It has
been quite some time since I last wrote a blog post. The main reason for this
is, I haven’t written one. Some of the secondary reasons have to do with the
flu, a root canal, and ongoing visits to medical professionals for back
problems. These issues, combined with trying to work three jobs, has left
little time to write; in fact it leaves little time to sleep or eat although
the numbers on the scale don’t seem to indicate that I actually have been
eating any less.
Up until
three years ago, I only worked two jobs. Then my second job, for a company that
prints time sensitive documents, cut back and laid 20 or so employees off,
contracting their jobs out to a third party company. I was somewhat thankful
that they kept me on, even though I went from working 30 hours a week to 10
hours a week. In fact, for a short time, I was working a meager 7 hours a week
in the middle of the night, loading trucks.
And then,
two years ago, President Obama did something. He made an announcement. I have
noticed he is good at announcements. He has a knack for it. He announced that
he had created something like a bazillion new jobs in the previous year.
Being a
patriotic American, and not wanting to let anything go to waste, I got another
job. This job paid, per hour, fifty percent more than what I am making at my
job for the printing company. I have kept that printing company job because I
enjoy the people I work with. They are a great group of guys, and more
importantly, they laugh at my jokes.
Last
weekend, some guy, who apparently is my bosses’ boss, and I have only seen once
in my eight years at this job, came in for the night. At the end of the night,
he said he wanted to talk to me. Now, it is 2:00 in the morning, and I want to
go home and go to bed. Instead, I found myself in the unenviable position of
talking to this guy.
I could
tell he was nervous. His eye lids fluttered, he stammered a little, and he
failed to make eye contact. I remained kind and gracious. He babbled on for a
few minutes, telling me how much he appreciated the 8 years I have worked with
the company and all the things I have helped to do.
It has
been my experience that when a boss you have never met starts telling you he
appreciates your work, he is either in a chemically altered state, or there is
bad news to follow. In this case it was bad news. Although, I suppose bearing
bad news and needing to be in a chemically altered state are not mutually exclusive, and may actually
go hand in hand.
To sum
up his convoluted, less-than-direct discussion, because I don’t work more than
13 hours a week, they have to pay people overtime to make up for this lack.
Therefore, if I don’t work more hours, they are going to hire someone who will
work more; then they will take my job and give it to the new hire.
He was
kind enough to give me a week to think about it. I accepted his offer of time
to consider my answer.
Since I
have decided not to take more hours at the printing company, I expect my
schedule to open up in the near future. Please, do not tell President Obama, he
might take it upon himself to make another announcement.
