Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Monday...A Bad Day

Cindy has once again inspired me! She puts a place holder in for each day in case she doesn't have time to write on that particular day and then she comes back and fills it in. Well, I obviously missed yesterday, but I still want a post for Monday held, so here it is. I'll come back soon and write.

Update: Well, it's now Saturday and I've finally got a little time to sit down and write about the week. Monday was NOT good. I went in to work as usual and had all of my staff meetings (for both Ohio and Arizona). I was in my office working when about 9:30 I had a twinge of a notion that my day was soon to change. I can't describe the feeling. I can't describe the thought. I just had something "shoot" through me that let me know my life was about to change AGAIN. I kind of tried not to think about it and luckily, as busy as I am at work, the thought quickly disappeared and I forgot about it...until around 11, when the phone rang. I looked at the caller id and my heart sank. I KNEW what was about to happen on this phone call. I answered it and it was C. I asked him why he was calling from home and he said, "why do you think" with a sad, down tone in his voice. He had lost his job. We knew this was coming, but had hoped it wouldn't happen for a while. Unfortunately, something happened at work on Friday that accelerated it but still, he was now unemployed. A wave of emotions ran through me and I started to cry. I got up and shut my office door. He told me he was so afraid to call me and tell me. He didn't want me thinking he was like Rex. I told him he was far from that and that losing a job after 25 years is a lot different than having 11 jobs in 18 months.

The one thing that I am most ashamed of though is how I dealt with everything. Once again, I was focused on the money and the situation I was now being put in, NOT on the person that it happened to and how they may have been feeling.

C has worked at the "Big BM" (Boswell Memorial) for 25 years. He's had perfect attendance probably 95% of the time he's worked there. He's worked Sunday after Sunday after Sunday and had to miss church but still remained a stalwart member of the Church. He's worked holiday after holiday and missed time with family and friends. Yet, he's been crapped on (sorry - that's how I truly feel about how they've treated him) continuously day in and day out and this now happens. I was so concerned about how MY life was going to change now not having his income and stability that I failed to see how he may be feeling. I'm so ashamed of myself. I think I handled it that way because, once again, that's how my "past life" was due to all the jobs Rex held/lost, etc. There was just no way getting around that one with him.

But, Clint is DIFFERENT. He doesn't deserve that from me. He is a good man. He is hardworking. He is honest. He is so much more than Rex ever thought of being when it came to these types of things. For example, on his way home from work, Clint stopped at WalMart (one of my least favorite places) to pick up some things I needed for HFPE. While there, he applied for a position in the produce department (sorry, Uncle Ward - we know of your despise for those folks). Then, he came home and jumped right on the computer and applied for a bunch of jobs. Rex would have never done that. He would have gone out, spent $200 on some "gift" for me, then come home, slept all afternoon, left for a bit so he wasn't home when I got home, then arrived home as if he'd been at work. Then a few days later after having given me my "gift" and knowing I liked it, he'd finally tell me he was out of work.

Anyhow, that afternoon, C got a call from WM asking him to come in for an interview the next day...

1 comment:

Cindy said...

You're too cute! Yes, I just figured that out a few weeks ago. Then I keep a piece of scratch paper by the computer and jot down what I want to say and what happened that day so I don't forget!