Onto the department that liked me so much they managed to get funding to add me in as a temp/permanent - meaning I was being paid with grant money and wasn't hired through the whole human resources route.  Oh but god that boss was a PITA (pain in the ass).  This woman was in her 30's she had been chronically single and was just a bit strange.  She didn't understand what it was like to have children.  For example - my daughter was in preschool, she tripped, fell, hit her head on a trike gashing open her eyebrow.  The preschool called, of course I had to pick her up and take her to the ER.  When I told my boss she gave out one of those "sighs" and was like "well how long do you think this will take?" - I didn't want to loose my job, they paid me well, so I called my daughter's aunt who met me at the ER and took over from there, held my little girl for me while she had baby blue stitches sewn in to match her eyes the day before school pictures. 

Rarely did she give me work to do, I posed as the front receptionist and other people in the department loved me because I could build databases and do all their data entry (one guy wrote me a wonderful recommendation for my file and we still bump into each other occasionally).  Sometimes I'd catch a call right before I was to leave for lunch and I'd have to help someone out, or I'd have to help someone who walked in ... so I'd leave for lunch 10 or 15 minutes late, sometimes 20.  The guy who sat near me and did the tech work would tell me that when I was normally due back from work, my boss would walk out of her office, stand by my desk, look at her watch and tap her foot.  Then I got grief from The Ancient One who had worked there forever, but she never said anything to my face, just complained behind my back.  The tech guy looked out for me when I was gone and would warn me ...  One day I get the speech, that I'm arriving late and taking extra time at lunch.  WHAT?!!!

I was the first person to arrive every morning and since I wasn't a permanent hire I was not issued a keycard to get in.  I'd have to wait until the doors automatically unlocked, then I'd have to race in and key in the alarm code.  Some days the timer would be off and I'd be standing in the cold for 10 minutes or so waiting to hear the "click".  Two days a week the ancient woman would come in at the same time as I did - but she had a keycard.  A few times I had issues with Aidan at preschool and had to deal with them before I left her, never was I more than 5 or 10 minutes late!  One day I was 15 minutes late - one of those days where the kid just doesn't want to put her shoes on.  I called the ancient woman to let her know I was running late, she didn't pick up, I left a voice message.  When I got there she gave me her happy good morning smile, then made it obvious that she was glancing up at the clock and sarcastically remarked "Oh, I thought I was going to be the only one here today". 

She didn't like that I made more than her hourly.  What she didn't factor in was that I was being paid with grant funds, I did not get paid sick leave, vacation time, or overtime.  The reason I was being paid 2 dollar more than a normal permanent secretary on her first step was because the Director of that department wanted me to have the option of having a little extra each month to get private health care if I needed.  So essentially, she made more than me.

Anyway, back to the talk ... the tech warned me that he had heard the Ancient One and my boss talking about me being tardy from lunch one day because it was 20 minutes past when I was supposed to come back - but I had left 20 minutes late.  The tech actually spoke up and told them that I hadn't even left for lunch when he had left 15 minutes after my regular lunch time.  That didn't matter, I still got the "Can't be tardy, need to be here, blah blah blah" speech.

I was pissed - so I decided to be a nuisance.  Every time I arrived for work I'd clock in with a clock thing we used for people using the facilities, then lunch I'd  punch the clock again, then when I got back from lunch (oh and breaks too), then I'd punch when I left - then I'd tape that paper to my bosses computer monitor.  If she was gone on a business trip she'd come back to multiple papers taped all over her monitor.  She never said a word ... but when the fiscal year ended I was informed that they weren't able to keep me, they couldn't get the funding again. Oh "but don't worry, we aren't replacing you".

Yeah right, they hired a temp from outside the office, from a temp company which saves them money because they could pay them at least 2 dollars less than what a company secretary starting would make. 

So I was unemployed - long enough to open an unemployment claim.  I had an "in" with The Lady in HR.  She liked me, so did her nephew, so I was always at the top of the temp list.  I was sent on a new assignment in one of our remote locations to pose as a department secretary for a few weeks until their new permanent was able to start.  This job wasn't too bad either, I enjoyed it very much and was paid more then a regular secretary.  I can't give details about what I did or the fun I had because it would give away the location and I have to at least try to protect my identity.  My boss liked me, I liked him, that's all that mattered.  To this day we bump into each other occasionally and he always genuinely wants to know how I'm doing.

Then the permanent secretary was able to come fill her spot, so once again I was unemployed - for like a few weeks.  Then I was sent to HELL.