Friday, October 6, 2017

Day two as a free agent - looking sideways

If you missed the tale, I was RIF'd and I thought I would spend some time blogging about the experience and the whatever I decide to do next.

All of this went down on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 and pretty much wrapped up by noon.  Out of the building. 
My user account was gone by 2pm.  (the things a calendar invite that you included your personal email account as an attendee can show you - when that other attendee is an object that can't be resolved)

Talking last night, the wife was lamenting that she could not ping me on Skype any longer.  I mentioned that I do still have a Skype for Business account thanks to the MVP program.  And I proudly stated, the domain is blocked by China (ITProctology.com).  She simply looked at me quizzically and said she 'will think about it'

The day started like any other day.  I got up at the 'usual' time, cleaned up, scooped the cat litter, got the kid out of bed.

Kissed the lovely wife as she went off to work, got the kid to the bus stop, checked in the morning HAM radio net from the car.  Then drove all the way...  back home.

7:30am
Well, now what?  I have had a list of all kinds of things I have needed to get done.

Cold morning, checked the air in the tires, a bit low.  Grabbed the air compressor and resolved that.

Kind of chilly in the workshop, fired up the stove.
Looked at the wood scraps and thought of the cat tree the wife wants me to build.  Not feeling it.

7:45am
Watched an MVP PGI from yesterday that I missed. 
Got distracted by;
dirty dishes, cats fighting, HAM hobby antenna research, smelly garbage can, full recycling can, making list of items for another project from the hardware store, checking email (each time a notification popped up), checking LinkedIn, checking Twitter, checking Facebook.
I listened to the recording and viewed the visuals for the part I really wanted to see.

8:45am
Could really use a latte, warm, frothy, 15 minute drive - um, no.
Eventually feeling parched.  Looking for something cold and carbonated.  Hmm, no cold beverage fridge.
Tea it is I guess.

9:30am
Made notes of other follow up items I needed to do with HR.
Returned call to HR from yesterday (they called while I was in the middle of the only thing I had scheduled all day) - ring, ring, ring, disconnect.
I think, that was curious - I will try again later, she may have been on the phone with someone.

9:45 am
Phone rings - its Cabo.  (Mexico) they want to know when I can come visit.  Um, no...

10:00am
Start typing this

10:13am
All caught up
Checked email, read an article the wife sent, investigated LinkedIn Premium, looked around thinking "what next"

10:30am
Yea! spam to delete

And a little after that, my entire attempt at writing a humorous blog post was ruined.
(the following falls into a category that I won't name.  The comments are not disparagement to my former employer.)

I finally got hold of my HR representative, all was fine, my questions were answered.
Then I was asked a few questions (that I had already answered).
They wanted to know the accounts that I was using to access particular resources so they could be deactivated.  No problem.  I gave the account names.
Then I was asked for the passwords to those accounts.  Um.  No.  Just no.
My GitHub account,  They wanted the password to my GitHub account.  No, I never had a 'corporate' GitHub account.  They can just remove my account from the 'company' in GitHub.
And besides, I have access to other repositories that have nothing to do with my former employer. How can I trust the people that I am giving access to _my_ account?

Right there, any groove I had at writing humor was ruined.

So, I simply stepped away from everything for the remainder of the day.  And focused on other projects around the house.
Now, I still can't get this incident out of my head.  It is 5pm and I have to finish this post.

It is Friday.  Monday will bring a new adventure.  And a new post.
That one will actually be technical, and very useful to many folks.




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