I have such a feeling of impending doom and gloom...

[HeadFairy]

I came back off maternity leave to a 6 month contract in a different department at work. I've had such a lovely time, it's been brilliant, they treat me like a grown up, there's so much autonomy and creativity in this department and the managers are great with childcare, basically allowing you to choose the days you work, so long as you do a certain number of days in a 6 week period.

I'm now due to go back to my old department and it's depressing me so much. I've really struggled to get a flexible working agreement, and it's nothing like what I wanted. I've been told we have to do overtime as our department is so stretched. The whole job is a total dead end, they've done away with the career structure so basically all I can do is sit there and coast for the next 30 years until I get my pension. It's so dispiriting, I used to love the job, still do, but the conditions are crappy, and I hate to spend so much time away from ds doing something that's no fun any more as my management treat us like children.