Change Is Good. Right?

I try not to blog when I can't be good company. And I never blog about work. But what the hell. I'm doing some much-needed wound licking today, and I feel like writing about it, so here it is.

The good news has been that I have a job at all. In this market, at my age, and with my health issues, employers aren't exactly jumping the line to sign me up. This one has great benefits and the pay is OK. The bad news is, it's the kind of job where you often consider whether a bullet to the brain wouldn't be a better way to start the day. Now, at least, I won't have to make that choice.

A number of people familiar with the place told me to watch my back once I reached this particular year of service. Long term company benefits vest at a certain year. When you get this close, it was said, the company looks for ways to make you miserable enough to quit. Failing that, they can always find fault with your performance and fire you. They don't wait to do it in the year before vesting, because it's too obvious then. I didn't want to believe that, but it is apparently true.

I'll spare you the details, but as of today I am considering myself to be unemployed. I'll keep going in as long as I can, because we really need the paycheck and the health insurance, but it's clear my days are numbered. If I'm lucky, I figure I'll last another two months. But I'm not counting on it.

This is where all those years of frugal living and saving pay off. We'll be OK for a while, and the hubby's company offers health insurance, albeit of the sucky variety. But his industry is on the ropes, so his job isn't secure either, and we've lost most of our retirement money to the market collapse.

And we have this new place. Could our timing have been worse? It's as though we finally grabbed the brass ring, only to discover that there was a bull's nose attached to it.

Today I'll be brushing off the resume and doing some networking, though I don't hold out much hope for that. So I'll also look into potential businesses to start, products, services and so forth. There's a whole irrigated field behind the house and 40 acres for lease next door. The former owners grew hay over there. That's worth looking into, I guess. (Is there a Farming for Dummies book?)

And you know what they say. Comedy is tragedy in retrospect ... God can't give you a gift until he empties your hands ... When a door closes, a window opens ... Yadda yadda yadda.

Wish me luck, friends. I'm gonna need some.