Help requested

Lloyd has really had a rough go of it these last weeks. I don't know the details of what is happening there, but I do know what's not happening. People aren't doing their jobs and moving his paperwork along, and he's not hearing promising news from the other folks in similar situations. He's also not been able to call home with any regularity, and that always puts him in a worse mood. He sounds so isolated when he is able to call, and it's hard to have to hear that in his voice.

If you want to help, there is something that you can do. It will only take you a couple of minutes, but it will show that you care more than you can imagine. Send him a note or card to let him know that you're thinking of him. (Care packages are very, very tricky. Just about anything you could think to send is considered contraband and will get him into really big trouble.) Every piece of mail that he gets is a lifeline to the real world, and that's worth more than gold. His address is:

SPC Sheffer, Lloyd
C-95th AG BN
2843 Davidson Road
Fort Sill, OK 73503-4443

Budgets

I have prepared and lived off a budget for the last two years. I start every month knowing where every dollar is going to go do the work that I want it to do. (Starting in October, I will be taking that knowledge to the penny....those little bastards add up to real money really fast.) I pay my bills and have enough left at the end of the month for saving and fun too, and my husband and I have zero consumer debt. I don't go to my income source (employer in my case) and insist on an increase in my operating revenues - if they feel that the work that I am doing merits an increase, they give it to me.

The federal government hasn't passed a budget in over 2 years and is over $14 trillion in debt. Every time I turn around, the federal government is trying to increase their revenue by demanding more money from me, and it doesn't matter if any of us think that they're doing a good job. They then take MY money and bail out losers. (Companies who lost the battle in the market place as well as people who lost their minds and promised to pay way more than they could ever dream to pay.)

Based on that information, does it come as any surprise that I have neither respect for nor trust in the government's handling of finances? Is it a shock that I am frustrated and angry with the way that Washington deals with money? Does anyone really question why Rick Santelli's rant heard round the world resonated with me and so many others?

Why some people have such a hard time getting a job....

There is no question that the economy is in the tank right now. There are entire industries that are so depressed that there are no jobs in them, and it will be quite a while before they recover - if they ever do. (Some will just disappear as they should. There market for wagon wheels and buggy whips never recovered after automobiles took off.) There are a lot of people unemployed, and it can be difficult to find a "good" job. That does not mean that there are no jobs available. Lots of places are currently hiring and can't seem to find anyone to fill their openings. Part of the problem that they face is that their starting wage is less than what the government is currently handing out for unemployment checks. (I'll skip my rant on that for right now.) The other, much bigger, problem is that so many people are clueless about what an employer is looking for in an applicant. As a member of the management team where I work, here's some free advice from personal observation.

• If you want a job, you can't consider a job/task to be "beneath" you. You need to be willing to do manual labor. This could range from working at a factory to scrubbing toilets.
• Having names or stars tattooed across your face is going to be a major strike against you.
• Do not list your special skills or qualifications as "I love being a mom" or "white water rafting" unless you are applying at a daycare or outdoors outfitters respectively. Those do not apply to retail, factory work, etc.
• Purchase and use a belt. If your underwear is hanging out, you will not get the job.
• Do not use your prison "offender" ID as your form of identification. Go the the DMV and get a state ID if you don't have anything else.
• Use deodorant/antiperspirant.
• Your hair should be neatly styled/trimmed and WASHED.
• Do not wear a hoodie, oversized pants, and chains to an interview unless it's at Hot Topic - and even then it's questionable.
• Don't show up reeking of weed.

Just a few suggestions....

True Story.

Where I work, the outrageous is ordinary. As a result, it takes a lot to get me to do a double take. It was accomplished today. Here I was, trying to sell the last day old donut to pretty much everyone who came through the line. A chocolate donut with chocolate frosting filling and chocolate icing on it. Instead of "selling" it though, I went with a humorous line that sometimes works. It is so over the top that even if people don't want the donut, they normally laugh instead of getting upset about someone trying to get them to buy stuff. Today, one of our regular customers decided to join the game and up the ante.

Me: Give a home to this orphan donut? It's sad and lonely because it was picked last....just like when the chubby kid wants to play kickball at recess.
Dude: Well of course he got picked last. He's up against some pretty stiff competition here. You've got cough drops and beef sticks right here next to it. He needs to get some buddies to help him out.
Me: That's the problem. They all got adopted and taken home. He's the only one left.
Dude: Yeah, I'll bet they were all white.

He went there.

Dress Code

Over the last couple of years, I have seen people come into the gas station in a lot of "different" clothing options. Most of them don't even phase me anymore. Weird costumes when it's not Halloween and outfits straight out of a Tyler Perry play are pretty common. Folks coming in slippers and pajama pants don't even register as anything out of the ordinary. However, there are limits.

In case anyone was wondering, it is NOT acceptable to go out in public wearing a wife beater tank top and a pair of boxer shorts torn halfway up the leg.

