...........downtown, still thinking about buying some 4X4's for posts for the clothesline I want to put up, when it suddenly dawned on me that we have literally PILES of 4X4's used for dunnage from trucks bringing in product. Instead of throwing it away, it gets dumped into a pile. Well, the pile had grown considerably, a sign of the times perhaps, there was FAR more in that pile than anyone needed.
It didn't take long to find 3 - good - 4X4's long enough and straight enough to fulfill my need.
I was glad that was free, cause' the hardware and nails and such to put the thing together was over $30. I guesstimate less than 2 weeks after I get that setup - up - to pay for itself.
Today was a non-productive day. No deliveries and I didn't see a single counter sale from our branch. Maybe there was one - I wasn't there for it if it occured. I have braced myself for whatever is to come - and it is undoubtedly true that there will be more coming. Sure, we all took a 5 hour per week cut, I have serious doubts that's the end of it. I'm - unfortunately - fairly certain that there will be another round of layoffs sooner or later. What I'm more "fearing" is if our store would to be shut down - would they keep me and transfer me downtown, or just hand me a pink slip? I can't dwell on it - whatever happens, happens and it's almost totally out-of-my control. The only thing I can do is make myself as valuable to the company as I possibly can. Whatever happens beyond that? I put it in God's hands.
As for my home? Lol. I mean, I dealt with the loss of OT and hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with anything else. Now - how do I deal with this? I simply haven't got any answers yet. I could certainly take on a part time job - if one were available. You know this is what is consuming my thoughts right now - and probably will be until I get something definitive going. You can't sit back and give a sigh of relief when ---- relief hasn't shown up yet. I did have an interesting email exchange with the general manager, starting yesterday and carrying on into today. He wrote a pretty good message to everyone about the 5-hour reduction and then did his best to explain why it's happening. Included was a statement that he would wager that people would rather lose hours than lose their jobs altogether.
I wrote him back and totally concurred and thanked him. I would FAR rather have "only" 7 hours per day right now than...........NOTHING........and plainly stated so, including that there are no jobs out there, if there are, there are 1,000 people applying for one position and a few other things. I was a bit astounded when he wrote back and said I was the only one that had said anything to him about being appreciative for his efforts in helping us all keep our jobs, and was wondering if his point had been made that he is trying to HELP everyone, versus just laying off more people.
You have 2 options in most things in life: The glass is half full or the glass is half empty "theorem". Positive outlook or negative. It's up to each individual. I take an extremely negative view on some things - and most of it has to deal with customer service (bad) received from whatever business or corporation. But I almost always don't just bitch about it, I do something about it. I would say at least 85% of the time my efforts end up getting something back for the effort. Sometimes I get stuff totally unexpectedly. Regardless, when it comes to employment, I always try to take a positive approach. So, people can bitch, moan and complain about the loss of hours, or, they can be thankful they still have hours to be had, it's just that simple. I'll take the latter and have voiced that stance already numerous times within the company. The loss of hours is certainly not the greatest thing in the world, but it FAR exceeds what I would be getting in an umployment line.
So, I have decided to look for a part-time job. I know, it's an uphill battle, but I have to try. I have all weekends and hours available from 3:30 pm on into the night. The time is available, might as well give a shot. I'm thinking of looking into finding a cashiering job, since I have some experience in the past with that (albeit far in the past) and I am responsible for the cash drawer at work, reconciling both cash and credit transactions. I do believe I excel at customer service, anyway - I give my best face and effort and I can take people getting ugly and nasty with me - it happens frequently in the construction business. Customer service is certainly a factor in the making or breaking of a lot of companies right now, I would have to imagine. A person taking their business elsewhere means a LOT more nowadays than it might have just a few years ago.
Ummm, well enough. I am going to wait for the sun to dip in the sky a little and then go out there and look at where I want to place the clothesline setup and dig the holes for the beams.
Hope you all had a great day!
ben
6 comments:
I asked you this but forgot your answer. Have you tried driving a cab part-time? Until recently, they always needed evening and nite drivers in this area. You have the license and know the area.
I haven't tried it yet, no. You pay upfront for the cab plus the fuel costs. I am well acquainted with the entire Phoenix metro area and have been giving considerable thought to it - but have heard so much about taxi drivers not making much of anything around here. At the same time, I think it's all about customer service. You want tips? Give them a quality experience - make it an experience in the first place. My roommate said he could get me in - but only as full time. I can't deal with 2 full time jobs, but I could definitely do the weekend warrior thing.
Have you thought about a dog walking service? Or some other kind of pet service?
It was nice of your boss to email you. I agree with you - less is better than nothing!
Hey Kate:
I've dabbled in the dog-watching service for a while now. In fact, one of my regulars is bringing his dog overon the 15th - that dog has been here about a dozen times now. It pays okay, nothing great, but anything helps at this point. I think dog-walking services are kind out of the question because there are so many Craigslist ads from people doing it, it's an over-saturated market. I had thoughts about making up some flyers and going into the more pricey home subdivisions and advertising it that way - I wouldn't really want to have to go too far to do something like that from my home.
The big boss generally responds to my infrequent emails - and I have yet to have a "bad" situation arise from it. But, then again - that's why I keep it infrequent. Enough to let him know I'm around, not too much to make myself an irritance.
ben
Well if you have an entre for a cab job, why not try it for maybe two weeks and then tell them you need to back it off a bit. If you have made the same impression on them by that time that you have made on the bosses of your current job, they would likely be happy to keep you even part-time.
Well, it's certainly worth a try. I calculated - several times actually - my monthly expenses. I cannot really determine anything until I get my first paycheck with 7 hours per day pay on it. The calculations included $400 per month electricity. I am hoping I can cut that down by $100 anyway. I'm not AT $400 per month electricity right now, but next month would be the start of it and would last at least 3 months in a row. I'm thinking that I might actually be able to survive on what I get in. That is, without doing anything on house projects (already on hold excepting what I started and already bought materials for) or anything else that is not absolutely necessary. Even haircuts are on the chop list. I'm also taking Bobby's advice in not only adding an exemption, but hopefully adding 1 or even more on top of that. I don't know what that will mean in savings on paying the Feds - but - every little bit will help. My dad is insisting on helping me out - which he has been doing anyway at $100 per month, I don't know what might come from that. His brother has helped me in the past - totally unexpectedly for sure - after dad has informed him of my situation. You know, never know where help might come from. I personally rather work and earn my own money, but when times are tight, I will do whatever I have to do to float/survive.
ben
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