28 posts tagged “work”

 Well I checked in with the Union Hall this morning and I am 255/284 on the list. That is much better than I expected I thought I would still be in the upper 290's. Since my 'avaialble' placement number is different than my 'actual' placement number there must be a lot of guys out working little short 10 day hits (if you accept a call that is for 10 or less you do not loose your place in line, but you can only do this 3 time in a row before others get asked first). It is frustrating when the only calls are the short 10 day hits but it is also a relief to know that there are that many 10 day hits being called in because it can mean that work is slowly starting to pick back up. At this point I can only wait until I get closer to the top of the list, but with such a large quantity of people getting short term jobs, I can still hold out hope that this is a sign of better things to come.

In a previous post I mentioned how I was debating on whether to sit for my employer, waiting for work, or if I should go ahead and take a lay-off and sign up at my Union Hall.

I was not sure what I wanted to do because sitting at home was no money, signing at the Hall put me on a list of unemployed that was well over 325 and probably up to 350 before I would get there to sign up.

After talking to some of my bosses and some of the ladies down at the Union Hall, I decided to take a couple of weeks of vacation so that my bosses would have a little more time to find some work for me. This also gave me some money for a little while. I was only able to do this because of the new year giving me access to some vacation money.

Unfortunately my bosses did not foresee very much work coming in soon and they decided to go ahead and issue lay-offs to the 20 plus people (including myself) that they had sitting at home waiting for work.

So as of Monday I have been officially unemployed. I have signed up at the Union Hall and I am 369 on the list of people hoping for work. The only good thing about being unemployed is that I will at least have some income from unemployment, as opposed to no income while sitting at home waiting for work when I was still employed. Also I will get some supplemental unemployment from my Union for a little while so it will not be just the state money that I get. This helps to ease the pain for a little while.

Now if we do not have any more problems like a washer breaking down, because of frozen hoses we should be able to get by for a little while.

Well I just checked in at the Union Hall and work is not looking good at all. There are 315 people on the list right now and they are barely getting 1 call a day for work. I am technically still employed and not one of the 315 people on the list, but I have not been working so not only am I not getting a pay check but I am not getting unemployment either.

I have been trying to hold out for work with this company because I like them and they supposedly have something that will be starting this month, but it will not need everyone right at first, so I am not sure how long I would have to wait before they have actual work for me to do. If they have work for me soon it will more than make up for not having a paycheck, but if it is too much longer I am going to have to ask for the lay-off so that I can sign up at the Union Hall and file for unemployment benefits.

Of course if I sign up at the Union Hall, I will be so far down on the list that it could be months before I see a chance at work. Unemployment benefits do not come any where close to what I make at full pay.

To top things off I did not pay my Union Dues yet, which was due by the 1st of Jan. Now I have to come up with $500 before I can even go to work for the company I am technically employed with. Because I missed a lot of time since Thanksgiving because of the holidays and because getting sick multiple times. I have had to use the money that was supposed to be for my dues, for other bills. The Union Hall does not accept charge cards for dues payments so I can not use a charge card directly, I would have to get a cash advance and the fees on that are even worse than just a purchase on a credit card, besides I really do not want to do that.

I am sitting here waiting for my employer to call me back so that I can talk to them about the work situation and see if I am willing to hold out for a little longer or if I am going to have to cave in and sign up on the Union Hall list. I left a message at about 9am so I am going to wait for a little longer before I try calling them back, because I can not sit here all day wondering and waiting.

To top things off I am still sick, and I had a severely debilitating migraine last night that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. Oh and I am stuck at home with my roommate's dad's dog that we are dog sitting and she is such a whine baby. I know that this is not the worst that things can get but honestly today they feel like the worst that I can deal with.

Hi
Everyone, sorry I have not been keeping up. I notice that we have some new members, I am glad that you were able to find the group.

We are having that lovely on/off nasty weather that comes every year about this time. Today it is sleeting at the house again. There are actually still parts of our rural road that are iced from last week. Even though it had gotten well above freezing on Friday and slightly above on other days, these particular sections do not get very much sun so they take much much longer to clear up in the winter. I just hope this weather does not mess up my drive into my sister's for Xmas. I am not worried about the presents, I just want the yummy food my mom and sister make, and the chance to watch a dvd with them after the festivities.

I am going to try to get out in a little while to go check an area where I spotted a dog running loose yesterday, on my way to an appointment. She was a friendly enough dog but scared of the car, so I did not have time to coax her into it. I looked for her on my way home yesterday but did not see her, I hope she went home or at least found a warm place to sleep. I have never seen this dog in the area and neither has my friend, that lives closer to where I spotted her. That is what has me wanting to go back out to look. The poor thing did not have a collar and she was just a touch thin, not starving thin, just a but underweight. I picked up extra treats yesterday before heading home so that if I saw her again I could use them to try to coax her into the car and bring her here were it is warm. My roommate has a scanner from when we used to foster, so if I get the dog home I can scan her for a chip to see if she has an owner looking for her.

This week I am not doing much work wise because the job I am on is waiting for parts and it does not look like they will get here until next week. Right now things are so tight that it is better to take a couple of days off for the company and not go to the union hall for work, because the wait at the union hall would be even longer.

This weather we have been having recently in Missouri is really playing havoc on everyone's immune system. Mine in particular. The congestion in my sinuses is putting pressure on my ears which in turn is messing with my equilibrium. I get dizzy just sitting still in my chair. Today started at about the high temperature for the day and has been steadily dropping all day. The wind has picked up too. It is supposed to be around 19 F tonight. That makes it hard for this little 100 year old house to hold it's heat. It is not so bad when it is not very blustery, but when the wind blows so does the heat in the house.

