Changing Plans

Today I got a call from one of the agencies I’ve been dealing with, and all of a sudden everything changes.

The contract I was supposed to be starting on Monday has been cancelled. Apparently the directors of the company in question have decided that the project won’t go ahead, so they’ve pulled the budget for it.

And lo, no job for me.  All my paperwork had been signed, ID stuff sent and the like and now it’s all for fuck-all.

This is one of the things I hate about contracting over having a “proper” job – and that’s a pretty small list, believe me – that things like this can happen at the drop of a hat.  If it were a ‘proper’ job, the project decisions and budget would all have most likely been sorted well before it came round to getting someone to do the work. It’s something that seems to have been happening quite a bit this year, and it’s not something I’ve seen prior to this. Sure, I’ve had one contract come to an end before it was supposed to – and I’ve had plenty more extend well past when they were supposed to finish – but up ’til now I’ve not had to deal with ones that get cancelled before they start.

It leaves me at a bit of a loose end, as I’d already closed off the current contract to end on Friday so everything was ready for Monday’s start at the – now non-existent – new place.

So I’m back to square one. Sending out updated CVs, talking to agencies, going to interviews.

I won’t deny, it’s been a serious hit on me today – I’m not feeling great anyway, so this has just been kind of the last thing I needed. All told, it makes me want to chuck in the entire thing and head off to Pastures New (or at least Pastures Different) with a totally different job/career/work-life.

It won’t happen yet, no matter how much I want it to – but I think it’s something I need to start properly working towards.  (And I know, that’s not grammatical – I just can’t think of the grammatical way to put it)

In summary? Today’s bollocks. Next week ain’t looking good, either.