I come in to work today and I have 3 missed calls. Strange because I come in early and usually work late. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent... and guilty.)

I listen to the first one and it is my boss' boss' boss (Mike) who never calls me. He told me that my boss (Karen) who lives and works in California is "no longer with the company." and to forward anything that I need to her boss (Jeff). Message 2 and 3 were also from Mike, but just him basically telling me that he is forward my email requests that I sent Karen off to Jeff and to call Jeff for more information.

So I call Jeff, whom I almost never talk to as he lives and works in Georgia and I've never met face to face before... He is out on vacation all week and I only have his desk number.

I decide to text my wife the odd news and of course she panics and says "Is your job ok??"

Crap. Hadn't thought about that. Maybe they are phasing some people out.

So I call Mike, who lives in Indiana and I have interacted with ONLY via email maybe twice in the past 3+ years of working here, and ask him the question. "Am I OK?" And I get the disclaimer first, instead of just an answer. "I can't get into any of the details around Karen's situation...." It seems like YEARS as he says that simple sentance. Time seems to be slowing down.

"But no, no, no... You are fine."
Whew.
"This is an isolated incident and not related to you, your contract, or any corporate initiative."

I can breathe again.

Now I get to go back to figuring out why my medical insurance is going up 49.03% starting January 1st and what I need to do about it.

Holy hell.

Yikes! Nobody likes that kind of adrenaline rush first thing in the morning. Sounds like somebody was a naughty employee... I hope the fallout is minimal and things end up improving for you in the long run.

I just found out that I now report directly to "Jeff." Maybe this is a good thing since I was doing 99% of the work for this contract anyway and my (former) boss wasn't doing much for it. Albeit that her job title was something completely different and she should have never been my boss anyway, but now I will have direct exposure to one step higher in the management chain which hopefully will help me out long term.

is there an opening?

I wish I could be so lucky!

It would be nice if I could move up the chain. Then my job wouldn't be tied to the success of a single contract. Despite how well things are going, and how much we are expanding with our client, I would like the additional job security of multiple contracts that one level up would have...