I have missed 2 days of work because of this dang cold. I can not miss anymore. I am going to have to tough it up and go to work tomorrow. Fortunately I know that my current boss is understanding about not having much energy when one is sick.

I have been slowly  trying to catch up with my Vox neighbors. I have let so much time slide by since I did any posting of my own. I have started commenting on other blogs, but I still did not feel ready to create my own post.

I am still a mix of jumbled thoughts, but Thanksgiving gives me something I can use as a focal point.

I have so much to be thankful for that I know I could never think of everything to be able to write it all down. There are many things that I am sure I would totally overlook and not realize just how thankful I should be about them.

I will always be thankful for my family, past and present. I am thankful for my friends, they are such good friends that I often wonder if I can ever be as good a friend to them as they are to me.

I am thankful for the 'Good old Days'. I am thankful for each new day.
I am thankful for the bad times too, because they help me to appreciate the good times.

I have noticed recently that my eyes are getting worse and I am in definite need of a new prescription for my glasses, but despite this I am thankful that I have eye sight at all.

I am still working, I am truly thankful for that. It is still iffy as to how long it will last, but I know that my coworkers/project managers are trying to keep me working. I say a silent thank you for that each and every day.

My parents are each in good health for their ages, this is definitely something to be thankful for.
My sister and I still get along more often than we don't, this is also a plus.

I have pets to snuggle with and to cheer me up when I am feeling down.

I have a wonderful neighborhood here on Vox and I am thankful to Six Apart for making this possible.

I am thankful I have a home, I have electric, I have water, I have heat, I have food in the pantry and in the refrigerator. I have a car that still runs, with only minor repairs so far.

I am thankful that despite problems here and there with my health, none of the problems are so severe that I can not enjoy my life.

I am also very thankful that I live in the USA, and that there are people who work everyday to make sure I do not ever loose the freedoms I get to enjoy.

Lots of things to catch up on, but will only be brief at this point in time.

Mom is doing well infection is all gone stitches have been removed. She can not get around much easier than pre-surgery, still on the mend though.

Dads varicose vein surgery was a success and there is discussion of possible doing other leg in the near future. Doctor is still waiting to decide.

I am back to work, have been working steady since the beginning of July. I am working at 3 different high schools in one district that is adding security cameras and door alarms as well as other security items. Occasionally I have to go from school to school in a couple days time, because of priority projects, but for the most part work is concentrated on one school at a time.

I have worked for this company before and for multiple years so i am very comfortable working for them now. When I started on this job I was  working for a foreman that I had never worked for before, but he is a good guy to work for. Since then he has been pulled off to work another job and he suggested me as the person to take his place. So now I am the Foreman on the job.

I have a crew of 4 people so it is not too big. The biggest obstacle right now is the fact that school has started and we are having to work around all the students and teachers. I try to make sure that I get to bed very early so that my problems with fatigue and other health issues will not affect my ability to do this job. I really do enjoy being a foreman even when there are headaches about the job.

I get up between 4:30 and 5 am in order to make sure that I am on the job before the 7 am start time. I try to get to bed no later than 8:30 so that I have plenty of rest. I have had to work overtime on the last 2 Saturdays.  The one 2 week ago was a bit more grueling than this most recent one. On that particular Saturday we worked outside allllllll day for 10 hours. It was not extremely hot but, it was very sunny and even though I made sure to wear sun block I still got sunburned in spots. I like to wear bib overalls when I am working and the straps on the bibs would keep shifting my shirt around such that my neck was exposed much deeper in the back than I had sunblock on. It also bunched my sleeves up such that the back of my upper arms got very burnt. Even when I would try to put sun block on the spots it would just get rubbed right back off while I was working. Thank goodness it was not a severe burn and it was not a dehydrating day. I still was very tired by time the 10 hours was over though. I was so grateful that we only had to work 8 hours this last Saturday.

Well I would love to take the time to catch up on my neighborhood, I miss everyone, but if I want to keep rested and ready for work I best get ready for some more shut eye.

I will not be going into my Mom and Dad's tomorrow, for Father's Day, because Dad told me to save my gas. Dad knows that I am still not working so he suggested I not make the trip in. We did not have big plans, just our traditional 'breakfast and bowling with Dad'. My dad has one hobby, bowling. So it is traditional for my sister and I to go out to breakfast and then go bowling with my Dad on his Birthday and on Father's Day.

I talked to Mom about it a few minutes ago and asked her to tell Dad that I would try to get in to see him on either Tuesday or Wednesday (his days off), when I have to go all the way into St. Louis to my Union Hall. I usually try to make a round trip out of it and stop and see Mom and Dad when ever I do that. Of course that only works on the days that I do not get a 'call', if I get a 'call' I have to go to the contractor for a kind of interview. If I am hired I fill out the requisite paperwork, if not I get 2 hours show up pay. Depending on where the contractor's office is I may still go see Mom and Dad on the times when I get turned down. If I am already halfway home I just put it off until the next time.

So no Father's Day plans with Dad, but still thinking of him.

Well I checked in with the Union Hall to see what my placement was on the list. I am 247 in actual placement, but some people are out on temporary jobs so I am 222 in the available placement.Looks like I will be unemployed for a while. 

Well I knew my job would not last forever, that is the nature of my job. I had hoped that I would get a transfer rather than a lay off, but such is not the case. Monday night was my last night of work. I will now have to go back to my union hall and sigh up for work. It looks like it will be a little while before I will get to go back to work, the hiring list is pretty long right now.

I am going to work really hard to try and keep from becoming a lazy toad around the house while I am off. I have so many things that I can and should do. I am not going to try and do them all at once, but I am going to try and do a little bit every day.