Why is Russia the second largest grouping of people reading this blog? 

Lol.

I know I don't get much comments but it gets lots of views and there is a graph showing who is reading from where. US number 1, of course, Russia number 2, Australia 3 and so on down the line.  

Sorry, Russkies, y'all are welcome to read but you aren't manipulating anyone here.  

 Well now I understand why this process with my fate at work is being drawn out. The security guards flat out lied through their teeth about what occurred the other day.  They tried to claim I refused to give them ID, which is just plain false, and whether I should have taken the video of them ignoring it or not, it's proof that my ID was dangling out the window of the truck for at least 5 if not 10 minutes and asking them to look at it.  

They also claimed I said my name was Mike something or other.  No, not only did I tell them my name, I also spelled out my last name for them. Then they claimed I refused to stop videoing after being asked.  No, I turned the camera off immediately after they asked.  

It just went on and on into a litany of lies that went up the chain of command all the way to the parent company corporate, of which I won't name here, who said I wasn't allowed on ANY of their properties from here on out, as long as I'm employed by my company.  That stops me from going to 5 faciliites, 4 of which I don't like going to anyway, the 5th is an up in the air thing, I"ll take it if given but it certainly isn't on my top 10 of places I like to go to.

So, I really didn't expect that, the lying that is.  An it's my word against theirs besides that video showing me holding out my ID card.  But with the story they fabricated, I can see what the mother company would want to ban me. It became obvious, quickly, that the only real thing I could do is simply humble myself, apologize and eat it.  So I did. To keep the job and not get fired, yup I just apologized for things I didn't do, tho I did deny all of it.  What could you have done differently? Just hand them the ID without asking them about it.  Security guards can get pissy about their authority being questioned, even if you aren't actually challenging their authority.

I have had enough interactions with them over the decades of truck driving I've done, far and beyond just the current job.  

The mid level manager wasn't opposed to my staying in the company after seeing my demeanor.  I wasn't about to argue with them, it became crystal clear what my only line of action could be to salvage my job.  But, even with all of that, the manager said they would ask for a verbal warning - the least amount of infraction I could get and not go on my record, but that HR could come back and say they want - more. Such as a written warning or worse.  Worse would be to be let go.  So I've got another couple of days sitting around, according to him, to find out my fate.  

Here I figured they would have already decided that.  My manager had made his decision - he lauded my performance and my work ethic and said he would be stupid to want to let me go.  So I got that much of a concession at least.  I would, if kept on, be getting mostly gravy runs, such as the people I have continually complained about coming from other divisions lol.  The worst run I can think of I would get is Oklahoma, which is at the top of the "worst runs" list.  in other words, it's as too as it gets when thinking about bad runs. I wouldn't have to go to Ohio - where you are held up a day and don't get paid for it. The other drivers tried to claim we are going to get paid for the layover, but that didn't turn out to be true.  

The other thing he stated is that I wouldn't be able to go out back to back runs like he sends me out now.  Good, I thought I don't like that anyway, but certainly said nothing about that.  I mean, I've gone extremely long periods of time before he came along with getting a day or 2 days off in between runs anyway and still making bank for yearly earnings.  

So, if I get to keep my job - that's still up in the air, actually - this will actually work out better for me even tho I will have a stain on my record with them.  And if I decide to move on at some point, they won't be able to show that information to any potential employer for reasons I won't go into here.  

So I have at least another day off, maybe two before I even find out my fate, but at least my manager IS pulling for me.  It was really left into his hands to make the decision of what kind of discipline to give me - but - then he has to submit it to HR and HR has to agree with it. 

BTW, losing a job isn't the end of my life. But getting fired from a job? That can affect your potential for future employment -  greatly - with any decent company.  That, is why I ate this stuff, swallowed it whole and will live with it.  And even with that, no guarantees that I will still have a job there?  Well I tried at least.  I was honest, that is also something that counts with me.  Those guards obviously don't care what they have to say in order to keep their jobs.  They are probably making a lot of money at that facility. It's out in the middle of nowhere.  The nearest town going to Louisiana is about 45 miles I think. Going the opposite direction it's Port Arthur, but apparently none of them live there - people at the plant anyway that I've talked to - they don't like it there and live much further out.  We're talking 2 hour drive times for many of these people.  

Anyway, enough of that.  I will be home tomorrow, babysitting the boys but probably spending about 4 hours with Phoenix doing school work.  He just finished monday's work tonight and of course it's Tuesday, so tomorrow I will work with him on both today's and tomorrow's work. I expect about 4 hours of work.  So, we'll do Tuesday's work - in it's entirety - and then play time outside.  Do half of Wednesday's work and then naptime - which is when I can also start making dinner.  They sleep, I cook.  They're good for 1-1/2 hours of early afternoon sleep.  

