Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

Hey hey hookers!

I don't have anything in particular to talk about today other than job security - I hz nun. Actually, I think very few people can absolutely say their job is safe anymore.

You may remember vague references to Matt the Library Assistant in earlier posts. Matt the Library Assistant transferred to the main branch right after Christmas so I no longer have a library assistant. He had mentioned some job security issues and thought it wise to jump over to the big ship while he had the chance. I agreed and facilitated the transfer because I hate to see anyone get fucked out of a job when I already had vague inklings that things may be coming down the pipes. Actually, the inklings weren't that vague:

• The state asked that we return $14,000 of our annual funding. 
• The county has said that they will not fund us for the next five years. While  those sorry bastards can up and suddenly force me to take trash service at $13.50 a month when I'd previously been rather happy taking my own goddamned trash to the mother fucking dump, they can't take part of what I estimate to be a gross of $170,000 a month or two goddamned million a year and make it rain over the library. Fine. Whatever. Fuckers. Force services on me that I didn't request and then possibly fuck me out of a job. I love you too, Commissioner Fucker Face. But I'm not angry. Really, I'm not. Just a bit agitated. If I were angry I'd throw that goddamned herbie curbie thing at people. 
• I like lists and a list with just two things seems sort of stupid so I had to add something to make it right. Sorry. 
  

So I knew something was inevitable not only because funding is being slashed left and right, but because I think I have some kind of root* on me. Evidence: I applied for a teaching position at a neighboring county high school only to find out during my interview with the Gary Glitter look-a-like that they were on the verge of being taken over by the state so they were really in a bind to find already certified and preferably already experienced. They didn't want my greenhorn ass. I then applied for a position as a GED teacher with a local youth development center in August. Yeah. They closed down this past January. So to find out that my job is sitting in perilous economic waters is no big surprise. I think it's because they hired me. (Insert "laughing my ass off" smilie here.)

As things stand now, the superiors that be are looking at reducing the branches to service outlets (I have no idea what that means), cutting it down to one employee per branch/service outlet/whatever and cutting the hours. The idea is still in it's little zygote stage so I have no idea if this will actually happen, how many hours they're going to cut or if I'm also looking at a pay cut. Lah-dee-dah.

I've had hard times before so while I'm concerned, I'm not scared to death and I'm not going to lay awake at night wondering what I'm going to do. While it's not much and certainly temporary, I've taken the test to be a census bureau worker. I do have to say that "I nicked the census man" ran through my mind a lot when I was taking the test. Also, Pearson finally sent me a questionnaire for an online scoring position so maybe I'll hear something from that.

I'd planned on actually picking up one of these as a second job even though I'd previously said I had no intentions of doing so at that point. I should back up and correct myself, I had no intentions of considering if it were not a financially viable option. Both of these jobs pay enough that it would warrant having the food stamps reduced or cut all together. I can walk away from either of these jobs with enough money to continue feeding my family at the level they expect and have enough left over to take care of other things that need to be handled such as trying to reestablish an emergency fund for potential shit like this.

In addition, these two jobs don't have extremely rigid time schedules so I would still be able to tend to my children's various needs. I don't have to request Tuesday evenings off for Boy Scout den meetings or every third Monday off for Boy Scout pack meetings or every other Thursday off because I need to pick Tuba Girl up at 6:00 P.M. or whatever the hell I'm doing on whatever day.

At this point, I don't know whether to try and jump ship and find another job or try to stick it out and see what happens. I like the job. I like my patrons. Well, most of them. Well, the ones who don't shit in chairs. I like my coworkers. I also like books.

While I don't see myself making a career in this particular area of library employment, I did have some vague plans that would have worked nicely around this job.  I also wanted to stay here for at least a year because I personally feel that anything less than that tends to look negative on a resume. Not only that, but I tend to be pretty hardcore loyal and I hate to walk out on a bitch when she's down and my library system seems to be looking down.

As for jumping ship, it depends entirely upon whether there is another ship to jump to. Job postings in general have been scarce and we're losing jobs left and right. Local teaching positions usually aren't posted until April and last April they were incredibly scarce. Our local high school did't hire for any English positions and I wouldn't be surprised if they held off again this year. The state is in a fuck of a bind.

And another thing while I'm rambling. I'm wondering if the days of being able to actually have one full-time job is basically over for a lot of people. While I've seen people cobble a living out of holding down multiple part time jobs, it was usually a means to some end - to work around a particular  schedule, to avoid drug testing, or because felons have a hard time finding gainful full-time employment. (I'm sure there are other reasons that I'm missing.) However, I think more people who'd previously been able to rely on full-time employment may be forced to look at stringing jobs together like fish on a line.

So that's the shizznit for today. I have a lot to mull over and consider. (Which I always do, I just think about other things instead because I'm turning into some kind of Scarlett O'Hara. Tomorrow is another day and all that shit. Next thing you know, I'm going to kill the rooster, turn his ass into a hat and duct tape my Walmart porteers into a lovely dress right before I  run off with my sister's beau when I find out my favorite convict really isn't worth a shit.)

While I'm really not a big fan of Gone With the Wind, I have to give it to Scarlett. She was a survivor - beet root puking, cotton picking, man stealing and all.  Stupid as hell, but a survivor.



*A "root" is another term for a hex or curse. I don't know if this is local to my area or what, but I've always been entertained by it. I do know a guy with an uncle who has some acclaim over a multi-county region as a "root doctor." From what I hear, you don't ever want that sumbitch to put your name on an egg and leave it in his front yard. I don't know what that does exactly, but you just don't want it to happen.