For some reason, last year when I started this blog, I neglected to mention one small detail of my life and as the blog went on it became more difficult to just add that detail back in. The detail is about my ‘other’ job; as if being a full time stay-at-home June Clever-esk mom isn’t work enough. I am also, an On-call Scheduling Coordinator for a home health care agency. Basically, when the office closes at 5pm, they roll the phones over to my cell phone and I take any calls that come in up until 8am the next morning. I take calls from anyone that calls any of our 6 offices. Sometimes its clients needing additional services, sometimes its caregivers canceling off of a scheduled shift, and sometimes its junk calls that do not require any action. I’m responsible for rescheduling and staffing any clients in need. I don’t personally go out to anyone I simply call the available caregivers to staff the open shift.
It is truly the ideal job. I get to stay at home with my kids and get paid 40 hours a week. Thanks to modern technology (and a techie husband) I can practically do my job anywhere there’s a cell signal and or wi-fi. I started out 5 years ago working weekends only. Friday 5pm until Sunday 5pm. Then, after a few years, I switched over to the week nights, Sunday through Thursday 5pm till 8am. Sometimes I’d get woken up in the middle of the night with a call but it was a rare occurrence. Just like any job sometimes its all-consuming and sometimes its slower. Well, recently, the last year or so, it’s been slower and slower and slower. So much so that I was actually let go about 8 months ago. So many of my co-workers fought tooth and nail for me to keep my job though that I was hired back on a week later. I was so grateful to my coworkers that fought for me but I was hired back at reduced hours and reduced pay. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for another job but this type of job is rare. Usually if an on call job opens up someone from inside the office jumps on the opportunity to work from home and the job posting never sees the light of day.
I'm not really sure why I have never mentioned it before. Everyone that knows me in person knows about my other job but I just never put it down on paper, so-to-speak. I guess maybe because this blog was designed to highlight my life as a stay-at-home mom so I kept my career out of it. However, it’s such a part of my life that I should have documented it as well. This job is what helps support me staying at home with the kids, it helps pay the bills, pay for the vacations and feeds my Starbucks addiction. It also can consume my nights when its busy. I've spent nights locked in my room on the phone and computer making Brad deal 100% with the kids while I deal with a crash call. I've had mornings when I'm woken up at 4am with calls and have to rely on Anthony to help get the girls ready while I calm down panicked clients and corral wild caregivers.
A few weeks ago, after yet another cut in my pay from my current company, I happened to stumble across an On Call position posted on Craigslist. Needless to say, I jumped on the opportunity to explore the position. I’ve been interviewing with the new company for almost two weeks now and was offered the position last Friday. Today, I tendered my resignation with my current company and accepted the position with the new company. Despite the reduced days, hours and pay, I hate leaving my current company. I have been with this company through thick and thin and am not the type of person to leave when times are tough. However, I’ve stuck it out for a little over a year of lean times watching my position be whittled away piece by piece and the truth of it is I have to do what’s best for my family. My salary was never something that Brad and I had to have to make our bills but it was what we used for our weekly groceries, savings and fun money. As my pay slowly started to disintegrate, so did our savings and extra activities. If I can help it, that’s now how I want to live our lives. I’m so grateful that Brad has a stable well-paying job that can completely support us in all the critical ways but I want to be able to enjoy the extra’s in life too.
That being said, it’s not worth it for me to go into an office to work. The daycare cost for the kids is astronomical. Brad and I decided when Hailey was born that I was going to be a stay at home mom. It’s something we feel is important to the mental and emotional health of all of our kids. The On Call job is the ideal way to meld both worlds. I get to bring home a paycheck every week that helps us enjoy the fun things in life as well as ease some of the financial stress and I get to stay home with the kids.
I will be starting my new job in the next week or so and will have to go into the office for 1-2 weeks for training. Fortunately we are surrounded by family who will help watch the kids (the girls particularly) while I am in the office but it will be a BIG change and require a TON of juggling. Five years ago when I started the other job my sister-in-law Monica was living here in town, between jobs herself and was kind enough to come live at my house for 2 weeks while I trained. She is now married, has two kids of her own, is enrolled in the military and lives out of state so, that’s no longer an option. This time, Brad and I will be driving the kids between my mom and step-dad and my mom-in-law and my sister-in-law’s homes for the next few weeks.
My anxiety is already sky high just thinking about juggling it all. I seriously don’t know how other mom’s do it all the time. I am working on a meal plan for the two weeks, a school schedule, a laundry rotation, driving schedule, sleepover schedule, homework help schedule plus back up plans if anything changes. I think I may be starting on Wednesday of this week (two days from now!) so I have a TON to get ready.
Any advice from you mommas that work full time? How do you do it?
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