That's my plan for tomorrow. I am undecided about setting up the pond now that I have it all cleared out. The leaves are falling. The trees are dumping lots of leaves. I bought some netting to go over it, but just undecided about having to deal with all of that.  Or, I could just do a setup like I have at my house in Phoenix, put 4 posts in and drape it with sunscreen material which will let light in but keep most of the leaves out.  Tomorrow won't be a good day for that regardless since I will be babysitting, doing school work, cooking and wondering about my job.  

Anyway, it's been a rather long day.  Oh, today is my 3 year anniversary at this employer. I found that out because I asked how many vacation hours I have left.  The middle level manager called payroll and they informed him that they had just dumped - however many hours -back into the system.  I really wasn't listening too well at that point, the meeting was over and I was attempting to digest everything I had just heard.  I knew my start date was around this time of the year, I wasn't sure what the exact day was.  

It's not time for bed, but I'm getting off the internet for the night.  

 Come what may this morning, I am prepared for it. Tho after what my manager said yesterday, it doesn't appear that my job is in immediate jeopardy. 

And if that's true, I"ll keep working there - for a while.  This "at will" stuff is haunting, to say the least.  I have never been fired from a job in my adult life and don't want to start with this company.  So, I think in the near future providing this goes as I believe it will today, I will start looking for something different. 

The oil injection job is an energy based industry and I don't think that's such a good idea to be looking at now, with the "presumptive" winner of the election being Joe Biden and obviously anti-fossil fuel, anti fracking, anti anything that doesn't promote the far left agenda.  This area I live in was hit hard several years ago when fracking/oil took a nosedive and a lot of people lost their jobs.  So I decided that particular job, as appealing as it looks in pay and home time, isn't a good fit for right now. 

But, if I could find something that has me at least in the 75k territory, I would definitely consider it.  The focus will be local job tho and I'm in no hurry to get into the wrong position.  There are plenty of local jobs around here, but the pay range is in the 50k area.  That's not really all that bad, but I've become accustomed to a much higher pay scale, being able to save money and live my life the way I want to plus paying down debt all at the same time.  50k doesn't afford that.  

Whatever the case, the anti-Trump rhetoric being broadcast all over the place, including Fox News, has became a nuisance. We know they all hate Trump, nothing has stopped even tho Biden is promoting a tone of "unity" and "healing the nation" while not condemning any of the multitude of statements left politicians and media types are puking out on a daily basis. Fox News is no longer owned by whoever it was that had it and allegedly now a Disney company and also allegedly managed by some liberal loving democrat.  That explains that shift.  They haven't touched Carlson or Hannity - yet. I would love to see them can either or both of them, tho, that would seal their fate and their millions of viewers would dwindle to CNN nothing-levels.  

And I would surmise Hannity and Carlson are popular enough that they would find a home somewhere else.  Actually, if some rich entrepreneur wanted to start up a conservative leaning outlet and could lure those two over, Fox News would be doomed and the new start up would thrive instantly.  I still watch some of Fox News, but apparently they believe  they can pose blond haired women handing out liberal-laden garbage and think that most viewers will just fall for it.  Yea, no.  Journalism, reporting without bias is a lost art.  

So, we sit on the precipice of a new President and we don't even know for sure who that is going to be, yet. ACA is being litigated with the new justice that the left has accused of somehow being able to single handedly get rid of it.  That's not the way it works, there is a full panel of SC justices, one person isn't able to do anything in and of themselves. I would love ACA to be dumped, personally, and replaced with something reasonable - well actually I spent my entire adult life paying for health care without any government help, I'm not really a fan of government sponsored healthcare insurance.  Medicare would be the exception since so many people are already on it and many people would be screwed without it.  

The other interesting thing that has occurred is that Real Clear Politics has rescinded their version of the electoral college map showing biden the winner.  That is interesting.  It's now got a lot of states shaded grey - presumably because of requests for recounts and lawsuits. Do I think anything will become of it? I have no idea.  I'm just going to sit back and watch this event unfold. In my view, it's just guessing whether it will change the outcome of this election or not.  Remember, the pollsters had biden winning this thing in a landslide, they said all the way up until election night that there would be a blue wave.  Trump supporters gave a definitive no to that scenario.  The pollsters also declared the House would pick up at least 10 seats. They were WOEFULLY wrong in that prediction and gives credence to the fact that pollsters have it all wrong - and probably some of them intentionally so.

You look at the methodology and you find democrats over sampled. Skewed questioning.  

Anyway, time to get some breakfast and get out of here.  

G'day.