Christmas Is Cancelled

Well, maybe not, but the Lufkin trip is definitely off. Also we're now undergoing a hiring freeze. "If somebody leaves," said our section director in an emergency staff meeting Friday, "for the time being, that just means everybody else's workload gets a bit heavier."

Um, what if, say, four people leave? Within a month or so of each other? No reason. Just curious.

I really did want to go to Lufkin, though, so that's a bit of a bummer. Instead, my boss wants to send me to a class (presumably here in Austin) on how to conduct training via videoconference.

This does not sound like nearly as much fun.

What the section director did not know on Friday is whether we still get to hire a replacement for Robbie, since his vacant job was already posted, and closed the day the hiring freeze was announced. Do we just not get to post any new requisitions, or are the existing ones cancelled?

I asked this question in our staff meeting, and of course what I was really wanting to get at was, what happens to the four internal job postings I've applied for in the last few weeks? I thought it might be better not to ask this directly. But, continuing that train of thought, does a hiring freeze mean you can't post any new jobs at all, or can you just not bring new people into the agency? I mean, if they want to encourage people to be happy in their work, they can't tell them (can they?) that the only possible way up is out? Until whatever indefinite date that the hiring freeze is over? Shouldn't you still be able to hire internally?

If the only way up is out, then only people who can't get up stay in.

Oh wait. I think maybe that already happened.