A Lot of Time Has Passed........

Wow. The last time I visited my own blog site was in November, 2007. Needless to say, I've been busy. Unfortnately, not busy at fun things, but busy sending out resumes, going on interviews, getting past the first round of interviews only to wait another two months to get my second interview; the job hunt has been pretty frustrating.

If I were living in New York or Los Angeles, a job would not be a problem. I could freelance, or at least know that if I applied for a job, I would not have to continue sitting and waiting for the human resources folk take action and actually hire someone. The Pacific Northwest is a different drum and drummer. It's nice here, just a little bit slow on the uptake.

I've applied for everything - airlines, temp to hire, mystery shopping; I even got a gig doing buy backs for auto manufacturers. Not a bad gig, but not a weekly one. Maybe three to four a month. Maybe. The man who owns the company is very nice, helped me out tremendously the first time around, and was happy with the results of my efforts. That's all I've been asking - for a chance to show that I can step in and do the job, even if I am 30 years older than most of the hirees these days.

Strangely enough, I have more stamina than most of the young ones. I worked with a 28 year old and she could barely keep up. Rarely showed up to work on time, and did not perform many of the job functions that were assigned to her. But management kept her on. That's what I find so amazing. Management complains about job performance, but continues to coddle someone by moving her from department to department, rather than give her the mandatory two warnings and then fire her.

Right now, I'm waiting to see if I become a transit worker - driving a commuter bus part time. It's not a bad gig, good hourly pay and benefits. However, this is not a walk in the park. You have to study for a CDL permit, along with air brakes and transporting passengers. The Knowledge portion alone is a killer. I feel like I'm back in school again. Study, and study some more. Why am I waiting for them? Because one of my references has not gotten back to them, and this reference is not a friendly one. Yeah, I could have left them off, but it's worse if you lie about your past employment history. If it comes up and they find out about it, that's your job and it affects all the other future jobs you may want to apply for.

It's been three weeks since I took the initial test for this job. At least they were nice enough to get back to me and tell me what the hold up is. I think if I were not considered to be hireable, they would have just sent the "thanks but no thanks" letter already .

So, what's going on in Baby Boomer world? We haven't heard any more about Social Security, although I think we won't hear about it again until someone get's elected. No one wants to stir up that pot, considering all the other pots that are stirring up - the economy, unemployment, the housing crisis, and the war. And let's not forget Wall Street.

How do these major monoliths of companies manage their money? I've got to believe there is some VP of Accounting! Are they paying attention? I barely have enough money to buy food and pay the rent and bills, but I'm still not on the street, and we've managed to keep all the balls in the air by way of the little jobs I've been doing, and the work my husband does in performing and teaching. When I watch the news and see the Bear Sterns and Enrons happen, my belief that most people in high places are corrupt is confirmed once again.

Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of good people who work in upper management, but it seems that the bad eggs are in the upper, upper management echelon, and they are where the buck stops. And that's the point. The buck stops with them, and they are busy taking the bucks into their own coffers, employees be damned.

When I was living in Florida, I had to get my car serviced. I needed to rent a car for the day. I met a man, he was in his 60s, shuttling people back and forth from the Enterprise car rental location. We got into a conversation about weather, traffic, and finally about work. He admitted that he was not a happy camper, that he was doing this kind of work only because instead of retiring with a pension and stock options, he had been an Enron employee who had lost everything. He and his wife had enough money from the sale of their house to get an apartment, pay off as many bills as they could, and downsized their living condition. This was not his idea of the retirement he had planned for. Before his loss, he said he did not even need to ask for Social Security; now it is basically what they were living on, along with what he made at this job.

This situation doesn't seem to want to get better; it only seems to get worse. I'm hoping that this transit gig comes through. Wish me luck. I'll let you know.