More updates

Well, now I've received word that I will NOT be an independent contractor, I'll be a real employee. However, I still have no idea when I'm going to start, which is really starting to aggravate me. It is nice though to have the prospect of being a real employee, because on the day that I found out that they were going to pursue that line, I also found out that I had been denied for health insurance. So being a real employee will get me health benefits, although it comes with less money. But it equals out, especially since I have no idea where I would have gotten health insurance - I've been turned down twice, once for my preexisting condition (heartburn - seriously, people?) and this time for being overweight, despite being perfectly healthy other than heartburn which is well controlled on OTC stuff.

Here's hoping I actually start this job sometime soon - I'm hoping that since they do hire people on a regular basis, they can get that accomplished faster than trying to write up a contract. I was supposed to go for training on Monday in Kansas City but that didn't get set up before the person who was supposed to train me left for vacation. I just hope things aren't this badly confused once I actually start working.

Finally some news!

I feel bad about not updating but when there isn't anything to report, I don't feel the urge to share. Now however I do have news to report. I've been offered a position in my field, at a company I really like, and I have accepted and am waiting for my contract to be emailed to me. Now you may say, contract?? Yes, I will be an independent contractor for this company and not a real employee. This was not the world's best situation, but due to the nature of the position it was what the lawyers ended up with. Basically the job is a partnership between a mail-order pharmacy and a pharmaceutical company. The pharma wants to conduct a study on people who use certain medications for multiple sclerosis, and the mail-order pharmacy has people in their rolls who are taking those medications. So the pharma is paying for research coordinators at three different mail-order pharmacy companies, and the pharmacies will provide the patients for the study. So I'll be physically located at the pharmacy's offices, but doing work for the pharma. It's an interesting setup.

The good thing about this setup though is that they did agree to give me more money than had been offered before, when it was going to be a regular employee position, to cover health benefits and the additional self-employment taxes. And they did come through with plenty of money to cover that, which was nice. Now I'm just waiting for the dang contract. This apparently has been held up in the pharma's legal department for some time as they haggle over it. So I am getting a little annoyed that I haven't been able to start work (and start getting paid) as I was supposed to start last Monday, but the contract wasn't done. Now I am supposed to start maybe Wednesday of next week, but since they need a couple days after I send the contract back, and I don't have it, it might be pushed back further. And then next week is Thanksgiving, so all the people who need to train me may be out of town. Sheesh.

This is going to be an interesting position - I'm essentially the only person at my location working on this study, and while there are other coordinators working on this project at other pharmacies, and people above me to advise me and train me, I'm not really sure that I'll have coworkers, per se. There are certainly other people working at this location, but I'm very interested to see if I have a real office, what the facilities are like, how much interaction I'll have with others, etc.

I'm going to restrain myself from making a five page post here so I will try to spread out my musings about the ramifications of going totally Schedule C over a few days. Plus more adventures in homeownership and more animal health issues. Stay tuned!