It was a Monday for sure! The week can only get better from here.
And in this week’s entertainment. DS1 headbutted me so hard I have a bruise on my cheek. I work in mental health with a bunch of providers. Any guesses how many times I will tactfully and carefully he asked if I’m safe at home?
@stac928 - Yeah that sounds incredibly uncomfortable. I'm a natural born klutz and hurt myself on the regular. It's always soooo uncomfortable explaining that to people. Plus ouch! Sorry your little one got a rough headbutt in. Hope your week gets better!
So far, so good. Minimal work annoyances thus far, but it's only Tuesday, haha. Boss was out of town last week, so she's trying to catch up this week--which means I'm being given new projects to work on. Keeping me busy, which is good--it's not insanely busy, but also not insanely slow. Just good, steady days, which I like. Being in marketing, it's usually one extreme or the other--either I'm so bogged down I can't catch my breath, or it's so slow I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs all day. I like these in-between days. :-)
Just got word from my employer that they received my FMLA paperwork from the doctor so I still have a job as of now! Yay!
HR was texting me last week asking how I was doing and what the doctor said. I've been off work a few weeks now and when she found out I was written off for another 2 weeks they asked if my restrictions would allow me to work from home. 😮 Yup this is the exact same company I have been trying to get to let me work from home for months!
I'm equally happy and offended that they want me to work from home. Happy because if they can see how productive I can be from home then maybe (big maybe) they might let me do it after my daughter is born. Happy that I am obviously missed and needed. Who doesn't love feeling needed? But offended that it is suddenly an option when it suits their needs but out of the question any other time.
Doctor said no work at all last visit but I'm starting to feel a little better. So at the next appt I will be asking if I can start working again with two caveats. 1. I only work from home and 2. It be part time, flexible hours for the days were my symptoms are really bad.
Does that sound reasonable or am I being too demanding?
They still haven't got my urinalysis results back so it could be a mute point if my levels are way off. Knowing my OBGYN he might insist on a long term hospital stay if it looks like preeclampsia is near.
@mrszoobear YAY!!! But totally frustrating! I've been trying to get our HR to allow me for a flexible schedule and they denied my proposal that I drafted... after sitting on it for months!
I think your request sounds reasonable, you could have your Dr. write it up as part of your release back to work. I would just be careful with how it's worded, you don't want to pigeon hole yourself into only being allowed to work up to 20 hours a week when you feel fine to work maybe 30+ and then losing any benefits you have. I could see an asshole company pulling something like that.
@ashorkey - Sorry they didn't go for it and made you wait so long to find out. Thanks for the advice on the flexible hours and restrictions, I will have to make sure the office words it carefully.
I'm struggling a little bit with trying to figure out if I want to take a step back work-wise this year in order to adjust to motherhood. I've been the lead teacher at my school for 4 years, and it's a little extra money paired with additional duties. I'm tempted to give that position up this year and focus on my family life, but I also feel like if I do, I might not get the opportunity again since obviously someone else will fill the position in my absence. I'd miss the extra money, too, but I dont want to spread myself too thin.
my newest employee has an unplanned lateness or absence one day every week for the last month. none of them have been emergencies, and twice it has left me here by myself. as an employer i am just mind boggled by people who don't ask if its ok to miss time, but just send texts telling me what's going on. i NEVER did that when i was someone's employee unless it was a legit emergency. for context i run a small business of 1 virtual employee and 2 in office employees, and me. so when someone is out we feel it. staffing has been my #1 tough spot in the 5 yrs i've been doing this. i normally keep 3 in office but have been having issues recruiting.
@Stac928 it is brutal, if someone asked me what is the number one hardest thing as a small business owner: finding awesome quality employees is what every person would say. i've been intentionally trying to staff up so that i can have some semblance of a maternity leave, very jealous of you ladies who will be able to put an out of office up and enjoy your time. i will still have to run payroll and bills at a minimum.... and who knows what else will arise.
@anniemarie887 I have friends who run a pet supply store, well actually they are up to three locations now. They say the same thing. Finding good employees is hard. At times I've even filled in for them (will work for dog food!) when they are super short or have special events and need extra help. They've finally found a few good long term folks (knock on wood) to help stabilize things a bit but it's still hard. I can't imagine.
I run my own LLC to do freelance work but it's just me, myself, and I. I'll just close up shop while I'm out on maternity leave. It's a side hustle for me so no big deal to lose the income in the meantime. I've slowed way down on it in the last few years anyway while I was in school full time and working full time and just haven't geared back up since graduating. Maybe once the babies are a bit bigger I can get more back into it.
@Stac928 you are an amazing friend for doing that (i also would help for free dog food, too!). the good news is that i do love what i do, love my clients and my one long term employee i have. i own my own State Farm agency. the bad news is that my employees have to also pass insurance licensing exams and background checks to access our systems so it adds another layer of tricky on the employee front. kudos to you for running freelance work, its hard even when you're not managing employees! staying focused is my personal tough spot - it's amazing how easy it is to goof off when you don't have a boss
Today I am in a war against Google. Long story short, I manage our Google reviews for all of our locations, and this week, we have not been getting any....even though we threw a couple test ones up there to see what was happening. Of course, Google has outsourced to India, so we keep getting scripted messages in poorly written English back. We followed their instructions to resolve the issue, but it actually made it worse.
