Post for Bobscoot

This post is in answer to Bobscoot’s last comment. I decided it was soooo long I would make it a post all it’s own.

To start with…thanks to everyone for your comments. I feel like I have a new bunch of friends, even though I have never met any of you.

I think the problems I am coming across finding a job is the result of a few things.

First…I have been off work for two years...no one wants to take a chance...they think your working skills have gone stale or your just plain lazy. They don’t consider school to count as work.

Second…I worked at the same place for 33 years…that tells my age.

Third…The jobs I’m applying for, I have no experience and no Degree…I’m fresh outta school and I only have a Vocational Certification. The competition is real tough…they have degrees and experience. IL is still pretty high on the unemployment list…even though they say it’s improved, no one who was laid off from my previous employer has found full time work. I take that back…One person found full time work.

Fourth…The few printing jobs I find, I’m competing with other printing estimators, who may be younger and fresh outta work or has experience with the software that company is using. The software the last company I worked at was so ancient, I would have to be retrained to use anything newer. I found this out in the few interviews I did get. Plus…a lot of companies are doing away with estimators and putting that position on the sales staff. In theory, it’s a win win for the company. More sales staff, more sales. They find that by hiring a new sales person, the work is spread out enough that the sales people can do their own estimates plus the company has a larger sales staff. Since sales people are paid by commission…some companies only have to pay them when payment is collected for the job. My old company pays the sales staff a weekly draw based on past sales. They total their yearly sales commission and divide by 52 to get a weekly salary. If they don’t have that much in sales at the end of the year (because sales may go down) next year’s salary goes down and they start deducting from the commission till the over payment is repaid. The employer wins!

Fifth…All the companies looking for help only want to deal with internet resumes. They don’t start interviewing face to face till they have gone through the thousands of resumes they’ve received and whittled it down to a chosen few. I’m just a piece of paper amongst a thousand other pieces of paper.

It seems that the only way to get a job is to know someone who works someplace where they are looking for help. That won’t stop me from trying. Sooner or later it will happen. I’m hoping for sooner.

I’ll have to try Doo-Wop and TJ Lubinsky before I take the rental car back. Do you happen to know where it is on the dial?

My Final Decision

I tossed and turned all night trying to decide what to do. I came to the conclusion to keep my Cavalier. I looked at cars on the Internet and couldn't find anything in my price range that I was willing to take a chance on. They were either real rusty or more miles than mine and who knows what mechanical condition they are in. I know this car is mechanically sound. If I took all the money from the insurance and bought a used car I would probably have to do something to it and I would need to have full coverage on it. Not to mention, I would have nothing for a car later. I can drop my insurance to liability only and save some money there and drive it till I am better off to buy a car. Hopefully it wont be to much longer.

Rich pulled the car apart today and has the hood and fenders looking so good you can't tell till you get close that there is a problem. Between after market parts and parts form a junk yard, it can be fixed and I will have something left for a downer on a good car later. This way I can save some more after I have a job and get something I want and not just what ever I could get for three grand...which around here is not much.

I'm not replacing the sunroof. The track is busted on it. Tomorrow my son is coming over and since he has removed allot of them, he may be able to fix it. If he can't, they are just going to put it back in there and seal it shut. I'm not replacing the air bags...Gorilla tape to the rescue...the air bags are stuffed back into the dash and I will be picking up some Gorilla tape to tape the dash back together. I don't need no stinking air bags...my generation has drove most our lives without them and we're still alive. Hell...I hit a tree at 60 miles an hour with out one and I'm still here...not that I ever want to do that again. That was caused by a blow out on a wet road.

This way I don't have to worry about paying high insurance rates for full coverage...maybe I can get the Cavalier to last another three years...ha...right! By then my premiums should start to come down again. I believe it takes from three to five years after an accident for that to happen. Bottom line...I need a job...a real job...not temp placements.


I picked up my rental today, it's a Dodge Avenger. Same color as this one. It's a nice car but I wouldn't buy one for myself. I don't like the blind spots. When you are backing up you have to really stretch to see around the head rests, the door jam between the front and back doors, and the spot behind the back window is a huge blind spot. I'm looking in all three mirrors and all around and I'm still not comfortable with it. At $2 a day plus tax, I'll deal with it. When I go to the store I'll make sure I find spots I can pull straight through. Plus it has allot more power than my Cavalier so I am always checking my speed and I'm always speeding. I can see I will be using the cruise allot just to control my speed. I don't need a $100+ ticket for speeding. I have no idea what one is now but I don't want one.

Till next time...I will be enjoying satellite radio. Hey I gotta get something outta this! Just trying to look on the bright side.

