The Missing Month

Currently Reading: Ender In Exile by Orson Scott Card

I just updated the reading list this afternoon and I noticed that I haven't posted anything here in almost a month. My last entry was at the beginning of November. Sadly, there hasn't exactly been a flood of e-mail asking why I wasn't posting. That's ok. News from my world is trickling out through CC and via word of mouth.

So, what's been going on? Well let's get this ball rolling . . .

I'm unemployed again. No, really, it's true. Here's what happened. Slowly but surely I was losing money at the salon. Most of us were asked to work fewer hours to save money. No big deal there. Always a slow period before the holidays. Things were bound to pick up. Only they never really did. Worse, we've got a few people on payroll who just HAD to work a full 35 hours a week because if they didn't, they'd lose their benefits. So those people got their hours. The rest of us, we had to cut back. Again, not a big deal. Annoying, but not a big deal.

Then one day I show up and there's another groomer in the salon. She's misread the schedule and shown up on the wrong day. Boss tells her it's ok to stay and finish the day so she'll maintain her hours (even though falling short a few hours every now and then really doesn't matter). Now we've got a problem. Instead of flying solo for the day, I have to share everything with this other groomer. By the end of the day, her mistake cost me about a hundred bucks. That's how much of my business I had to give to her.

After a few days off, I go back on Friday and get into an argument about all of this with my boss. She doesn't seem to be particularly sympathetic at first but when I start bringing up numbers it sinks in. Here I am, been there longer than anyone but the boss and I'm having trouble just breaking $800 a month. Worse, with the holidays coming up, I was going to have to share even MORE of my days because corporate had this funny idea that there was going to be a huge surge in business. That was surely bound to take even MORE money out of my paycheck.

Well, during all this arguing, a bather, who's only been there a month, heard something she didn't like. Not really sure what it was because no one ever told me, but she wrote a little letter to the store manager saying she was DEEPLY offended by whatever it was she heard and she had no choice but to file a formal complaint against me.

Ok.

Next thing I know, the store manager is telling me I have to go home for the day because I've somehow offended this person (not that anyone ever told me what was so offensive).

Ok.

Next day I get a phone call telling me I'm "on suspension" while they figure out what to do about the whole situation.

Ok.

A week goes by before I finally learn that I have, in fact, been fired. Yeah, they left me hanging a whole week. When I finally got someone to tell me what was going on, all I he said was that they couldn't find my phone number to tell me. Couldn't find it? It's posted in at least two places in the salon not to mention in the computer in my personnel file.

So now I'm unemployed again.

I'm looking for work now. Been out there filling out applications anywhere I can find that's hiring and sending e-mail off to various small grooming salons and vet clinics seeing if they're hiring. So far no luck so what I've decided to do is offer my services freelance until I hear something. I printed up a flyer last week and posted it over at the mailboxes where everyone will see it. I checked yesterday and a few of the little number tags were missing from the flyer so I know at least a few people are interested. No calls yet but I'm sure something will come up soon.

CC, in the meanwhile, is over in Manila. She was supposed to be gone until the 12th but unfortunately that got changed to the 19th. Her boss wants her to stay a little longer. Can't turn down the boss in a situation like that.

You know, I suppose I should be a whole lot more bitter and depressed about all this. I'm sitting here in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week waiting to hear from people. My wife is on the other side of the planet. It's cold and gray outside. Christmas is in a few weeks so everyone's got that holiday-crazy look in their eye. But you know what? I'm actually pretty much ok with this. Yeah, it sucks but you know what? It can always be a LOT worse. All I have to do is open the newspaper and I can see how much worse things COULD be.

So I'll just keep on working at it. Every day I contact a few more people or put in a few more applications. I try to stay busy to make sure I don't get the blues or anything like that. Don't want to get lazy or go soft.