Kicked to the side of the road

How does it feel to be kicked to the side of the road? Not good. At the moment it happens it made me so angry I would've liked to commit mayhem. I did not write about it any sooner because it usually takes me a while to get my head around a very emotional event and I would have said things I do not need to say.

I was given a choice of taking a less responsible position with my employer or leaving the organization. I took the less responsible job. I need to have healthcare coverage until December 2013. That is when my wife Terry will be 63 1/2 year old and I can carry her on COBRA until her 65th birthday so she can get Medicare.

So, I was placed between a rock and a hard place. The decision was not hard, I will take care of my wife first. What really drove me to distraction was the manner the reassignment was handled. A lady who I worked with for over 10 years left the college I worked at. She went to another college where she did not fare so well. However, because she was the contact for a helicopter school that wanted to expand its operation and introduced the flight school to the community, plus asked for her job back she was not only given her old job, but mine too. I was told she was the successor and they (the organization) decided to move the succession plan up. Given this is a state institution with a hiring policy that requires open posting and selection a succession plan makes little sense.

Regardless I am in my new position. It will not be the work the old one was and the folks are good. I'll make the best of it until I can retire, then I'll put it all behind me and enjoy retirement and old age with my wife.

HOWEVER; they have really angered me and I am pursuing all of the internal remedies in a grievance procedure, then I'll file an EEOC charge of age discrimination. I may not get anywhere but I'll make sure the facts get aired.