I Am So Over This

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.