Over the weekend, I had a dream that I got laid off.

In the dream, things were up in the air in my office, because everyone was worried about the economy. And then I got called into a big, fancy room where a nice woman told me that I was being let go.

My eyes welled up with tears and I became very nervous. And I then I said, “Am I being punished for something, or just fired because you need to save money?” And she smiled at me and said, “We just need to save money,” which made me feel very relieved.

And then, I got excited. I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself. I’d be getting a severance package – nothing huge, but enough to set me up for a few months. And I’d be FREE! I had to hide my glee as I went back to my desk to collect my things. I didn’t want to appear too eager to get the hell out of there forever.

When I woke up I was understandably disappointed that it’d been a dream.

Naturally, being laid off is probably not roses for most people. I’m sure a lot of people who’ve lost their jobs recently have found ways to turn the negative into a positive, but I’m sure a lot more of those people are feeling really scared about the future. And no, I don’t want to be laid off, necessarily. As I’ve discussed, I do recognize the necessity of my job right now. I also recognize that it’s a blessing to be employed at all. So I don’t really want to be laid off, but I wouldn’t mind a guilt-free pass to leave my job along with a wad of free money clutched in my little paws.

There’s more.

Lo and behold, I came into work this morning and – no joke – almost got laid off! Mom, relax. I still have a job and everything is fine. Here’s what happened:

The office manager told me to shut her door – uh oh. I sat down and she told me that since they’d let one of the attorneys go last week, which was a precautionary measure they took to conserve funds, they thought she should let go of an assistant as well. She told them, No, she wasn’t going to do that. So they told her she needed to figure out another option for conserving a big chunk of cash.

Since one of the attorneys I assist is the attorney they fired last week, I would have, naturally, been the assistant they’d have fired. But instead of letting me go, they’re going to move me from my desk in the back of the office up to the reception desk. So, I’m going to be the receptionist while I continue to assist the other attorney with whom I’ve been working. They’ve been planning to hire a permanent receptionist, but now they’ll just combine my current job with the receptionist position. My salary won’t change, my duties and my seat in the office will.

At first, I wanted to cry out, “Wait, just lay me off! Please! And give me your best severance package while you’re at it! Or, how about I work part time?”

I was *this* close, I thought.

But the move up to reception, as unflattering as it might sound, is actually going to be a good thing. I’ve worked the reception desk at this office before. And its perks are not to be denied. It’s quiet up there – no annoying coworkers circling my desk; I won’t have to pick up the slack for other assistants as much as I do now; and! best of all! I will have a lot more time and opportunity, since the reception computer can’t be seen by anyone else, to do my own thing – study for my fitness certifications, blog, research, etc. It’s a change of pace and scenery, which is never a bad thing.

It all might change again in a few more months. The office manager thinks this will be a temporary solution – that they’ll eventually hire a real receptionist, whereupon I’d return to my old job. She was very sweet about the whole thing.

So that’s the desk job update. I can’t help but think this might be a tiny karmic reward, a wish semi-granted. I’m not financially able quit this job right now, but my biggest complaint about it, relative to my quest to leave it, is how much of my time and energy it takes up. As I wrote to a friend recently, “It’s more than a full time job to try to have a full time job AND make choices about how to change my whole life AND do comedy AND go to the gym AND practice my yoga AND love my boyfriend AND sometimes have nice looking finger nails or a clean apartment!” I’ve been having trouble finding the mental space to focus on my own priorities because I just have too much going on each day. It’s entirely possible that this change in my day to day reality will make that a tiny bit easier.