2 months later

Work has been crazy lately...one of my fellow supervisors had a heart attack and is now going to be out fro a month...that means I and another supervisor are having to cover his buildings. So now some of the employees are attempting to put one over on the two of us, slacking off here and there, whining about needing help, trying to play one of us against the other, and a litany of other things...it is DRAINING to say the least. On top of that I had a review with the interim Project manager and the new Project manager (my boss)...it didn't really seem like any kind of review to me. I filled out my own thoughts on how I was doing and what I would like to accomplish within the scope of the job and my boss only said, "that's good" and made some remarks about initially being concerned about my attitude when she took over the interim position but she had seen marked improvement and she can't promise a raise. Needless to say, I didn't get a raise. I have been at this job for 6 months + now and I have not received any kind of promotion. I have been given a number of "pats on the back" for good things I have done but those last about as long as a one night stand when it comes to any sort of fulfillment in the job...show me the freakin money, I got student loans to pay off.

In one month I got my contract turned around, where we were once receiving multiple complaints weekly to where we receive one/two a month if that. Where there was once animosity between the company I work for and the contract contact there is now a rapport. My contract looks better than it ever has since PHC took over the janitorial contract for the City of Beaverton and this doesn't garner any sort of a raise? WTF!? I did this in less than two months (thank GOD). All by being honest with my client and communicating with him, something no one at the company had successfully been doing in the time they had the contract. This has left a very bitter taste in my mouth; I have been working my ass off and now I get no return for my efforts. In addition to the work I do for my contract I am also assisting my fellow supervisors in any computer work they have to do because of their lack of abilities (one of them is blind and the other doesn't have the knowledge needed to be effective timewise, I even assist the other supervisor from time to time because he wears himself out so much his attention to detail goes in the crapper).

THe Project Manager that did my review said something about buying into PHC, or living it (something I am not willing to do for any job, there is no amount of money one can give me to sell my soul to their company) if I wanted to move up. I told her when I am at work I give my 110% (There is no way in hell she can call me on that either, my track record speaks for itself).

So this present predicament has me looking back at grad school in education, only this time I want to go to a different school than PSU, get a change of pace and maybe a program that has been updated in the last five years. I am thinking of doing special education, that puts me working in small groups and working with those children left behind by no child left behind like I wanted to initially when I was seeking to work in Elementary Education. I am not overly fond of adding to the already HUGE student loan debt I have accrued already...this job I currently have is certainly not going to give me the salary needed to cover my living expenses and student loans. Something needs to give, I will tell you that much.

things in transisition

Well...my boss got fired. He was found guilty of sexual harassment as well as neglecting his duties. It has been a bit of a pain in the butt with all the transitions occurring. We will have an interim project manager...no idea who the final one will be. My supervisor had planned on at least bumping me up to a lead supervisor or site manager position which would mean more money. Not sure if I am in the running for my bosses position, there are others more qualified but the one supervisor most qualified out of my coworkers and I is legally blind so he is not able to do all of the duties needed as a project manager...hard to do them if you don't drive. I guess we shall see what happens. I am really mentally fried right now because of all the stuff with work. The next few weekends will be interspersed with floor care so I may or may not have a life for a while...depends if our truck mount gets fixed or not.

its been a while

its been a few months since I last blogged...I finished up a couple tunes, been working my butt off...one of my fellow supervisors is legally blind so I wind up helping him a lot more than the other supervisors as I have more ability on the computer than they do which basically doubles my workload. I am not a fan of doing two people's work without two people's pay.

There seems to be some ethical issues with my boss and some of the other employees, his being too forward with them. It doesn't appear possible to go to his superiors due to the fact that they are all in eachother's back pocket, the president of the company's sister is the operations manager, it goes even deeper than that...its an ethical nightmare.

My supervisor was asking me about my thoughts about the job...at that point I was debating about going back to school and or looking for other work. Anyways, he said something to the regard of a promotion for me, saying I am head and shoulders above the other supervisors. They each have their positive points but I have an attention to detail that he likes. He is either planning on setting me up as a site manager once the Hillsboro contract comes online or to make me the lead supervisor.

In light of the ethical issues and the fact that I despise with an unholy passion the swing shift I am working I am really not wanting to stick it out with this job. We are understaffed and expected to still fulfill contractual obligations, or make the client believe we are. I cannot live with myself doing that, my word is my bond. I am not willing to compromise my integrity for money.

