Never under estimate job security

This post has no pictures to it, amazingly enough. It is a story. I know that many of you want pictures, so skip this one if you want. It could be lengthy.

You may or may not know that I have decided to go back to work part time. We could use the money and it might be good for me to have a reason to do my makeup more than once a week. That all being said, I have applied at a few places. My previous employer was my greatest hope. (If you don't know who I worked for, we don't need to name names here.) I applied for a 20 hr/week position in Centerville. I was over qualified in some aspects of the position and under qualified in others. The main perks were that I already knew the employer's computer system and numerous employees at the location. Basically, with that, they could throw me in with minimal training and I could pick up the rest. I met with the 2 main people for hiring purposes. We chatted for a mere 20 minutes and it seemed to go well. Since, I already knew a few people in the office, meeting the manager was the most critical. Considering how well it went and that he knows my sister, I felt like he already had his mind made up. Sure enough, less than a week later the Human Resources representative (whom I also know) contacted me and offered me the position. WOO HOO! I was so relieved to be going to a job that I knew people at AND that I knew mostly what I would be doing already. At 20 hrs/wk, they offer benefit packages as well. I was ecstatic. (Well, as ecstatic as I was going to get about going back to work.)
The last key thing in the hiring process is to get fingerprinted for back ground check. This needs to be done at an office in Salt Lake. After Mason woke up from his nap that day, we headed down to Salt Lake. I went straight to the HR office, did the necessary fingerprinting (with the help of Mason and his little, grimy fingers too!), and left to go visit my old work stomping grounds. We took Trax up the few blocks and mapped out what floors of the main office we needed to visit. I left my car at a meter and knew I only had one hour to visit. Plus, in one hour, Mason was going to be ready to hit the road.
We visited and vistited with old friends. I think that half of the floor stopped working when we got there. (I resisted taking pictures, since I already stuck out like a sore thumb.) Mason just walked all over the place. He'd walk by glass conference rooms and wave to everyone in meetings. We visited the President of the company, which someday, Mason will understand that his Mom was once 'in the know'. All in all, we visited over 10 people and it was great fun. An hour and a half later (yes, my meter is 30 min. past due for change), we headed back down to the car on Trax.
As I was visiting, the HR rep. had left me a message saying that I needed to still meet with the Region Team before I could start on Monday. I also know the entire region team, so I wasn't very worried about that. All of these things are working in my favor, I thought. Before I reached my car, the HR rep. calls me again. I politely tell her that I got her message. She then proceeds to explain to me that the Region team had met with the managers and decided that some of the locations had not met their goals. One of the ways they make up for this is to not hire new employees, when they don't technically have it in their budget anymore. Centerville is one of these offices. She told me how embarrassed and sorry she was for the confusion and incovenience (which I fully believe she was mortified!). 'This has never happened to me before.' I admit that I was more concerned, at that moment, of making sure she knew that I didn't blame her in the least. That it wasn't her fault and that it was okay. That being said, I had just told the 10 people I visited that I was 'coming back' and that I started Monday. Nope! Ah, Corporate America. I told her that if there was a ticket on my car for running over my meter time, that I was sending it to her for payment. Ha ha. There was no ticket, but maybe she went and snagged it!
I am certainly able to laugh about it, since these sort of random things often happen to me. It seemed like the perfect job and I was looking forward to it. However, I feel things do happen for a reason and something bigger and better will come along for me.
So after all of that, I am still looking for a part time job.