Last night I emailed the person who would be my manager at the contract job that was supposed to start late this week. I asked for the latest status of my start date.

He replied back this a.m. and send they are "reevaluating" whether they need to bring in extra help and will let me know later today.

I had a feeling this could happen after seeing how this job unfolded. I understand from the company's perspective how they just want to be ready to go once they get the green light; unfortunately for me, it may end up petering out.

There is still some sort of project he had mentioned over the summer. I'm still hopeful that whether or not this assignment pans out, I can still do the 2nd assignment.

If neither of those things pan out, I intend to ask recruiter if I can get reimbursed for the 6 hrs at-home time spent prepping for this project. I know the recruiter had told me NOT to do any work before the contract papers and background checks were complete, however the hiring manager 1) gave me piles of reading material to do before arriving there 2) emailed me more reading material that night and 3) when i asked if in addition to the reading, i could go ahead and work on an outline and even start writing at home, if i found time, he basically said god yes.

My time spent only comes out to $330 so I don't think it would be a big deal for the company to pay it especially if they might like to use me for the summer project. I won't push it but I would like to at least make the case for it.