Ok, here goes - I will try and keep this rather short but lots of things here.  I relocated from Illinois to Arizona in March and got out here and after interviewing for a few weeks I had 4 solid job offers.  Three of them lower paying and I took the higher one due to the talk I had with the hiring manager and I just hitting it off and having the same type of work ethics and thoughts on my career.  These were all direct hire positions and I was a full fledged employee, not a contract person, though I did go through a head hunter to get the job and they had a contract but it was for my FEE not my employment time.  She and I outlined a good path for me on how she wanted me to come in and then move for the future.  All good so far.  Soooo I get in there after waiting a few weeks for HR to do their thing and my first day my hiring manager/supervisor introduced me around the department and clearly spelled out to the others what they were to hand over to me in way of work and duties.  It took a few days for me to get all my computer access so I sat and read the desk manuals and procedures.  On the third day of employment I noticed my boss over at her desk grabbing her purse and looking like she was leaving for the day so I went over and said goodbye to her for the day but was shocked when she gave me her home number and informed me that she had just QUIT!  She gave 3 weeks notice but due to her poor relation with the CFO (who had only been there for three weeks before me) he told her to just leave so she did.  Well, when she left I found out quickly that the other girls in the department - yes girls, since I have more years in my career than all 3 combined - but it quickly became clear that they hated her - I had already heard one of them tell the boss that it was "none of your f***** business" when asked where she had disappeared to for 4 hours the day before without telling anyone.  I asked my CFO what her leaving meant to me and I told him that I had not yet begun my training with anyone and that no job duties had been turned over to me since I just got computer access.  He told me not to worry, nothing had changed and my training would go as planned and to give him an outline of what had been laid out for me to do.  I did that and then never heard a word of feedback - so there I sat for weeks with nothing to do and I mean NOTHING !  8 hours of reading a book, doing some filing for one of the other gals, and that was ALL I had to do.  No accounting work and certainly nothing to do at my level of senior accountant.  Weeks turned into months literally - 3 months in total.  I finally started to look for another job - the CFO totally ignored all of my requests for work and never spoke more than 5 words to me the whole time I was there.  I started getting close to the one older gal in the office and she confided in me and shared with me some very nasty and vicious emails that had been passed around about me - my looks, the way I dress ( I always wear a nice dress and heels) - many emails calling me an old lady (I am almost 50) - and that the other girls were NEVER going to give me any of "their" work to do.  I have all the emails in my possession right now actually.  So after 2.5 months my CFO called me into his office and tells me that they have no work for me - al the while he brings in an acting manager on a consulting level who in turn brings in his OWN contract people doing the same work I was supposed to be doing.  The guys all knew each other over the years and they were from the same consulting firm. I asked the CFO what the past 2.5 months had been for ?  Why was I brought in and then summarily ignored?  he just kept saying that the work wasn't there.  So I said ok see ya.  To cover their butts he did allow me to "work" for the next 2 weeks and then give me one week severance past that.  For the next two weeks I came in and clocked in (I was salary but still had a clock in thing to prove when were in the office) and then I would leave and go on interviews for other jobs.  I had a job within 3 days of my last day with this place.  The whole time I was there the CFO had repeatedly been contacted by the head hunter to ask about the status of the invoice for my fee - he ignored all emails and all voicemails from her UNTIL he let me go.  Then he called her and said well, gee, I think the fee should be waived since she isn't staying the full 90 days - again I had no contract for my employment conditions, the only contract that existed was between him and the head hunter that said if I left within 90 days they would replace me for free.  But he never paid the fee at all!  When I did the math and looked at the calendar, sure enough, my last day with them was 88 days !!   Then the kicker is that he told me to feel free to apply for other jobs on the internal board and I found several that I was more than qualified for and as soon as I expressed interest they ALL disappeared!  I talked to the HR manager and he assured me that I was merely being laid off due to lack of work - but its bull because they could have kept me in the company and not having me work for the CFO - which I didn't want to do anyway - but because that would have meant me staying past 90 days they would have been forced to pay the fee.  I am not sure of the status if they paid it yet or not.  So I never stood a chance at any of the other open jobs and they knew it when they told me to apply for them.