May 3rd, 2010 | Posted by acidicice

Remember this post about Rudi’s job prospects? I would advise you to read it before reading this post, if you haven’t already.


It was all too good to be true and last Wednesday it blew up in his face. Someone told Rudi’s current employer about his prospective employment at this ‘competitor’ and that Rudi had been stealing customers (not true). Rudi’s current employer hit the roof. He called Rudi in, threatened him with the police telling him that he is going to have him arrested for sabotaging the company if he did not sign a letter of resignation. He demanded to see Rudi’s cellphone and wanted to go through his photos, assuming Rudi had taken photos of invoices/equipment to show to the opposition. Rudi signed the letter, being pushed into a corner and left work. The last thing his ex-boss said to him was ‘Let’s see if they give you a job’. He went to the company that has been promising to employ him since last year and they advised him to go to the CCMA. Rudi followed their advice and went to the CCMA to file for unfair dismissal and faxed the letter off to his now ex-employer.


Not long after he came home he got a call from the company where he now expected to be employed. They gave him a long list of excuses as to why they couldn’t employ him at this time and that he had to wait, even shouting at him. Till when nogal? PANICK STATIONS! Rudi without a job means we are SCREWED. Seriously screwed. We would have to move, probably to go and live with his parents. That would only be the beginning of our woes! There are still a lot of things that need to be paid off (including our new fridge we just bought) and we can’t afford for him not to be working. I was in quite a state. Thank goodness the housekeeper was here, she took Babyice off my hands for a little while so I could flap and pace and freak out.


The evening his ex-boss called him. He had obviously received the fax and after fighting with Rudi for a while told him he was only suspended until Monday and that he was to return to work. Thank God! It is going to be really awkward for him to be back there, but he really does not have a choice. His employer is obviously quite scared of the CCMA (as he should be) and gave him his job back instead of having to potentially pay him compensation. I made him promise to stop speaking to these other bullshitters as he is clearly endangering his current position. He did get a call from them after I sent them a soppy text from his number about him having a new baby to feed and needing to keep a roof over our heads (before his ex-boss called him back). He ignored the call.


He has gone back to work today. His boss is not in. Thank goodness. He has at least today to try and settle back into work before all the awkwardness begins. I hope he’ll start looking for something new now, outside of the industry.


Now we’re back to square one. No better prospects on the horizon, but at least he still has a job!