I am employed!

But getting to that point as everyone knows has been a frustrating exercise and the last leg of the process was no different.

I went straight from dropping Marco at work so was really early for my appointment at ten am. I saw the elderly lady whom I have seen on the previous two occasions as well as her son and daughter, both of whom also work at the company. I sat and chatted with them for about an hour and a half, the older lady going through various tasks I would be expected to handle, most of which she has told me before but basically it was to meet the children, all of whom are in positions of authority in the company. As the meeting ended, I mentioned that if they were seriously considering hiring me, I would need to receive an Offer of Employment within the next couple of hours as I had to let the other company that had already offered me employment know that I wouldn't be starting with them the next day.

I left and went back home but couldn't really get stuck into anything because I was sitting in front of the computer, checking for email updates every few minutes and stressing about the lack of resolution of my future. Bradley and I made a trip through to the shopping centre about mid afternoon but before we left I phoned the HR Consultant whom I had met at the very first meeting and she phoned me back to confirm that her client were preparing a letter and confirming the salary.

On my return from town, it was already after four pm and when I checked my email, still nothing received! Well by then, as you can imagine, I was freaking out. I emailed the Consultant again and she emailed back for me to relax as the employer was trying to email the letter through to me. And then the employer phoned me and apologised but said that for some reason she was battling to get emails out. Some technology issue. Murphy's law again!

Immediately, I said I would fetch the letter as I was around the corner and I battled through home time traffic and fetched my letter directly from her hand. I start work there on Monday, 2nd April. The salary is much better than was offered by the other company.

I had to phone the other Consultant and break the news to her that I wouldn't be starting with the other company, a task I hated doing because they are very nice people. I just believe the Consultant misrepresented my salary requirements to them. She actually said to me, if she could get her client to match the other salary offer, would I still consider working for them. And when I was hesitant in my reply, obviously realised what she was saying, retracted her statement and wished me luck where I would be working.

That onerous task dealt with, I could finally relax and enjoy the reality of being a part of the working world once again....