Yesterday work passed in a haze of malaise and gloom.
I can chalk that up, in part, to the catalog section I was working on. Sixty-four pages of catalog copy. Around page 10 it felt endless. At page 30 it felt impossible. At page 45 it felt interminable. The word “orrery,” used precisely, is in there, and Sailor Pluto had me idly wondering of Sailor Eris and Sailor Makemake. I completed the sixty-four pages. The end of September’s catalog — the catalog copy, anyway — is in sight. I’m not there yet, but I can see it.
The main thing? The gloom? I felt like I’d been demoted at work.
I wasn’t. Nothing about my job changed. My title remains the same. The people I report to are the same.
Psychologically, though, I felt that I was. Or, more accurately, would be a few months hence.
The reason? In December, to take into account the Labor Department’s new overtime rules, salaried employees will be reclassified as hourly employees if they make under $47,500. Which covers a great many people at the office, myself included. I’ve been a salaried employee, first with EB Games, now with Diamond, for the last sixteen years. Part of my identity, something that mattered, will be taken away. I know, it’s a small thing, a trivial thing, but it still felt like a demotion, like my work wasn’t valued. More than that, a loss.
(And yes, I’m fully aware of how much of a privileged First World Problem this is. I have a job, yet I’m roiled over how my job is classified.)
Some people in the department have concerns; I know that a few people talked to the department director, though not what they conversations were about.
I have questions. Questions I’m still formulating. Questions I’ll write down over the weekend. Questions I’ll type up and send off. Questions I may never receive answers to; communication at the office isn’t a strength.
The company has every right to reclassify its employees. Management needs to do what they believe is in the best interests of the company, short-term and long-term. I simply want to understand the reasoning behind the decision, the goal the company is attempting to achieve with this move, whether the implications have been taken into account. That’s not too much of a want.