Beyond Tasmanian

Have you ever been so mad you literally thought you were going to have a stroke?  Today the veins in my neck were bulging.  Why? you ask.  Because my integrity was challenged.  On my way out the door to the knit shop and the bank I stopped to see what had come in the day's mail.

Big mistake.  Big.

I received two documents.  One was the pay stub for my severance check.  Since I had seen the automatic deposit into my checking account first thing this morning (blood pressure starting to simmer), I already knew that it had been tomahawked at 35%.  Yes, I lost 35% of my severance to taxes.  OUCH.

The second document came from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency.  In a nut shell, they said I had lied about being terminated for lack of work.

They were threatening me with fines and penalties because they said my former employer told them I had quit.  This is where the steam really started to escape.  Quit?  Not on your life.  I would have gladly stayed if there had been a position for me.

I flew around the house gathering my arsenal for my rebuttal.  I do have my faults but you can bet your very last dime that I'm honest.  I dialed up my old HR department and you can believe me when I say they fully understood why I was upset.  They were faxing over 'corrected' information to the UIA office contact that they had on file.  I filled out the UIA interrogation form explaining in no uncertain terms that I did NOT quit and sent the letter we'd been given from our management explaining the terminations.  OMG.  WTF.  

I knew I had to act quickly as the UIA only gave me 10 days to respond and the holiday on Monday will only slow things down.  You can bet that I'll be calling my old HR department again on Tuesday to be positively certain they did what they said they'd do.

When I left the house for the knit shop my veins were still popping.  I dropped off the rebuttal inside the post office so I'd be assured it would go out in today's mail.  Man, I need this stress like a hole in the head.

Thank goodness for Anne and Linda at the knit shop.  Within 5 minutes of arriving I was already feeling better.  I'm sure my BP was down to 150/80 by then.  They made everything alright.  They complimented me on the Caddy Cardigan and both helped me pick up the stitches for the neck edge.  Now I can get that done and do the button bands tomorrow so that I can have it completed in three weeks.  Phew.

I'm going to go grab another beer and relax.  Maybe.