Settlement

The appraiser was just here and he totaled it. $5,425 in damages. They are giving me $3,378 after my deductible. The cheapest car that I've been able to find that is the same year with everything mine had is $4500-$5500. Of course there are allot of them that are cheaper...more miles...more rust...less goodies...etc.

How often did I really use my elect sun roof anyway? Rear defogger is only good in the winter. Keyless entry...nice stereo...elect doors, elect windows, elect mirrors...just extras. I've drove worse.

I have to say, the insurance co has been right on top of it. Everyone has had a great attitude and very friendly. I was approved for a rental since the day it happened so I am going to pick one up tonight. I will only have to pay 1.49 a day plus tax. I just got a phone call from Co Parts asking when they can come get my car out of the way. I can get a check as early as Tuesday and I will have the rental till the end of next week so that gives me a couple days to get a car and I can always start looking tomorrow. My luck I will find a cream puff tomorrow and it will be gone by the time I get the check.

No where to go but up?????

I have my doubts.

I did the stupidest thing I have ever done. I totalled my car.

A friend who has just recently had a section of her intestine and several lymph nodes removed because of cancerous tumors is finally up and around after her first surgery. She asked me to join her for lunch along with another friend who had breast cancer about a year ago.

At first I told her no because I needed to study. Then I decided to call her and go any way. The first mentioned friend is going back in late April to have another section of intestine removed. I couldn't stand the thought if something happened to one of them and I didn't spend time with them when I had the chance so I hurried to get a shower and on my way I went.

I stopped at an intersection behind another vehicle, after they crossed, I pulled up and made my stop and started into the intersection. I never saw the car coming from the left. It was foggy and overcast and I don't know if I missed it because of the telephone pole blocking my view or if it was the fog or if he even had his lights on. He told Rich after Rich got there that he couldn't believe I started to go after the first car because he had to slow down to avoid hitting them. That tells me that the first car never saw him either. Bottom line...it was my fault, I had a stop sign and he didn't. Both rodes are 55 speed limit and I'm sure he was going at least that...I would have. I think that his front wheel well caught my license plate and it tore off my front bumper. He had no front end damage...just damage to his two passenger doors and his back tire blew...probably after running over my head light lens cover and bumper.

The dash is completely tore up and the sun roof was knocked out of the track from the air bags . It's unbelievable how much force those air bags have. It's a good thing they are designed to go up and not into you. I have long legs so I keep my seat all the way back. I've heard that shorter people who sit closer to the wheel get hurt from the air bags. After yesterday, I believe it.

My car was 9 years old with 154,860 miles on it so I doubt I will get much from the insurance company for it. I just put new tires on it last Oct.

My policy expires Apr 27th and I just called the insurance company on Tue and told them to drop the collision on it starting my next renewal period. I guess I can be thankful it happened now and not after the 27th.

I have no job other than temp jobs that are spotty. I made $22 last week after taxes and I expect about $45 for this weeks pay.

What can to wrong next...only one thing I can think of...my health.

Life styles of the temps and the broke!

Last week I was stuffing cell phones into boxes. Pay sucks, but it puts a little cash in my pocket and the people are nice. I go in again on Monday and that is the end of that assignment for a while.

I applied for a job for a digital print estimator with basic accounting and purchasing experience. This screams my name. So far I've heard nothing from them. I wish the ad gave the name of the company...I would be on their doorstep. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Rich's sister is in town from NM. She is staying with her daughter in the City. Tonight she is staying with us. I'm cooking dinner...pork chops, corn on the cob and some type of potato, probably scallop... and we are going out dancing with some friends. When we stopped in NM on our way home from CA last fall, we stayed with her for a few days and she wanted to go out. She never goes out...she is an intensive care surgical nurse and since she is single, she takes all the hours no one else wants. She had a blast. Rich was teaching her to do the two step and the swing. We'll see how much she remembers. I would bet she has not been out since then. I'm looking forward to it. I really like her. In the morning, I think I'll make homemade waffles. Being single, she only cooks out of cans and boxes...when she cooks.

That's the plan! Gotta get started on my spuds.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

My hero at work!

Thursday night was our weekly Buffalo Wild Wings meeting with a friend. We started to do this on Wednesday...hump day! It changes with my school schedule.

