No it has not been a year since my last post. I'm just a bit frustrated with my job. It's not all bad, well work is but the solution is exciting.
Since my last post we have had major changes and disruptions here at work. The Convention Center had always been under the leadership of the Parks and Recreation Department. They have experience managing numerous facilities around town. They pretty much left us alone to operate under the guidance of our operations manager. They were there for the bigger fiscal decisions and any operational changes. I got on really well with the management team there and enjoyed working with them when I needed to. Well someone at City Hall decided that maybe putting us with the Destination Marketing Team that is a part of the Communications and Marketing Division would be a great idea. Who cares if they have zero experience managing a facility, especially one that operates 24/7 if needed. They were then put in charge of hiring a new operations manager. Well they retitled that position and made it sound more like a sales and event management position....it's not. The lady that took it was soon in over her head doing a job she was not prepared to do. They are spending money to put lipstick on the pig (convention center) and not on the needed repairs, replacements and upgrades that are desperately needed. They then start looking at job descriptions for everyone else, me included. They decided that not should I only do everything I do as an admin 2, they started adding additional duties and then also added local event sales to the mix. I hate sales. I told them that I felt it was going to be a bit too much especially with the new event software changeover coming up. I really felt that it was not right to do this when I have six months until I retire. But they pushed. They changed my job title to Guest Experience Admin ( what a bullshit title) and wrote me up for not performing my new job ( which was done before they officially changed my job title and duties). I was livid. Furious. Discouraged. I could barely not just walk off and tell them to shove it. My new manager not only did not have my back, she was part of the instigation of the whole thing.
I started crunching numbers again trying to figure out if I could move up my retirement date. I really couldn't make a decision until I spoke with the Social Security Office. I had been playing phone tag for a few months and was a month away from a set appointment. So I just had to sit tight. Less than a week later my Rep from the Social Security office finally connected with me. The news was all good. Like better than I expected good. The numbers came together and I am able to move up my retirement date by four months. I would've moved it up sooner but I didn't want to abandon the team I have worked with all these years as I know a lot of what I do will fall on them. So I will be out of here in just over six weeks. I am so frustrated though because I had enjoyed working here. The team was like family, it was so good for fourteen years. But now I cannot wait to walk out that door and not look back. I am angry. I am bitter. I am worried about the staff remaining behind. I have to do this for me. I am stressed. I cannot change the circumstances causing the stress, so all I can do is walk away.
I am so looking forward to retirement. Just a week after my last day I am off to Colorado with Fantu. I've a week camping and Hiking in Guadalupe Mountain National Park booked for later in the Autumn. Next Spring I am off to Peru for three weeks or so, and then I leave for Nepal for three months later next year. I do plan on adding other camping and hiking trips into the mix in between those listed. I am so thrilled to be getting a head start on it all. I just wish the circumstances had not been negative.
