The Meeting with HR

Today was the big day at work...well, not THAT big day, just one of the big ones. I had my face to face meeting with HR at 10am this morning. From an entry on GenderPeace:

OK, so things went well this morning. We chatted for about 45 minutes, and it was a very positive response overall. In fact, my HR contact said if anyone had problems with me, I should notify her. She was even going to give me free reign over all the female bathrooms, but I told her that would make a lot of people feel uncomfortable, and perhaps we could work out a compromising solution for that...such as designating one of the three bathrooms in my building for me, and the other two for those that would feel uncomfortable if I were in there.

So, my background with all of this: I created an anonymous email account on AOL, then contacted my HR department via it last January. They finally responded in February of last year. Because I wasn't ready to transition, and I was waiting to see how the new California new law shaped up, I knew that I had time to work with them for a while. I sent in True Selves and Transsexual Workers: An Employer's Guide. My HR contact read these, then contacted me saying she had a better understanding of what I was going through. The new law passed in August, but didn't go into effect until January 1, 2004, so we set up a meeting for today to discuss the initial steps in my transition at work.

Today, we briefly discussed:

My schedule
Short term disability/time off for FFS
Bathrooms
How to notify coworkers
How to notify vendors
Name change issues including benefits, log-ins, etc.

Informally, we discussed:

Why I changed my name to Kara instead of going with the female spelling of my current name.
My HR contact's own personal experience of going through a face lift 10 years ago.
My own issues/past history with GID.

I figure I will issue the 'coming out to coworkers' letter about 1-2 weeks before I leave for FFS.

This afternoon I had my therapy session. We talked about my meeting with HR, the visit home for Christmas, my upcoming legal name change and subsequent change at DMV and Social Security. She told me to get the DMV gender change form to her and she would fill it out such that I will now have an F on my driver’s license.

Speaking of the new name, I requested a second credit card on my regular account a while back, but with my new name. I figure I can change all of it around after the legal stuff, but I wanted one around just in case for when I go full time.

Well, anyway, tonghie I feel a lot less stressed out. Sure, I know there are plenty of stressful times ahead, but I got this big step out of the way, and it feels good. It also feels good when friends and family check up to see how things went. Uncle Jack emailed this morning to wish me luck, Jamie called around early afternoon to see how things went, and Mom called this evening to make sure things went OK.