Can’t sleep
Tired, but my brain won’t shut down, which I guess is kind of understandable really. There are a lot of unknowns and trying to sort them out in my head tonight isn’t going to work because… well, there are too many unknowns. So, in no particular order here are the things keeping me awake:
Will my payout (because, lets face it, I’m unlikely to find a new role in the next 2 weeks) be as obscenely large as I hope/need it to be?
How am I going to get all my stuff from my desk home. There’s a load of it and someone is going to have to pack it all up for me if I can’t get into the office. What items do I want? What do I not care about? Even ditching all but the things I really care about (expensive keyboard which I bought, mouse, nice pen, books, more books, even more books) there’s still a load of crap, and since it’s mainly books it’s going to be heavy.
I need to set up a proper home office type thing so I stay in the habit of ‘working’, even if it is just noodling about with my blogs and sorting out photographs. This means getting a new desk, which involves money, which leads me to the payout question.
When is my tshirt for Sedition going to arrive? Will it be tomorrow so I can just pick it up when I go into London for lunch with a friend. What am I going to wear if it doesn’t turn up?
What am I going to put on my CV… actually… do I even have a copy of it… Hmmm, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that’s on my work computer. Arse. Pretty sure someone must have a copy of it somewhere. Actually, lets go check the RAID arrays shall we? … Hurrah for comprehensive backups 
So, yes, what am I going to put on my CV, I’ve always sucked at that.
How will I cope with interviews? I’ve given lots in my time, but being on the receiving end really sucks. My business knowledge is quite weak and I really don’t rate myself as being ‘all that’ when it comes to programming (although, to be honest, I rate most people as being absolutely shite given some of the stuff I’ve seen out there so I guess I’m still ahead of the crowd there ).
Will I even get interviews? The industry I work in is suffering rather a downturn at the moment which may last for a while.
… and so on and so forth.
Like I say, unknowns. Once I’ve got the cold hard figure of how much cash I’m getting I can then work out what kind of timescales I can live for before I need to start really pulling the horns in, before I need to start just accepting work anywhere instead of looking for highly overpaid work in the financial sector, before I return home having lost the house and everything I own… that sort of thing 
. I’m hoping it’s 4 months, 7 months, never - but it might be less.
Then there is the: do I pay off my loan and have less outgoings per month, or will I last longer just paying it off as I have been. Again, need to know the figures. On the plus side it will be nice to be shot of that
Anyway, all this rambling isn’t helping, worth a try though. Guess I’ll go sort out my CV until such point as my brain lets me sleep.
Sorry about being kept awake. Dumb brains do that. It will all work out–hang in there.
One of the great benefits of being on gardening leave is that I was going to be able to catch up on my sleep for Friday. There is a great irony in the fact that’s not happening
I’m sure it will all work out, it’s just the next couple of weeks are going to be a little uncertain. I hate uncertainty. I do hope I get enough sleep tonight though. Sedition tomorrow night and I am going to be awake all night for that 
Dom - are you around tonight? (Thurs) since I might be able to help (sort of/maybe).
Can’t you box up your stuff and have it couriered back home?
girlba is willing to offer herself as packhorse/courier if needed?
Bathgirl - The biggest thing is just wanting to know how much cash I’ll be getting. The difference between statutory and what the bank usually gives out is immense. One will see me taking a long holiday, one will see my crapping myself.
Dan - Turns out they can. Am organising that now
Dom, I’d expect 3 weeks money for every full year you’ve worked at UBS.
If you’re going to sign on, why not, loads of people have been freeloading off you for years, don’t pay off your loan. The DHSS don’t like that, feck knows why, they ain’t going to pay it.
Not exactly sure what the London payout will be. Here the standard seperation policies are 2 weeks/year for NO, 3 weeks per year for AD-ED, and 4 weeks for MD. Neither the min nor max would affect you.
That said Europe is usualy a lot more generous on that front than here, the standard seperation policy should be in the online employee handbook (that you can’t get to anymore) but someone else should be able to find it for you and mail you the pdf.
These things are negotiable, but not very, UBS wants you to go quietly, don’t give the impression that you will otherwise you’ll just get ignored ;-).
I’ve now been told what I’m getting. I’m not unhappy. Now I can form a plan of attack as I know what timescales we’re looking at.
Oh, and as to kicking up a fuss… I think I’ll just take the money and run. I’ve heard horror stories about people who’ve pushed it too far.