Furlough Friday

We finally got there.  The government furloughs that have been in the works all year finally went into effect this week.  Robins chose to take Fridays for ours so we'll be off without pay every Friday from today through September 20th.  Unless they cut it some more.  We started out with 22 days.  We're down to 11 now.

Since I was part time from New Year's Eve until a week ago, I'm used to being off on Fridays.  I love being off on Fridays!  Once I went full time last week, I worked 16 hours overtime.  I got all I could when I could!  There'll be no overtime during the furlough period.  Well, duh!  That would kinda defeat the purpose, now wouldn't it?

I got the confirmation email yesterday telling me my third promotion (the BIG one that converts me out of being a co-op) takes effect THIS SUNDAY.  That'll be another $3 an hour raise.  I will have gone from a WG-03 to a WG-08 in 16 months.  That was a three-YEAR program I was in and I jumped in there, got my training and finished school so I could accelerate and get it done!  There was a LOT of stress involved.  There was a lot of training that had to be done and then of course, I had to have people sign off on it saying I knew how to do it.  I had to stay on them the entire time to get my training.  If they ever ask me how happy I was with the whole co-op experience, I'd have to say "not very".  You have to scratch and scrape for every bit of training you get.  Nobody out there wants to train you.  And they sure don't want you to do something that they've never done themselves.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard, "Well, I'm a WG-10 and I've never done that!"  I had a pretty comprehensive training program that I had to go through, from very basic wiring to installing avionic components to fueling and defueling the jet.  All this for a girl who'd spent the past 25 years in an office.  I didn't even know what half those tools were in my toolbox!  I had NO idea what a Cannon plug was, I'd never even SEEN an Adel clamp.  They just assumed because I was out there, I knew stuff.  Well, you know what they say about assuming.

But I listened and I tried and I failed and then I tried again.  And again and again until I got it.  It's not old-hat yet like maybe answering a phone would be but I'm getting there.  In fact, I installed a wing tip radar antenna last week and it took me thirty minutes.  They used to take me HOURS.  I'm talking three or four.  Ha!  I'm gettin' it.  And I am SO happy that I don't have to answer a phone anymore!!

My co-op days are over.  When I get to work Monday, I will be a WG-08.  I'll be able to take responsibility for my own work and put my stamp on what I do.  That feels really, really good.