Milestones

According to the calendar on the wall, and my supervisor at work, I have been in their employ for about 7 months now. Just after I started working there, my supervisor had to start the "yearly review" process. She must have been either overly optimistic that I would stay or overly assured that her persuasory would work (she had had a series of employees leave after being there for only a few months...she kept telling me this over and over again before asking if I was happy and all that), because she started the yearly review process for me long before my 3-month probationary period was over.

Last week, she gave me the performance review. She apologized that my numbers were so middling. I couldn't hold it against her. She had to judge me after knowing me for only a few weeks. In fact, I must say that she was rather generous considering that fact. The bottom line is that I got a raise. Again, she apologized because it was so little. I didn't have the nerve to tell her that this was the first job I'd ever worked where my supervisor somewhat sponataneously gave me a raise. In fact, I'm still just glad to be working. The raise is just a bonus (pun intended).

Now, see, that introduces the new problem. If I had been telling you that story in person, I would have certainly chuckled after saying "The raise is just a bonus (pun intende)." Lately, I've felt the need to provide my own laugh track, which is lame. I've become a chuckler. According to my own rules, I must hate myself. And I don't.