Talk about your troubles

[Margaritaville]

Feel better soon Buglover and Rosie !! And Rosie, those dogs really need to start kicking in - there are no free rides in this life as my friend Judge Judy loves to remind us.

Miss Kitty - my condolences to your friend (and you!) on the loss of his mother.

Famita - I'm not sure of your circumstances, but keep your head up and I will say a prayer for you

[doxie]

of town), I really wish these dogs would earn their keep and throw in a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher or cook a meal or too dammit! It would help us out immensely.

If your dogs are anything like ours, they do laundry by sleeping on it and infusing it with their "special" fragrances. They do dishes by licking their bowls clean. They "help" with the cooking by barking a lot and giving advice. However, they are GREAT at watering the yard. I hope that y'all all feel better soon!

[MRD]

Well the good news is that hubby won't be traveling anymore, but the bad news is that he's going to be looking for another job. His current boss promised a lot of things that he hasn't delivered (mostly money) and the traveling thing is a nightmare. The boss won't give them a per diem, he insists on taking them all out to eat and they eat at the same restaurant every night. My husband found out by accident that the boss is not tipping the wait staff. They are waiting on a table of 5 hungry men and not getting tipped.
Also, the boss bought hotdogs one night and told them all that they would have to cook hot dogs in the microwave in the hotel room for dinner. My husband flat out told him NO WAY.
AND the bosses son has now been brought in and my husband is supposed to be training him and found out he's training him to take over my husband's job. The final straw was when the son pulled out a vial of cocaine in the hotel room in front of my husband and proceeded to partake.

So my husband is hopping mad, he's disgusted, he's upset about the drug use and the cheapness of his boss.

Oh and I forgot this too. The boss wanted my husband to start going out and getting other business, so my husband did. He found several construction jobs that were open to bidding. He got the plans, worked on the bids, and then the boss told his secretary to not submit the bids. And my husband didn't get paid to work up the bids either.

It's just degenerated into a nightmare. He's got 10 days before they are supposed to go out of town again and he's spending that time trying to line up something else. But out of the blue, he got a call for an interview from a resume he submitted in the fall for a large enviromentally friendly construction company and the phone call went well and he has an appointment for an interview next week.

So once again, we are facing the possibility of no job. He will stay where he is until he can work something else out, but he doesn't want too. The cocaine thing REALLY bothers him, because they all travel in the same truck, stay in the same hotels and he's worried about what would happen if this idiot gets busted. Not to mention that they are working with power tools and on ladders and scaffolding and what happens if this idiot is high and does something to endanger the rest of the crew?

I asked my husband if he spoke to the boss about the son's drug use and he said he had been trying to think of a way, but it's obvious that the boss treats the son like he can do no wrong, so my husband thinks he won't believe him if he rats out the son.
It's just turned into a @#$#@# situation.

But the good news is that we've made a LOT of good contacts in the past few months, so hopefully something will come of those.
The general contractor that is doing these jobs also talked to my husband about his work, so there may be something there and he can go in with them and not work for the guy he's working for now that is sub-contracting from the general.

[ScoutMom]

Wow, I'm sorry this didn't work out for your hubby, MRD. It sounds like a really bad situation, and I completely understand his concern. I hope this interview next week works out for the best. As much as I hate my job, I don't have to worry about people using drugs here - we have a drug testing program, and we never know when we're going to get called for the "pee test".

[schmoo2]

I hope he finds something a lot better MRD. (actually anything sounds better).
Hubby is pessimistic about his job, once again. He has been on the cusp for pretty much 10 years now. Managed to make it through the nearly semi-annual layoffs but now I'm not even sure he will make it through this one.
But he has 25 years there, and there would be a darn good severance package, and I really wouldn't mind it myself if he got out of there. the last couple of years he has been working with the people in India who took most of the jobs that the rest of his coworkers had. they don't believe in weekends at all, so he doesn't get those off. He is up at 1 am nearly 2 days a week working on testing with them, and then much of the time is expected to be in the office during the day.

But I certainly couldn't take his being home all day (I work from home and have no outisde office).
however, the kids are finally looking like they will make it on their own, and no more school bills for us!

[MRD]

Schmoo, I hope it works out for your husband. That sounds awful about no weekends and working late and then expected to work normal hours too.

My biggest concern is that my daughter just started school and we have some school bills to pay.

I have been updating my resume this morning and calling some contacts and putting some feelers out because we have got to start getting ahead and everytime we think we might be, then something goes belly up with my husband's job.

The thing that concerns me is that he's getting depressed about it. He never had a problem with jobs in Florida like he has here. He had owned his own business for a while and before that he had been with the same company for 8 years and the one before that for another 8. So he's not used to job hopping like this and he's not a bad employee, he's always gotten great reviews from bosses and stuff until we moved here.

But I'm telling you construction is VERY different here. Do you know that his boss has been in the business for over 20 years and has NO contractors license? I almost fell over. There are an awful lot of construction projects going on here where there is NO licensed contractor working the jobs. In Florida, that would not fly at ALL.

And the state contractors exam and license requirements are a joke. Compared to what you have to do to be a contractor in Florida and here. Well let me put it this way. It takes more school, testing and a LICENSE to be a shampoo person in a hair salon (not even a stylist, but a shampoo person) than it takes to be a licensed contractor in this state. I am NOT lying.

[Newfherder]

As much as I hate my job, I don't have to worry about people using drugs here - we have a drug testing program, and we never know when we're going to get called for the "pee test".

We don't have random drug tests where I work--we go through the Physician's Guide in alphabetic order. I hated the time that I was on estrogen, and it took FOREVER to work my way through the other drugs until I finally got to testosterone.

[MRD]

Whatever you all are doing, keep it up. Hubby just called me and he got invited to bid on a very, very cool project. Just because he got invited to bid doesn't mean he'll get the bid, but at least things are coming to him now, so that's great. But he's put out enough feelers over the past few months that he is getting this stuff and it's not through his current (and hopefully soon to be ex) boss.

And this would be a project, I'd love for him to get because it's for a museum (not the one I'm with, but in another town about 2 hours from here). Can you tell I LOVE museums?

So let's hope that maybe this means that something bigger and better is on the horizon and the problems with his current job mean that it's time for him to move on. Keeping my fingers crossed and praying for that anyway.

[MRD]

We don't have random drug tests where I work--we go through the Physician's Guide in alphabetic order. I hated the time that I was on estrogen, and it took FOREVER to work my way through the other drugs until I finally got to testosterone.

Did you test positive?

I don't understand why in the construction industry where worker's comp rates are so high, that more employers don't drug test. The accident rate in construction is so much higher than other jobs, that if I was an employer, I would test. And construction is one of those fields that attract a certain, um, element of the population that tends to use more drugs than in other jobs.

[MRD]

Hubby called about 15 minutes ago to tell me to get out his "good clothes". He has a job interview today at 4!!!!

So at least things are moving along. So keep your fingers crossed. Maybe all this did happen for a reason.