My friend asked how the job was going so I told her about my meeting with the temp lady. Then she asked me how much I was paid for a week. She told me I should have been able to put up with anything for that. She said she only brought home $75 a week more. My hero being my hero pointed out to her that she gets company paid medical, dental, retirement (yes, she is one of the few left that will actually get a retirement package from her job), she gets life insurance, 401K, four weeks vacation, and seven personal days. Not to mention that she gets company incentives for healthy living programs paid for by the company. He also pointed out that she works with people she likes and is able to laugh at work. She has seniority, will not be laid off when they catch up with the work load and only has six more years to work to be able to collect her full pension. She said she never thought of it like that before.

It just shows...some people never know what they got till someone points it out to them.

I have to admit...as much as I wanted a job, I just can't work for an ASS!

When I went in to get my check yesterday, I decided to talk to the lady that placed me. I told her what was happening and said I didn't think it was a good fit. I offered to stay till she found a replacement. She told me that the last temp that was placed there, had the same story and she didn't expect me to stick it out. She said she was hoping it could work for me because I was the opposite personality type as the last temp.

She said she is going to put my name in the hat for a place that interviews for their temps so I will have a better idea if it's something that will work for me. It pays more so that's a plus.

This last two weeks has been so stressful that I have not had a good nights sleep since I started. Rich told me I don't have to put up with a bunch of crap. He told me that I won't be sleeping on the streets and I won't starve. My hero! I think he loves me. :)

Thanks for all the well wishes!

First, I want to thank everyone for all the well wishes and encouragement.

This week has been a challenge to say the least. I am working with 2 other people. The woman I work with is real nice, helpful and patient. The guy on the other hand is not any of the above. He has very low moral, talks bad about the owner. Describes her just like the owner of the last place I worked. Demanding, knows everything, has her hands in everything, nothing is ever good enough, egotistical, and the list goes on.

He told me in the beginning that I have never and will never see an accounting system like theirs. He said they have major growing pains and the system they use doesn't support the growth they are going through.

It seems like he is at the end of his rope and in over his head. He has no patients for training and is an ass on top of it. He is mentally abusive, IE; loud sighs when you ask a question, dirty looks, shakes his head with a look of disgust when you have to ask for further detail on one of his one sentence directions. "These billing statements have to be verified with the labor time sheets" OK...where do I find the labor time sheets in the system that I have not been introduced to yet?

A good example. I was given a list of labor hours and told to find out which have been entered by the previous temp and which had not been entered, and enter the ones that need to be put in the billing system. This list is to be entered in two parts, billable hours and non-billable hours. I am told that I can tell the billable hours by the fact that a $ amount is next to the hours. I do all the entrees that I can find customer files to enter into and keep all my questions about where to find the others till I can ask about them all at one time. (I was told to ask questions in groups so not to interrupt like the last temp). When I was as far as I could go, I asked where to find the company files for the ones that were left. He said, "those are non-billable!!!" Now keep in mind that the ones that I am in question of have $ amounts next to them which, in his directions, was billable. So I say, "I'm sorry, I'm confused. I understood you to say that if there were $ amounts...it was billable." He snapped and said, "those are landlords, we don't bill hourly details to landlords!!! Look in the non-billable file and you'll find them." My next question is, "how do I know who are landlords?" He said in a nasty...you should know voice, "Go to the master files and you will see LL next to the customers who are landlords." After doing this, I ask about the hours I still have left to bill to customers that have no file. He says, "that's because I haven't entered "the new" customers into the system yet." My thought is that I am done till he enters them into the system since I now have everything balanced except the exact amount that is left to be entered to the non-existing customer files. Keep in mind that I had to go through everything that the last temp had entered and figure out what she did. Turns out she entered anything she wasn't sure of into both billable and non-billable categories, so it is way out of balance. About a half hour later, after I am into invoicing for my other boss...the nice one...he then snaps at me that it doesn't balance. Well no, it won't balance till the remaining customers are entered into the system and I can enter the hours for them. I show him that the balance is off by this amount and he looks at me like I'm nuts. I asked him if he wanted me to enter those customers into the system and if so, I need to know if they are billable or non- billable. (they are not in the system so I have no way of knowing). Here comes another sigh like...do I have to tell you everything!!!!!! Finally I get everything entered and it balances. He just looks at the balanced sheet, with a roll of the eyes like he wanted to say, you finally figured it out you moron!!

Should I just take it upon myself to alter their master files and make entries I am not sure of? I think most bosses would want to do that themselves till the person being trained was more familiar with the system and, wouldn't it be easier to tell me all this first, knowing that I need this info?

I had the great privilege of being stuck in the break room alone with him at lunch yesterday and when I tried to make friendly small talk he looked at me like...this is my time, why are you talking to me, then just looked away with one of his sarcastic sighs.

I plan to do my best till something else comes along. In the mean time I am mentally exhausted.