@blueskychicago12 I feel you. For what it is worth, I would probably wait until the baby comes and you're back at work to make any sort of decision. Right now, you are trying to make a decision that impacts your income and your career trajectory without knowing what it will be like to work and have a baby. I would just try to take it as it comes and do one thing at a time. You can always scale back later, but I wouldn't take yourself out of the running before knowing what you'll be able to handle given the specifics of your situation. Also, the rough transition of having an infant is temporary, and it gets easier pretty quickly. Or, in the words of my friend, "Think like a man! They see they are 20% qualified, and they apply. Women, they are 200% qualified and wonder if they should maybe consider applying." (Just my two cents, of course.)
@anniemarie887 I'm sorry, that sounds incredibly frustrating! Hope you are able to sort something out.
@rjgmcmanus Ugh, good luck! I would be pissed too.
I've worked at the same, small family owned company for 5 years now. The president of the company is my husbands uncle and basically gave me this job 5 years ago. I worked two years in office and got pregnant with my first and they let me work from home after he was born. So now, pregnant again with our second. The company doesn't offer any type of maternity leave and there are less than 50 employees (45 to be exact) so they are not required to offer FMLA in TX, so I have to use my vacation days for my "maternity leave".
July 4th, obviously a paid day off, buuuuut July 5th is always a working day for us. The president decides to close the company instead and make everyone use one of their vacation days or not get paid for that day. Since I work from home and have work to do, I asked if I could continue to work that day and save my vacation for when the baby is born. They said no...then preceded to tell me how much of a "blessing" this job is to my family and basically how they're doing me a favor. Excuse me. I have earned the ability to work from home, no one in the company can do my job as well or as efficiently as I can, AND i am underpaid and under-appreciated every day along with all of the other employees. And on top of that I have to see this person at basically every family function we go to. My husband and I are on the same page as being completely fed up with his uncle and I have looked into other forms of work from home also but nothing has fit. I feel like i'm trapped in this job until my husband gets a raise, which should be within the next year. Just send me all he good vibes and prayers that I can survive lol.
Also, if you know of any sweet jobs where you can work from home, HMU lol. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
@firsttimemomma417 - Good vibes coming your way! Sorry about being underpaid and especially underappreciated, its really hard to deal with. Anyone in your place would be stressed and over it.
@firsttimemomma417 OMG, I almost feel like I was reading a rant from myself! I work for my parents’ business, and I’ll tell you, it has been a rough last couple of weeks. Don’t laugh if this sounds too repetitive of what you wrote at points- I started this draft 4 days ago! Haha 😆
I also earned the privilege of working from home sometimes, after our first daughter was born. Believe me, I get guilt-tripped on it a lot, because my parents think that they have the right to do that. I also get little to no recognition for all of the work I do and my deeper level of understanding for the business. I’ll be honest, the way my parents run their business, they are so lucky to still be afloat. When DH and I moved back to the area about 10 years ago to help them out, we thought we could rework how things were set up and make the stores more profitable. As they say though, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and OMG, these people are a bunch of old dogs. Welcoming in the internet to the retail industry along with a huge demographic shift in our area made making money virtually impossible.
Zoom to the last couple of weeks- we work in the least profitable of three stores, and while I've said to my parents for years that they should close this location, my dad has resisted, saying that if we leave this spot, somebody else will swoop in and put a shop in here and compete with us. I on the other hand am like, "Well, sure, but is it worth flushing your money down the toilet to play defense??" So long as we're forced to run the system my parents feel comfortable running, this place will never be easily profitable. Now, within the last two weeks, we've been robbed at our crappy location- TWICE.
I'm just fried- I've been done with this place for a while, and I don't want to hurt my parents, but there is no way we're taking over this dung heap from them, especially not with another child on the way. We'll never retire or send a child to college or...you name it. Sorry if this rant is a little too much- the second robbery just happened last night and I'm wasted tired. Heck, we're still here repairing the spot that the robbers busted through!!
mrszoobear
member
Re: Working Moms - Week of 8/5
And in this week’s entertainment. DS1 headbutted me so hard I have a bruise on my cheek. I work in mental health with a bunch of providers. Any guesses how many times I will tactfully and carefully he asked if I’m safe at home?
Married 1/28/17
TW:
BFP #2 10/10/17, MC 11/4/17
BFP #3 12/17/17 Birth 8/13/18
BFP #4 4/21/19 Birth 12/5/2019
HR was texting me last week asking how I was doing and what the doctor said. I've been off work a few weeks now and when she found out I was written off for another 2 weeks they asked if my restrictions would allow me to work from home. 😮 Yup this is the exact same company I have been trying to get to let me work from home for months!
