benjarvis.org

The Job Scramble.

The time has come once again for employment musical chairs. Since I’m a seasonal employee, my employment lasts for the season. This would be a big problem if the season was the Christmas Season or the Summer Season; predefined stretches of time that result in swift lay offs as soon as the season is over. My season is the Tax Season and it’s much more flexible and elastic than the average employment season. As long as I do a good job, and there is work to do, I get to stick around. My last season lasted about 18 months. Before that I was let go for a month.

This tax season is a little different. We have an economic downturn the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades and no one (I mean no one) wants to pay their taxes. Some probably can’t afford it, others are simply filing extensions. It all adds up to the same: our peak month was cut short. My boss told me that though I am among the top of the seasonal workers, this year there isn’t enough work to keep people around. It probably means that I will have a series of recalls and releases as the tax payments ebb and flow. But I have a trick up my sleeve.

All employees are welcome to apply for “detail” work. This means I can transfer to another area that needs workers on a temporary basis. I’m guaranteed a certain amount of time on the detail (in this case 10 days) and they may extend it as they see fit. This means I could be there for the required 10 days or the rest of the year. There’s no telling. One of the other possibilities is that I could come off the detail and get snapped up again by my home unit. In any case, I feel better about my future than just a simple “see ya later”. Hopefully, I don’t get laid off but anything can happen. Hell, I could use the vacation time.