The Red Brick Times

Its been over two years since last I slaved involuntarily, and I am getting pretty sick of being my own boss. I mean, I have to complain to myself about working conditions and pay. My dad always used to say, "If I worked for myself, I'd fire me!", and he had his own business. So what hope does a no-account sluggard like myself have?

Well, two things are pending. One, I will become eligible for a trickle-down from the automotive sludge pit in June. I worked long enough, and was close enough when they tossed me, that there will be a monthly mite for my stale bread and porridge. When I called them today, Becky told me that yes, there would be a bit left over for me each month, and that, no, I was not eligible for "ancillary benefits". "Hair removal treatments?" I thought to myself. But no, that means health care benefits, or life insurance, or brain adjustment and the like. "But I got a letter that said I was going to 'grow into' the retirement plan. Doesn't that include hair rem... I mean health care benefits?" I asked. "Just a minute," she said, and handed me to Barry Manilow for an interlude. She came back and apologized and told me that I WAS able to elect health care and brain transplant options under early retirement. Well, that is a step up from my current state (zero coverage at zero cost). The monthly stipend seems enough to cover the cost of the group packages available as well. So I seem to have carved off a joint from the tail bone of "your life's blood vs corporate wealth" contract with the devil. Now I can take those rock climbing classes with assurance of traction and casts as needed. Or maybe I will have an octopus brain transplanted. They have amazing dexterity and are reputed to be close to sentience. So there are two advantages over humanity, and it will give me a chance at an alternative evolution as well.

The second pending is that I will be going for a job interview on Friday. There is a company that makes machinery that mixes soil and pots plants for growers. They are looking for an electrical engineer to help with the controls and motors and such. I don't have experience with motor controls, but can work it up. Now where did I put my slide rule...
Posted 10:35 AM by Andy (15) comments

       Comments:

I just did some calculation. If I live for another 30 years, the total take from retirement will be about what I would have earned in the previous two years, had I continued to work. Bastards.

# posted by  Andy : April 30, 2008 1:57 PM
 
I applied for two part time tech jobs last week and have yet to hear from either. My strategy is to write a really boss cover letter, customized to the position being offered, and include a brief synopsis of my present circumstances (dialysis). I'm sure to mention that these circumstances give them (the employer) a chance to get a very high level and experienced tech that they would otherwise not have access to with this type of job. I even call it a "win/win" for both of us. I think this is a particularly clever tack but so far nada.

I've been reading a lot lately about projected $10/gal gas by the end of the year, which means milk, bread and everything else will have to go up proportionally. If this happens, and I don't have an income beyond SSD, I'm well and truly fucked.

# posted by  whatley : April 30, 2008 4:31 PM
 
Hang in there boys. This oil price thing is a bubble caused by all the speculators getting out of housing and into oil. It will pop in six months or less because there is, in fact, no real shortage or lack of refining capacity.

I'm looking forward to modern "Hoover-villes" on the Mall in Washington when all the Iraq vets get home and find they've lost their jobs and can't afford to drive far enough to get a new one.

# posted by  A. O. : May 01, 2008 1:20 AM
 
And also when they find out that the "free medical care" is ephemeral. My dad (a WWII Navy vet) reports that the people at the VA all state that there is not even the smallest hope that they can accommodate all of the wounded vets who will return from Afghanistan and the Middle East. Not even close to enough capacity, personnel or resources. Won't that be fodder for political change as the vets take ever more prominent positions in government.

# posted by  Andy : May 01, 2008 10:34 PM
 
Hey! One of the part time tech jobs called back! I interviewed with them today and it looks like I got it. They're a small home improvement company in North Ridgeville currently running out of a home office but are soon to build a separate company space. Cool!

# posted by  whatley : May 03, 2008 10:46 AM
 
Groovy, Dude!

# posted by  A. O. : May 03, 2008 1:25 PM
 
Most excellent! Improve your home and get paid for it.

# posted by  Andy : May 06, 2008 9:42 AM
 
Second interview with the greenhouse machinery company on Monday to meet with the owner. Also - possibility for temporary work in Michigan helping to build some electrical prototype measuring thingamabobs (the approved technical term). To quote Phineas Phreak: "Money will get you through times of no employment better than employment will get you through times of no money"?

# posted by  Andy : May 08, 2008 8:47 AM
 
RE: temporary work in Michigan at my brother's company. After two days of telephone tag, the contact person there told me I have to go through an employment agency they use. So today I registered on line with the employment agency. Their online form for a resume has short fields and is full of error messages if you use the wrong characters in a field. At the end of this process, after three hours of trimming and editing, the last screen shows "or you can email your resume to us at ....". I did both, and left a voicemail message at their main contact number beside. Two hours of telephone tag with the employment agency person. Then I got a call from an HR manager at my brother's company who said neither she nor the agency had any knowledge of the job I was seeking. Call to my brother. More telephone tag. Finally, my brother said "Maybe THAT is why we didn't get any resume submissions." Evidently, the posting was approved at the top levels of the company, but nobody in HR ever issued a posting requesting applicants. Duh. Just another big company doing what they do best. What would they require for a permanent position, electro convulsive therapy?

# posted by  Andy : May 09, 2008 10:09 PM
 
When I go back and read what I posted, I swear that I am making this stuff up. Now I know how Dave Barry and Scott Adams make their livings.

# posted by  Andy : May 09, 2008 10:28 PM
 
A week has gone by since I interviewed with that mom and pop home improvement company and was told I got the job. They were to call/email with an initial list of assignments and so far nothing from them. I called yesterday and left a nice voice mail asking what was up. Who knows.

During the interview they kept making "church" references. Our church this, our church that, etc. As I didn't respond with church references in kind, or shout "Praise Jesus", my suspicion is that I failed some sort of bible based litmus test but they didn't have the balls to tell me to my face.

# posted by  whatley : May 10, 2008 6:30 AM
 
You need to go talk to them wearing the garb of a priest of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. That'll get 'em.

# posted by  Andy : May 10, 2008 8:27 AM
 
Ramen.

# posted by  whatley : May 10, 2008 9:26 AM
 
Second interview went well. Met the company owner, a younger man than I. Also talked to the VP/General Manager. Everyone there has a slightly harried look, since they are growing and do not have enough people to carry the load. They also brought up a new central software package in November to track customer orders, inventory, manufacturing and the like, and are struggling with the changeover. That may be where they place me, as a combination of engineering data management and IT implementation. As the HR manager said, "We need to meet and regroup - we were going in one direction with you (EE position) and now are changing our thinking." But, it is still a small company with 22 people, so the title will not mean that I won't need to sweep the floors and unload trucks with everyone else. Just that there will be nobody else to blame when I make mistakes.

# posted by  Andy : May 13, 2008 7:44 AM
 
RE: Temporary work in Michigan, update -

Well. The first-tier recruiting company that provides the workers that my brother's company needs to fill job openings cannot hire people to fill those openings. They have to select from names submitted to them by second-tier temporary labor contract firms who maintain lists of names of potential workers that they have unearthed and saved against whatever job openings may occur. Confused yet? I called my brother to report progress and he, quite properly, wondered, "Then what do the first guys do?" I don't know either. Make money? As I noted to the first guys, this is exquisitely painful. I begin to see how the bureaucracy of the Byzantine Empire survived. It is no surprise that big companies say they are desperate for skilled workers. Nobody can penetrate the defensive layers and arrive within the walls.

# posted by  Andy : May 16, 2008 8:01 AM
 
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