That is all.

Why on earth would you work HERE?

As a little back story here, I have a bachelor's degree in Spanish from a nice private university. After school, I got a "good" job at a large company that is pretty prestigious in its field. My family was happy for me and thrilled that I was "doing so well in a career that used my degree." I was really good at my job. All of my reviews were positive, and I was the one that got called on to fix the big problems or teach people how to use a new tool or product offering that had been developed. The problem? I hated it there. The people were nice, the pay was fair, and I was miserable. I tried different managers, shifts, and departments to see if it was people, schedule, or the kind of work that I was doing that was the issue. I hated being stuck at a desk all day. I hated having to talk on the phone instead of face to face. I hated that I rarely saw sunshine because I couldn't even look out a window. I woke up every morning feeling like Office Space where every day piles on the last making each new day the worst one possible. 

It was not a good fit for me, so I decided to make a change. I tried a few different jobs for about a year and finally ended up at my current job where I have been for over two and a half years working at a gas station convenience store. Yes, it pays a lot less than I could get elsewhere, but it's enough to put clothes on my back, a roof over my head, and food on the table. Plus, I never have to sit at a desk, I rarely take a phone call, I get to talk face to face with people all day, and I have a big bank of windows where I can see the world pass me by. It's fast paced, always changing, and pretty good exercise most days. In order to do the job well, it's a lot harder than it looks. The company isn't perfect, but the pay is fair and the people are nice. I don't mind going to work either.....the only time I have to persuade myself to go is if I'm overtired or just feeling under the weather. (That's not to say that I love it enough to go even if I wasn't getting paid....) The only thing that I really hate about the job is listening to people tell me how I should get a "better" job as if the place where I work isn't good enough. And like there's only one set of standards to determine how good a job is.

As an aside, this is probably something that you should consider the next time that you go to a gas station, grocery store, or any other retail location. The person who is scanning your purchases at the store could very well be a Mensa candidate. (Not that I am....just saying - they work in all walks of life.) Don't look down on them for "lack of ambition." It just might mean that their ambition and purpose are outside of their employment. Sometimes, it just comes down to quality of life or home/work balance that leads folks to a certain job. Don't demean the work that they're doing. Frankly, aren't you glad that the person who is running the cash register or helping you with your purchases isn't an idiot? You've found those too on many occasions - isn't a smart, efficient, and capable person a refreshing change?

Back to the point of it, I am tired of such a stupid question. I have tried a lot of different "canned" answers to it, and none really hits the point of it. Either it's too long, not strong enough, or has enough sarcastic zing to it that in a normal store, I might be in really big trouble for it. (We're given a lot of leeway where I work. It comes with the neighborhood.) If anyone has suggestions for me, I'd appreciate it. Here's some of the previous answers to "what are you doing working HERE?"

• Because here I get more windows than any CEO at a Fortune 500 company.
• So I get the pleasure of your charming company.
• I like it here.
• Have you SEEN the movie "Office Space"?
• Because every once in a while someone gets tazed in the parking lot.
• This is more interesting.
• Doing freelance translation work is inconsistent which makes it hard to pay the bills.
• Because this is the only place that I've ever worked where I've called a customer a dipshit to their face in front of my manager.....and not gotten in trouble for it. 
• You don't get secretary spread if you're on your feet and moving all day.
• Reality TV has got nothing on Friday and Saturday nights in here.
• I'm going Gault.

Any other suggestions?

¡Feliz Fiestas Patrias!

A mis amigos Chilenos ojalá q tengan un día divertido y seguro por las Fiestas Patrias. Pásalo bien - toma un pisco, disfruta el asado, y baila la cueca.

Ten years ago today, I was privileged to experience and enjoy Chilean Independence Day with a group of amazing people. Tín, Sandra, Caro, and Benja trying to show me how to dance the Cueca....hours and hours of playing Uno with the fastest paced and craziest set of house rules that you'll ever imagine...a delicious asado cooked up in the back yard....pisco sours.....watching the sun come up before going home for the "night."

The thing that I remember and hold most dear to me is the time with friends. I think of that time and those friends often. These are not ordinary friends. They were what made my time in Chile one of the most amazing and wonderful experiences of my life. When I first met them, it didn't matter to them that I couldn't understand anything that anyone was saying (no amount of classroom time can prepare you for the Chilean dialect and accent) or that they had to repeat themselves and sometimes translate for me. They were patient and never made fun of me while I tried to speak, and they graciously corrected my grammar and (occasionally embarrassing) translation errors. They made sure that I knew what time to be where (and how to adjust for "tiempo Chileno") and that I got safely back to my house since the buses don't run all night. Most importantly, they made me feel included.

To all of my favorite Chilenitos, I can not begin to thank you enough for the blessing that you have been in my life. Doy gracias al Señor por amigos como ustedes. Q Dios bendiga su día y su vida.