Trepidation

I was at Subway today - a frequent haunt for me. I have done away with a lot of stuff as far as excesses in my life - I have not done away with the trips to Subway to get a salad. I told the manager that my coworker had been laid off. She said wow - and then commented how he had told her that he was going around submitting resumes all over the place for part-time work. Further stated that he didn't want management to know about it.

Odd. When I decided that I was going to look for a second job, I told management first. "Is there a problem with me looking and maybe finding a part-time job to supplement my income?" - after I lost my OT hours. Nope. Even more odd, to me, because he never said nothing to me about it. We talked a lot about everything.

Uhhh, whatever. The company is desperately looking to find a way to keep the stores open. They have tried to re-negotiate the lease at my branch - the result was an offer of lessor monthly rent payments. Don't know that the offer is enough. Don't know that, in these times, landlords of warehouses should be getting to strict about it. They're going to have to pay the penalty as everyone else is. It was a fairly substantial amount of reduced rent - but not as much as our company demanded. The point? If it isn't low enough, talk about moving to a different building somewhere.

Now, that doesn't bother me greatly - excepting the fact of the amount of material that is sitting at our yard. To move ALL of that? I dunno - 20 truckloads at least. Yes - that's at least 20, 48-foot flatbed trailer-loads loaded to the gills with material. If we have to move, we have to move, I'm in for the game. My only statement was: I hope we have help.

Ummm, I'm done. I did not sleep well last night. I went to bed at 8:30 only to wake up at 10:30. I woke up several times during the night - and - it's just not fun trying to sleep with a brainful of junk that needs to be unloaded somewhere.
I'm hoping I can stay awake this evening for today's episode of 24.

I hope you all are doing - as well as you can depending on your circumstances.
G'nite.
ben

Monday Morning

It's a strange day here.
My now laid-off co-worker isn't here. Kind of eerie - we got along well and worked side-by-side for a couple of years now. I can't imagine what must be going through his head right now.
The change was certainly justified by the lack of numbers at this store - but it's true at all of our stores right now. I just can't help but think he and a million more like him are going to have an awfully difficult time finding a new job. It's getting pretty scary out there.
I'm definitely getting the gears grinding in my brain: what if the same thing happens to me?
Unemployment line would be first order of business, of course.
After that? I don't really want to think about the potential consequences.
But - I do want to get my old car in running order in case the unthinkable happens.
It needs a new battery, a harmonic balancer and some other, minor repairs.

I'm still considering paying off the 401k loan early and getting that money into a savings account where I can access it in case "something" happens. It's only 3 months away until it's paid off - but a lot can happen in the span of 3 months.

Meanwhile, I'm definitely moving forward with the stuff I'm doing to try and keep energy bills down this coming summer - which is just around the corner.

I just have this sick feeling in my gut this morning that I can't seem to shake. My mind tends to deal with extreme negativity in terms of news received in ways that are shown outwardly in a physical way.

Well, I'm just going to go about my business today and - eventually get over it.
ben

Final

Tomorrow marks the first day I have worked at this company I am working at at a store with only 2 people manning it. That isn't a lot of people to take on that much duties. It isn't impossible right now, though - workload has been relatively light. I do figure that my workday will increase in volume to the point that there will be no - inventing things to do - type of scenarios.

I spent the afternoon visiting with people. It is very nice outside and I would far rather spend a weekend outside than sitting indoors. Those of you that are stuck inside during the winter? I do the same thing during the summer. I mean - really - the heat just gets too intense.

I also cemented 2 - 2X3X8 pieces of wood into the ground. I'll be able to hang my first trellis tomorrow or the next day and then work from there.

I'm just - not quite here. I'm still in the ozone about the things going on at work. Undoubtedly, there will be announcements tomorrow about everything that may be going beyond the "staff reduction". I dunno. I'm just happy to be employed right now and at the same time, loving the job I am working at.

Hope you all had a good weekend.
ben