I have had thoughts of going back to school to finish up an English degree and do technical writing, maybe go to a school in Missouri that has a technical writing degree, or go back to grad school and finish my ed degree but do Special Education instead of elementary education. Another friend of mine is suggesting I work for the local mass transportation company Trimet. Having a set schedule would be nice not to mention the pay there is at least twice what I am making right now. Being on call 24/7 gets really old. Guess it never hurts to turn in an application.

Moving along

Things with the new job are going well...the last couple weekends have been a bit rough, having to do the quarterly cleaning of the floors in Beaverton's city buildings. We had to go back into one and redo a couple spots in the City Hall but they are worse for it IMO...they need to bite the bullet and replace the carpets instead of demanding the miraculous in turning a 20+ year old carpet into virginal perfect carpet...its not gonna happen. I have yet to meet the city contact for the contracts we have and I already want to beat him senseless.
I have not been able to spend as much time as I would like on my music as of late. I did get to jam with a buddy of mine this last friday. It had been a while since I had been able to play so it was like I got some fresh vigor to play; wound up pulling off some cool licks I had never really done before and garnered several "DAMN!" comments from my buddy. It was nice to play.
This next weekend looks to be busy as hell...Saturday the company I work for is having an awards BBQ at 10am, then I have a guitar student at 1pm and at 4pm I have a couple friends getting married. I have had a couple people ask me if I am playing for the wedding but I haven't been asked...oh well.
I have had a number of my younger friends get married in the last couple of years. It stings a bit. People, that is, family and close friends, are trying to figure out why or give suggestions as to improve my chances...UGH! "Maybe if you lost weight" or "you need to get a good job" or some other random spaced out comment like "you're a bit rough around the edges"...its like F'OFF already! Yeah, I want to get married...but only once and to the woman I will spend the rest of my life into the golden years with; though with each passing year I am getting closer to the "golden" years(still got quite a while but given recent history it doesn't look to be changing anytime soon). I do not want to have a bunch of notches in my bedpost for all the girls (conquests) I have had nor do I want to be one who has married and divorced multiple times. Sometimes you need to step out and take a chance but I haven't felt as if its time to take the plunge with any one person.
There have been fleeting crushes or the desires of friendship to turn into something more but I haven't quite had the irrepressible urge to take it to that level with any of these people though thoughts do cross my mind. I am beginning to think that I may have cursed myself when I mocked my step-moms cousin for not ever having gotten married till he was 40. I had considered him pathetic for it and its beginning to feel as if I am reaping what I sowed. Who knows...no idea when things may change, and working swing shift certainly doesn't improve my chances. Mike out!

Friggin FINALLY!!!

I finally got a job...I am training to be a Janitorial Supervisor. I will be the head of a crew of God knows how many people that have some kind of disability. I work for Portland Habilitation Center; a non profit that helps those people with disabilities get into some kind of gainful employment.
I am not overly fond of working swing shift but I am glad to finally have a job. I am starting out at $2300 a month salary. I get free medical and dental benefits, I have a certain copay when it comes to the services I receive but its not too bad. I get to wear a pager...my plan is to make sure the job is done so well there is no need to page me. Of course now that I will be working swing shift I need to figure out my life...everything I was involved with up to this point is now not going to be happening, or if does then it will be in a much smaller capacity. I equate it to taking a deck of cards and throwing them into the air and then trying to reorganize them all.
When approaching my door from coming home from work I saw a notice...rent is going up $50...$525 up to $575. Kinda lame...but I doubt I will be able to find any other rent for that cheap unless i get a number of roommates...not something I really desire to do.

The job Hunt

One job offer that didnt have enough hours to pay the bills and a bunch of applications later and still no job. I am waiting to hear back from the Springdale Job Corp Center as they are looking over my qualifications to see if it meets their needs, they sent me a letter saying as much along with an affirmative action form...taking it as a positive, need as much of that as possible right now. I have been doing some recording here and there but I have yet to finish any of the things I have started...I get tired, run out of inspiration, get to busy...some of the stuff I need to practice a bit to get my chops up to play the parts I have in mind for the song because I haven't been keeping up on them as much lately. I need to buckle down and finish up these songs. God help me!