There is much afoot for me at University of Phoenix now. I find the timing funny. As it happens, I started five years ago, June 4. To celebrate, I received the following email from University administration:
Congratulations
Dear Peter Wright,
Congratulations on your 5 Year achievement with University of Phoenix! Thank you for your dedication and contributions to our company. We are pleased to honor you with an award in recognition of this accomplishment.
You can order from available award selections online using your personal access number XXXX XXXXX XXXXX.
This email was computer generated; please do not reply. If you have questions regarding this notification please contact the award administration team.
US and Canada
orders@XXXXX.com
Now, let me tell you: nothing says “We appreciate you” better than “do not reply to this email.”
That was actually a couple of months ago. I had a few good laughs at it and moved on. Shortly thereafter, we had our second child, Nicholas. That part is wholly irrelevant, or it would have been, had it not been for the fact that on the last day of my FMLA I got a call from my boss telling me that my region had been realigned — my job was no longer a foregone conclusion.
I was on the verge of being reorganized. It was humbling actually. For the past two years I’ve been involved in conversations dealing with restructuring, reorganizing operations, opening and closing learning centers: decisions that impact individuals’ lives. I’d never been reorganized. Until that moment, on the phone with my boss, I realized that I’d been lugging about this arrogance right on my shoulder. That those conversations I’d been involved in that caused the loss of jobs: those had been too easy for me.
Much happened after that. Much that is as yet unresolved. As soon as it is, I’ll be posting more detail. In the mean time, I can tell you that my future looks fairly bright with the organization. As of June 1, I’ll be moving to the corporate organization as the director of new media communications. That will allow me to be doubly committed to this blog and other projects in this sphere, starting with looking for the best bloggers that also happen to be students in our organizations. I’m excited about it, but trying not to get too excited. At least not until I wake up on June second and still have a job.