Just Be There Blog

No Politics today, promise.

No Politics today, promise.

It looks like I finally have a job, again. I will be doing some 'grunt work' for a tech based commercial outlet otherwise known as Amazon Fulfillment. I am actually excited about working for a company who says that terminations can be at a moments notice and without explanation. (84,000+ Americans unemployed, and I land a job? Yes, I'm excited.) I report to the Spokane Fulfillment Center on Saturday, September 19 at 6 PM (1800) and work a 10 hour shift. Day ends @ 5:30 AM (That is 11.5 hours so I'm thinking 30 min is for admin things and maybe an hour lunch?) The shift is Sa Su M Tu 6:30 PM - 5:30 AM.

I haven't been very informative about my jobless state for the last year so here is the story. Last year during the first week of September I sprained my knee. I was on crutches and couldn't work for over three months. I injured myself at home so no workman comp Ins. to compensate expenses and such. At the same time, my daughter-in-law chose this time to apply coup d' gras pressure on my son to basically kick me out of their home. (In hind sight, that was the best thing that could have happened for all concerned.) I don't hold a grudge against my son, he has his family to hold on to, but the woman he chose as a wife is an extreme disappointment, to say the least. A year later I still worry about my two grandsons and my son, but they are all still together.

I have spent the last 2 weeks changing my sleep patterns so when I start the 'midnight shift' I will be acclimated. There are several pluses to this job opportunity, for me. One is that I love graveyard shift. The second is I work 4 nights and have three night weekends. The third and biggest, is a steady pay check, and the most I've ever made per hour full time or otherwise at any job in the past. Washington state minimum wage is $15/hr and that is the base wage. Because I'm working weekends and graveyards I get another $1.15/hour. That is a $4.15/ hr. raise from what I was getting a year ago from a state whose minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. Because of my work ethic, I earned $12/ hr last year on average in that state. But, because I worked for a job placement company from Jan. to Sept 4, I earned less than $8,000 last year. When I keep this job till the end of the year I will have earned $9600, or $2000 more in 15 weeks than all of the 41 weeks worked last year. Kind of puts into perspective my problem of getting out on my own when living with my son and his family. If I had stayed there, maybe I would have made $9000 for the year. But Probably not, since it took a long time for my knee to heal enough for me to be able to work again.

Where did I go when I left my son's home? I had plans to live out of my vehicle (before I got hurt and before my son's wife gave her final ultimatum), or with a friend from work who offered an RV in her backyard, but my daughter caught wind of that and wouldn't allow me that option. She brought me to Spokane Valley, Wa. and has housed me since. The living conditions are not without some stress, but I'm accepted here, where I wasn't accepted by my son's wife. My presence isn't an affront or nuisance and a source for making everyone in the household miserable. I have four grandsons and my son-in-law here who actually like me. For my daughter, she has wanted to know me better, which is kind of funny, because without having 'grown up together' she is a lot like me. To know me is to know herself, basically.

Well that is everything for now. Past time for breakfast, being Tuesday this will be a workday and I'd be parking in the parking lot by now. I may be doing a little bit more writing Wednesday through Friday since it is quiet from 9:30 PM til 7:30 AM and I really don't have any night life outside the house, lol. Another plus!