work

Status

Nishi is working full-time for Ecoparti. I am not working. In theory, I’m using this time to make progress on the bus, but that hasn’t been the case. Money is tight, and we don’t have a lot of what we need. We’re still waiting on some parts to show up.

It’s winter, and 17 degrees outside as I write this. It’s a bit warmer in the day time, but still not friendly to bus work. Two of our three vehicles have been out of commission since June, and the third is in need of serious repair. I’ve applied for a few jobs, had an encouraging interview, but nothing has come of it. I guess it’s my turn to coast for a while. At least one of us is working.

Time is moving by too quickly. Routine is my enemy, I shall not yield. I’m starting to feel old. I feel like I should have a firm grasp of my goals, but I’m still working on getting a handle on what they are. Sometimes there’s lots of benefits to floating around adrift, but I don’t get the sense that this is one of those times.

See Tee Bee

I’ve been losing sleep over work. Not things that I have left undone, or problems left unsolved, but larger problems. Kip, my boss, is leaving at the end of the week. He’s one of the founders of the company, and is pretty much singlehandedly responsible for any success managed since it was bought by Tristate. He keeps the trains running on time, so to speak. He has also insulated me from much of the troubles that come out of the New York office. With him gone, all of that will be falling on me. I’m not looking to hang around for that.

I had a talk with our CEO today, he was wondering of I would like to take on a greater role in Connecticut operations. It isn’t worth the money. They’ve been trying to get me to work fewer hours for a while now, about as subtly as they can manage. They don’t want me doing customer service anymore, mainly because they’re already paying other people to do that. I started doing it because they weren’t. This very morning I got a call from a client who said she was hung up on while talking to the main office. Not helpful.

On top of that, we are paying half of what our biggest competitor pays. Trying to get clients in an environment like this is harder than selling refrigerators to Eskimos. My commission so far this year is about what I have made on good weeks in the past.

The worst part is that I was really hoping to stay with this job for some time. I’m not in a position to fix it, and I’m not going down with the ship. I really enjoyed working with Kip.

Ugh. I hate job searching.

Too Much

It’s been a while since I’ve had a day to relax. I’ve had things scheduled after every work day, through every weekend, and I have no time to just sit and think. It’s making me depressed, and I’m getting less done in general. Not a good trend. I’m thinking more and more that I may deviate from the five year plan, and take things easy. Work somewhere part time, learning something I enjoy, saving up a little at a time. It will take longer to achieve total independence, but the freedom afforded me seems like a fair trade. I’ve gone back and forth on this before. Screw around now, and work towards independence later? Or do it now and retire at 30? Maybe I can reach a happy medium.

Last Man Standing

I’m working on restraining myself from starting sentences with “So,…”

I learned yesterday that the woman who shadowed me shortly after I started working with CTB was fired. I learned today that the guy who started working a little before I showed up quit both school and work this week, to join the occupy movement full time. That leaves just me and my boss as far as Connecticut recruiters. I’m not sure if they’re planning on hiring anyone to replace them or not, but I’m fine either way. I liked working with both of them, but this also gives me a larger area to cover, and more restaurants to potentially sign up. Hurray money!

I also got to file a formal complaint with the Meriden police department today. A lock had been cut off one of our oil containers, and some oil was taken. We’re starting to file reports, in order to build up a record of theft.

There were many things I could do for two or three days and earn enough money to live on for the rest of the month. By temperament I’m a vagabond and a tramp. I don’t want money badly enough to work for it. In my opinion it’s a shame that there is so much work in the world. One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can’t eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours — all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy. –William Faulkner

Nishi has been going into work very early all week, arriving at the shop by 0600. I’ve started working full weeks too, and Nishi commented today that all we do anymore is work. Lately, when people ask me what’s up, I just reply with ‘work.’ I’m beginning to remember why I tried so hard to avoid this.

Job Hunting

I left my last job about two weeks ago, right before the snowboard trip. I liked that job, but it was too far away. Far too far. I started looking for a job again, and it’s a very odd process. I’d imagine it’s more odd for someone like me who has no specific trade or skill. There is really nothing out of bounds. And I might have found a new one, that I can do from home. Which is a good thing, because that powerball ticket I bought the other day was bunk.

New Job

Started my new job today. I really like it. I’m organizing surplus inventory for a furnace factory, and helping sell it off on eBay. It seems like a really cool place to work, with nice laid back people. Several people said to me it doesn’t really matter what goes on as long as the work gets done, which is a great attitude for a business, if not a life. I think this is going to work well.