OK, this time I'm MAD!!!!

I'm am in the mood to rant so I'm going to use my little forum to vent my frustration. I'm a mother, no news there, and like all mothers when someone wrongs one of my babies I go into hunt and kill mode. Now as a modern, moderately sane mom I let my children fight their own battles even though given a chance my now rusty big-boy voice could be brought out to tear someone a new one. The best I can do is try and publicly shame today's wrongdoers.
My oldest, Jessica, gratefully joined a company called BLUE GIANT two and a half years ago. She was hired to do data entry and went in with very little experience. The pay was good, all looked rosy. Once in she was basically forced to take on the task of covering reception as well as various times of the day. This at the same time she was taking care of her own position. Six months in she was moved to a sales desk to take over some accounts, cover reception and in the beginning still do some data entry for the other sales people " because they were too busy and couldn't learn the system". This promotion was given with no raise in pay, more accountability.
Due to lack of training and support Jess had to deal with a few meetings discussing errors. I'll be honest, I didn't really believe the tone of voice Jess said the HR lady used when talking to her. There were always remarks about how young she was, she was 21 when she started.
In an aside, Jess has the grand privilege of having severe migraines. Due to the lights in her office she would frequently end up in the washroom throwing up and disabled. Instead of treating this as a real condition her HR chose to ignore it and make no adjustments to alleviate the problem. If she was in a wheel chair you bet your bippy they would make the space work. Jess ended up using all of her sick days and vacation days to have time off to recover from the headaches.
Flash ahead a year, Jess takes care of two sales reps including one that no one wants to even talk to. He is self-important and careless and Jess is constantly having to follow-up and correct his mistakes. His customers have come to rely on Jess because Kevin can't be bothered to deal with the smaller customers.
After two years of this BS Jess has had enough but keeps doing her job while starting to look for another position. Then suddenly in February a decision is made that 'restructuring' is necessary and Jess is made redundant. Always a blow to the ego even if you have one foot out the door. Ok, she now has no job and doesn't really know why. Great thing is customers and sales reps contact her as soon as they find out to lend support and offer references and jobs ( if she wants to move to the US).
As  any normal Canadian would do Jess starts to get her EI account set up, just in case. And like any normal Canadian she trusst that her former employer will do what is expected and get all paperwork where it needs to go. Not expecting to need the EI Jess rode out her severance checking occasionally to see if a decision had been made on her EI. A month and a half goes by and Jess unfortunately hasn't found a job. It looks like she'll need to use the EI. Let's look and see why the account hasn't been approved. What, the ROE hasn't even been filed yet? WTH?
Calls to the HR department yield nothing so on my suggestion Jess sends a strongly worded email to Kim asking why the ROE is still not filed. Jess forwarded the answer and my jaw dropped. The snide and condescending tone used by Kim/HR saying that she wasn't a mind reader and how should she know what happened to the ROE made my blood boil. She finally deigned to send another copy to Jess which she forwarded to EI.
So, now it's three months since Jess was terminated. EI has received her copy of the ROE they're going through their process, please wait until April 25 for a decision. April 25 comes and goes and no decision. Jess calls and learns that, number one the company has never filed an ROE for her (against the law, people) and two the copy Jess sent them had been improperly filled out so they couldn't make a decision from it. This is when my mother lion instincts kicked in. Having been in a position where I've dealt with terminations for years I knew that you must file an ROE with the gov't. You have a work week to file the ROE after termination. They've even made it easy for you and put it on-line!
Now, being who I am my first inclination is to get on the phone freeze this person from top to bottom with my wrath. I have taught my children well how to hold their own in a confrontation and Jess is a master but this is her first time dealing with assholes whom she trusted to do the right thing. I have gently guided her, after venting, and we shall see what happens. This company took advantage of a girl anxious and willing to learn and move up, tossed her out and is now still screwing with her. Somebody hold me back 'cause momma lion wants to kill something.

And now for something completely different

I've sort of been avoiding writing for the past few weeks because I'm trying to decide whether or not to share the latest event in my life. With the loss of another friend this week, Debbie Askin, I'm definitely feeling mortal. Three weeks ago I collapsed in a grocery store with a seizure. I woke up in the hospital with little recollection of what happened. The biggest problem with this was I was still in Barrie and all alone. Not to worry, as soon as I was coherent I was on the phone connecting with my gang and the girls and Theo rode to my rescue. They brought me home that night and I was basically out of it for the next few days. The boys collected my car the next day. I love my family.
Now I'm waiting to have a doctor say my brain is fine so that I can have permission to drive again. Needless to say this puts a huge crimp in my life since, as you all know, I do nothing but drive everyday. I'm not trying to make light of this because, while I know I feel better, if the doctor doesn't agree or my tests show something I may have to take a leave of absence. Then how do I take care of the family? There's a stressor I don't need.
This happened to me once before 33 years ago. Let's just say it wasn't the best year of my life; my dad had died, Roy had died, I'd broken up with Mark and I was just finishing college. I'm pretty sure stress was a major factor in that seizure. So now I'm trying to figure out what caused the latest episode. I don't feel stressed but there must be underlying factors. The drive, of course, my constant worry about money, goes without saying. Maybe it's an age thing. It has certainly made me feel my age, lol.
My kids were rocks at the hospital but they're so much like me that I can't really tell how scared or worried they are. No one has said anything since but I get the feeling they're on high alert. Jeff has been great. He thinks he's being useless since coming home from school but I think the timing was fortuitous. He's turned into my chauffeur putting up with my gentle driving advice. It's well known that I am the world's worst passenger. That comes under that giving up control thing, not my strong suit.
So, Wednesday is D day. I go see the neurologist to get the results of my tests. I am nothing if not a great salesperson so I will be doing the selling of my life. The papers to reinstate my licence are waiting in my purse. I refuse to think that I'll come home without them signed. It's not foolish wishful thinking. A week ago I could almost feel something snap back into place and my head felt better than it has, quite frankly, in months. Now to make the doctor see that it's true. Wish me luck and don't worry I will not be collapsing again any time soon, I promise.