Hear, ye! Hear, ye!

After two full days of torture, I finally have the verdict from Bo-ny Europe. Two days of worrying, second-guessing the things I said in the epic interview, and trying to think of reasons why I would be an unfit candidate. I was almost sure that they would call yesterday, but as the day went by, I got more and more concerned. So, I finished my list of English breweries and started making preparations to call them today. After all, we were out of ideas. No more threads to pull at in Belgium, so it would be time to start pulling at English threads. We made a tentative plan for me to take a train to England this coming Monday. I would have to find a cheap, room somewhere and probably get a couple of jobs.

Kristen and I were both quite despondent last night and this morning. It was 11:30 and I still had not heard from Bo-ny. What would be the course of action today? I felt it would not be wise to start contacting breweries before I knew for sure whether or not Bo-ny would ask me to start on Monday. Would I face another long day of waiting for the phone to ring? I didn't want to be the one to call them, but since our contingency plan hinged on this one answer, I had no choice.

I called the Senior HR officer. She apologized for not calling me yesterday, but she had not been told what the call-center manager had promised us. She said she was just going to call me. I told her I was calling to find out the status of my application. She decided this would be a good time to practice a little more of her "Psy-Ops" training, so she asked me, "What do you think the status is?" I told her I didn't know and that they could have found some IT super-genius who had also been a Swedish-language teacher. So she relented and told me it was positive... they would like to offer me the position. So I said, "Great! I accept! Thank you!"

And as the giant weight began lifting off of my shoulders, we discussed the details of my starting the job. Since I am technically an employee of Randstad Interim on a weekly-contract basis, I need to communicate with them regarding payment of salary, vacation days, etc. Though we are treated like employees of Bo-ny, the people they have recruited through Randstad will stay as temp employees for four to six months depending on when Bo-ny decides to offer a long-term contract. However, they are only interested in people who can commit to atleast a year. Legally, however, a temp can quit 3 days into any given week. That is why the recruitment interview is so extensive. They really want to weed out the quitters and scaliwags.

So, what it boils down to is that Randstad sends me a contract and time-sheet each week and I fill it in, sign it, and send it back. The following week, my pay is automatically deposited in our bank account. That's one of the good things about this job, I get paid every week. Bo-ny also advised me to choose the highest tax-bracket so more money is taken out up front, rather than getting a big bill from the government at the end. And, no, there aren't really any tax-refunds here. What you pay out, stays out.

Anyway, I had to go to a place called Partena today to sign up for the "social security" service. Partena has branches all over Belgium. It's basically a health-insurance subsidized by the government. They cover a percentage of all doctor visits, hospitalizations, medication, dentist visits, etc. Also, if you are injured on the job, they will pay your salary until you can go back to work. It costs 6.45 euros per month or 8.40 when I add Kristen to it (that's between $5-$7). It was very easy to sign up for and the lady spoke English to me without an iota of annoyance.

That's that. It's official. I have a job. I can stay in Belgium! Time to celebrate!

--RP--