Every time my contract was up, usually every two years, my position has been advertised, so that if there was a qualified Caymanian who applied, the employers were required to give them the job. For me it sucked, having my job advertised, but I could see it was a good law.

Well this time, someone else got my job.

Only the timing makes it more maddening. When my position was advertised, I had residency. In between advertising the position and the interviews, I got Naturalized, meaning I have a Cayman passport, but am still not Caymanian, and can’t vote. This doesn’t change the fact that the employers are still required to advertise the position, it’s just ironic that the government gives me a passport with one hand, and takes my job with the other.

The person who got the job is American, married to a Caymanian. He’s been a part timer where I work for a long time. I was told yesterday that he got the job.

I had to fill out an application and interview for my own job, unlike every time before when my contract expired. Others have had to do this too lately, apparently due to some recent change in some law. But during the interview, I was asked mainly questions about how well I documented my installation of the new studios and wiring for the radio station . . . . . .

The reason he got the job over me, I was told, was because “I didn’t interview well”.

This, to me, is BS.

I have always gotten good annual performance reviews, I’ve been doing the job for years, and the reason for advertising the post is for immigration purposes. My performance is not and never was in question.
If I was told, “we’re really not happy with the way you’ve been doing the job, and when your contract is up, we’re going to find someone else” it would be one thing. But that’s not the case.
If I was told, “Someone married to a Caymanian applied for your job, and therefore we’re required to give the job to him”, it would be something else too. But that’s not the case either.
But the reason I am being told why someone else got the job is not the reason the position was advertised. In my opinion, the reason I am being given is the one, and only, wrong answer.

And if I fought, I think I would win the fight.

It’s politics. And there’s volumes more that could be written in this paragraph about that.

I liken it to having a whole bunch of young children, all less than about 8 years old. And suddenly I am told that all my kids have to go live across town, with this mean child beater who the kids know and hate. They don’t want to go, but they have to and I can never see them again. That’s how it feels.

I will survive. I guess that in the long run, it will be good for me. But I hope I can keep paying the mortgage.

If I could strip away the emotion and just see the bare facts it would be much easier. But I have always loved what I felt was my Radio Station. And it hurts to let go of it.