I'm equally happy and offended that they want me to work from home. Happy because if they can see how productive I can be from home then maybe (big maybe) they might let me do it after my daughter is born. Happy that I am obviously missed and needed. Who doesn't love feeling needed? But offended that it is suddenly an option when it suits their needs but out of the question any other time.
Doctor said no work at all last visit but I'm starting to feel a little better. So at the next appt I will be asking if I can start working again with two caveats. 1. I only work from home and 2. It be part time, flexible hours for the days were my symptoms are really bad.
Does that sound reasonable or am I being too demanding?
They still haven't got my urinalysis results back so it could be a mute point if my levels are way off. Knowing my OBGYN he might insist on a long term hospital stay if it looks like preeclampsia is near.
I think your request sounds reasonable, you could have your Dr. write it up as part of your release back to work. I would just be careful with how it's worded, you don't want to pigeon hole yourself into only being allowed to work up to 20 hours a week when you feel fine to work maybe 30+ and then losing any benefits you have. I could see an asshole company pulling something like that.
Married 1/28/17
TW:
BFP #2 10/10/17, MC 11/4/17
BFP #3 12/17/17 Birth 8/13/18
BFP #4 4/21/19 Birth 12/5/2019
@anniemarie887 I have friends who run a pet supply store, well actually they are up to three locations now. They say the same thing. Finding good employees is hard. At times I've even filled in for them (will work for dog food!) when they are super short or have special events and need extra help. They've finally found a few good long term folks (knock on wood) to help stabilize things a bit but it's still hard. I can't imagine.
I run my own LLC to do freelance work but it's just me, myself, and I. I'll just close up shop while I'm out on maternity leave. It's a side hustle for me so no big deal to lose the income in the meantime. I've slowed way down on it in the last few years anyway while I was in school full time and working full time and just haven't geared back up since graduating. Maybe once the babies are a bit bigger I can get more back into it.
Married 1/28/17
TW:
BFP #2 10/10/17, MC 11/4/17
BFP #3 12/17/17 Birth 8/13/18
BFP #4 4/21/19 Birth 12/5/2019
I'm pissed.
@anniemarie887 I'm sorry, that sounds incredibly frustrating! Hope you are able to sort something out.
@rjgmcmanus Ugh, good luck! I would be pissed too.
I've worked at the same, small family owned company for 5 years now. The president of the company is my husbands uncle and basically gave me this job 5 years ago. I worked two years in office and got pregnant with my first and they let me work from home after he was born. So now, pregnant again with our second. The company doesn't offer any type of maternity leave and there are less than 50 employees (45 to be exact) so they are not required to offer FMLA in TX, so I have to use my vacation days for my "maternity leave".
July 4th, obviously a paid day off, buuuuut July 5th is always a working day for us. The president decides to close the company instead and make everyone use one of their vacation days or not get paid for that day. Since I work from home and have work to do, I asked if I could continue to work that day and save my vacation for when the baby is born. They said no...then preceded to tell me how much of a "blessing" this job is to my family and basically how they're doing me a favor. Excuse me. I have earned the ability to work from home, no one in the company can do my job as well or as efficiently as I can, AND i am underpaid and under-appreciated every day along with all of the other employees. And on top of that I have to see this person at basically every family function we go to. My husband and I are on the same page as being completely fed up with his uncle and I have looked into other forms of work from home also but nothing has fit. I feel like i'm trapped in this job until my husband gets a raise, which should be within the next year. Just send me all he good vibes and prayers that I can survive lol.
Also, if you know of any sweet jobs where you can work from home, HMU lol. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Married 1/28/17
TW:
BFP #2 10/10/17, MC 11/4/17
BFP #3 12/17/17 Birth 8/13/18
BFP #4 4/21/19 Birth 12/5/2019
I also earned the privilege of working from home sometimes, after our first daughter was born. Believe me, I get guilt-tripped on it a lot, because my parents think that they have the right to do that. I also get little to no recognition for all of the work I do and my deeper level of understanding for the business. I’ll be honest, the way my parents run their business, they are so lucky to still be afloat. When DH and I moved back to the area about 10 years ago to help them out, we thought we could rework how things were set up and make the stores more profitable. As they say though, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and OMG, these people are a bunch of old dogs. Welcoming in the internet to the retail industry along with a huge demographic shift in our area made making money virtually impossible.
Zoom to the last couple of weeks- we work in the least profitable of three stores, and while I've said to my parents for years that they should close this location, my dad has resisted, saying that if we leave this spot, somebody else will swoop in and put a shop in here and compete with us. I on the other hand am like, "Well, sure, but is it worth flushing your money down the toilet to play defense??" So long as we're forced to run the system my parents feel comfortable running, this place will never be easily profitable. Now, within the last two weeks, we've been robbed at our crappy location- TWICE.
I'm just fried- I've been done with this place for a while, and I don't want to hurt my parents, but there is no way we're taking over this dung heap from them, especially not with another child on the way. We'll never retire or send a child to college or...you name it. Sorry if this rant is a little too much- the second robbery just happened last night and I'm wasted tired. Heck, we're still here repairing the spot that the robbers busted through!!
Rant over- working for your family sucks