Change at the workplace

So it's official. The big dog (my boss) is getting fired. Well, he isn't technically getting fired. His contract is not being renewed which is essentially the same as getting fired and it's not pretty. The man has been my mentor over the last 3 years so it sucks to see him treated like this. And it's interesting how even though no one seems to like him, and people can't stop bitching about him, his immediate staff was literally in tears when they heard the news. Of course a part of it had to do with the fact that their jobs are intrinsically connected to his (as is mine in a way) so there is now some uncertainty regarding the stability of their jobs, but I believe their reaction had more to do with the fact that despite his obsessive compulsive behaviour and God complex in the way he treated people, he was always fiercely protective of his staff. I guess the regular, sometimes extravagant gifts for everyone didn't hurt either. Besides, the staff has been together a long time and now it seems like the entire practice is collapsing and no one likes change. After the news about M became public, T was let go, C might be next and people already know I'll be leaving this summer. (FYI: That's the Donald with Conan's favorite "You're fired" cobra move)

So now things are going to get interesting for me at work. Are they going to decide to let me go or are they going to reason that since I shall be leaving soon anyway, they might as well save the severance and wait for me to leave off my own accord. I need to figure out a way to use the six weeks of paid time off I have accumulated before either one of those scenarios. Ideally, I would leave on my European/Indian vacation in mid May and return in July. The problem with that is that if they decide to lay me off while I'm gone, I won't be able to return without getting a student visa (as opposed to reentering the country and filing for a change of status) which is a pain. This entire line of thought is moot if they lay me off sometime in the immediate future (April) but I doubt that's gonna happen considering the entire department starts panicking if I'm not around even for 1 day :). There's even a strong possibility that they would want to keep me around since G is not leaving. Who knows. Guess it's time for one of my heart-to-heart talks with CT to see what's going on. I hate those conversations. They're almost worse than the "where is this relationship going" conversations you're forced to have with women :)!

My friends keep asking about my Europe plans. P keeps pestering me about whether I'm still on board for the one week in Germany for the World Cup. Things should be a lot clearer in a couple of days once the Wharton results are out. I've given up on MIT so I should know by Thursday whether I'm headed to Philly or Durham (Charlottsville seems unlikely at this point). This will help me since then I can figure out when I want to be back in the country depending on the dates of pre-term/summer school etc for the school I'm headed to.