No Worries

One of the biggest worries I had about joining the NG was how my work was going to react. Oh, I knew all about the USERRA act and all the protections offered to reservists under the law but let's face it: if your employer wants to make grief for you, they certainly can. Now, I've been at the same company for over six years now and I know the folks I work for pretty well, so I was confident they'd take the announcement alright but one can never be sure, ya' know? The Wife was in a major panic over this of course. she was certain that they were going to fire me the moment I told them. I explained to her that they couldn't do that, even if they got pissed at me but when The Wife's in worry mode, stress trumpeth logic every time!

When I had the conversation with my supervisor, she was really supportive. She thought it was a great thing for me to do and she saw all the potential positives right away. (It pays when your direct report is the head of H.R. They're definitely better at seeing positives than most folks!) We talked about it for an hour or so and she said she'd bring it up to the President of the company and let me know what his reactions/concerns were. She got back to me a week later to say that he'd been surprised and a bit concerned about how my workload would be covered while I was gone but overall, he was very supportive of the idea and he also saw the possible benefits it could bring to the company. Again, working for H.R. helped here I think. My boss and I had already discussed a plan to address those concerns before she talked to the President. We had a temporary replacement picked out, a training program for him, and some concepts on how having someone else to work with me could benefit the company in the long term.

So, today, on my way over to the cafeteria to grab lunch, I found myself walking alongside the President and chatting with him. I made a point of thanking him for being supportive and understanding what I was doing. He shook my hand, congratulated me on the decision because he feels it's "Important for the county." and told me not to worry about anything, they'd still be here when I got back. He also told me to be "Damn careful if you wind up deployed anywhere, we need you back in one piece!" It was nice to hear straight from him that the firm would support what I was doing. Nice to know that it's not always just about profits, ya' know? Actually, I knew that about my firm beforehand. That's why I'm still here after six years. I've been with other places that would (and did!) cut my knees out beneath me for their own convenience. The company I'm at has always been good about working around my personal needs/problems. Hell, the position I have now they made up for me when The Wife had her second round of cancer so that I'd have time to spend with her. Of course, I like to think I took it and ran with it - it's now a major part of how we work here and folks think well of me. Still, it's nice to know that I have solid folks behind me who support what I'm doing. it's one less thing to have to worry about while I'm training and/or deployed.

Ankle's healing nicely. I'm walking two or so miles every day and it doesn't hurt when I do. Still some limited flexibility on it but I should be back to my usual routine the first week of August so that'll be good. I'm dreading how much it's going to hurt (general breathing-wise, not the ankle) when I get back to running after such a long break. It took me ages to get to a point where running was merely difficult and not agonizing. i imagine I'll be starting back at agony again. Ah well, such is life.

Later!