted me to go downstairs to the reception on the main floor, so they could escort me back upstairs for the interview. if that doesn’t just beggar belief, i don’t know what does.

the council is *not* that formal. i basically show up at work wearing pyjamas most days. so i really have just *no* clue what this kind of rigamarole is supposed to accomplish.

the other reason it’s not a “promotion”, is that i get no real pay rise to go with it, as i am on the highest spinal point of my payscale, and the new post will start me out at the lowest spinal point on the scale directly above it. I think it works out to something like £50 per paycheque.

so, yep. i basically went through all this insane myriad nonsense, to get a job i don’t even want, for the princely sum of an extra £1.60 per day. not even enough for a stinkin cup of coffee.

Aside: when I was home, my sis gave me a pair of work pants that she doesn’t wear anymore. I’m wearing them today, and they smell like the Body Shop’s “White Musk”, which is what she bathes, shampoos and perfumes herself with. Everything she owns smells like it. It’s kind of comforting.

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