Trapped in New Jersey

Today is the official end of hurricane season, and I'm very thankful to have been home from Hurricane Sandy for the last 16 days....

...However, according to official reports out of the American Red Cross, apparently I'm NOT home...and haven't been...since November 3rd. Yes, according to computer records, I'm still on the job in New Jersey....

Sigh.

This story actually begins before this...I had been working diligently in New Jersey for about 10 days, when I heard from Staffing at HQ that I wasn't really officially "on the job." Yup - they didn't have any record of me being in New Jersey...their records showed that I was still in Baltimore.

Tell that to the 7" stack of paper sitting in my in-box that I had been methodically whittling away at for the past 10 days.

I was scheduled to go home in two more days, so I mentioned to my manager that she might want to see about fixing things - because if I wasn't actually IN New Jersey, would I be able to actually go HOME from New Jersey....???

Apparently, she got things fixed, as I was able to out-process on November 13th, and I flew home the next day...back to good old, dependable Kansas City....

End of story, right?

Nope.

Two days ago, I got an email from someone within the Red Cross, who says, "You're home, right?"

Looking around at my own bed, in my own home, while my fur babies romped happily at my feet, I replied, "Yup. Pretty sure I am. Been home since the 14th. Why?"

"Because according to HQ, you're still in New Jersey. They don't show you as ever going home."

Well. I guess my manager fixed the problem of me not being in New Jersey...apparently, I've now taken up full-time residence there.

I was by now beating my head against the wall.

Really? Really? First, you don't even have me there to begin with, and now you don't have me going home??!

So...I am now trying to get this little error resolved, via long-distance, and hasn't it been fun?

Not.

I had been trying - without any success - to redeploy for a second stint to New Jersey, and wondered why it wasn't happening. Well - this explains it. I can't re-deploy to some place that I apparently never left to begin with....

I guess I'll enjoy my time in New Jersey...I gotta' admit, the traffic is certainly better this time around; the sleeping accommodations are awesome; and I've never been able to be surrounded by friends and family before while on a deployment.

I could get spoiled.

Peace.