Happy 4th of July to my American neighbours. Hope you have a happy and a safe one !!

Happy 4th of July to my American neighbours. Hope you have a happy and a safe one !!

Wanted ...

Someone to run over my boss. Put him out of our misery. Puuulllleeeeezzzzeeee

lol

It's been just over a month since my first ramble of 2011. Time for my second one.

Now, now. Be nice. I can hear you groaning over there.

I think my boss, the one that hired me for that transit job, has lost his marbles. And I do mean ALL of them.

And is a wonder I didn't get fired. I'm a troublemaker, as you well know. Is my middle name ... trouble, with a capital T !!

I thought doing the seven to two shift was working out pretty good for the kid and I. I was doing a spare school bus run for the other one too, and still was home early enough to make dinner, do dishes, spend time with the kid, before heading off to bed before 10. Actually, it was working out great, as much as I hated getting up between 4:30 and 5, five days a week.

When I was a spare driver, I didn't see a lot of things ... issues, lies, BS, etc. There was the odd thing, but I didn't really notice the extent of things. Once I went full time .. even those three days a week .... it all started coming out and I thought 'what did I get myself into this time?' Holey mackerel batman !! And it just seems to keep getting worse and worse.

The transit boss that hired me is a good one for saying things like "it's my way or the highway" and he seems to sneak in hidden threats and throws an empty promise or two your way. He's told anybody and everybody that he started the transit business and even the president of the company works for him. He thinks nothing of telling the people he runs into in town all about our own personal business ..what he knows of it anyways.Tells one driver one thing and another driver the opposite. I tell you, we have no idea if we're coming or going, for pete's sake.

So, I got to the point that I accept half of what he says is lies and the other half is pure BS. Just keep getting up in the morning, getting ready, and do my thing until my shift is over. I learned the hard way that one does not question what he does or says either. You get a good dose of a dressing down if you do, and he doesn't care if he does it in front of customers. Strike one against Patti.

My problem is I needed the idiot job because of the money. Especially with summer coming and school is out, so no school bus to fall back on. Billy and I would be screwed financially.

One driver is telling me "Patti, don't give up. Keep fighting this". The office manager is saying "Patti. We love you. We need you. Don't give up on us and quit. The customers call with a very positive feedback about you." (awwwwww)

But one can only take so much of this. Know what I mean? And I'm at the part of my life where I don't want to take the crap anymore. Is why Fang lives elsewhere. Is why I'm not too worried about why my mother hasn't talked to me since February. Enough is enough.

Then the boss comes to me on Monday, June 13th and gave me very good news. *smacks forehead with a paw* He informed me that a driver senior to me, that chose the afternoon shift when we went the seven hour, five days a week shifts, wants to go to morning shifts instead.

What ??

She is senior to you Patti, he says. And he's granting her request. Was supposed to be as of June 27th, but now is a July 4th start date.  He expects me to do five afternoon shifts a week. Monday to Friday as that is the full time schedule.

But I can't do Monday nights !! I made a commitment to Billy, his friend, and his friends parents back before we went to this 14 hour a day thing and you knew that. If I back down on this, then the boys spend Monday nights at home as Billy's friends dad has a prior commitment, and I refused to back down.

So, you work Tuesdays to Saturday afternoons then, he says.

I can't do that to Billy !! Home alone five nights a week. Eating dinner alone five nights a week. And what with him going to the life skills program three days a week, I wouldn't see him at all for those three days by the time I got home and he heads off to bed shortly after that.

You want to stay full time status, you're going to have to do that.

Thought I was going to kill him. He knows about Billy. I told him Billy was special needs aka autistic aka intellectually challenged since the very first time we met a year ago. I told him that his dad is not in the picture and neither are other family members. There is just him and me. And we have talked many times over the year about Billy. I even brought up the concern about how Billy was going to handle me working afternoons without an introduction to it, to get him used to the idea, way back before we even started this new shift thing.

He says 'you don't give Billy enough credit. People like him adapt quite easily to things. They don't know any better.'

Yeah, I almost crawled through his van window that day and killed him then too.

Anyways, since I got the 'good' news, it's been an absolute nightmare. I sent him an email saying that, in order to get Billy used to the idea that I'll be working afternoons, I wanted to cut it down to three afternoons a week for the summer. And what with that particular senior driver working six days a week, I asked if she would be willing to give up her Saturday morning shift. I got an email back that didn't address one issue in my email or answer any of the questions. Never mind I didn't see hide nor hair of him all week either. So I forwarded my email to the president, who is on contract in Australia at this time.

Well !!! Strike two for Patti. The president emailed my boss and wanted to know what was going on. I got an email from my boss giving me shit for emailing the Prez when the man is '10 thousand miles away and can't do a damm thing to help you'.

Then he sends out this email to the prez, the office staff ladies, and myself, this past Sunday morning, about how I'm going part time and will need to sign paperwork to that effect yada yada yada ... that I was causing problems where there shouldn't be any as now other drivers are being affected and they have to be willing to take up the gap I'm creating yada yada yada.

Good thing I didn't get my hands on him that day either.  I never ever agreed to go part time and as far as I was concerned, it wasn't fair of him to tell me that is what was happening when this whole thing wasn't my idea and it wasn't me that created the problems he was having over it and we haven't even discussed possible alternatives.

He's at the yard Monday morning. How's it going Patti, he asks. Not good John, not good. Why? What's not good? You and I haven't met once to discuss any of this at all and now you expect me to go down to part time status. He never once considered me picking up a particular drivers twelve hour Sunday shift to keep my hours up to full time hours, as that driver is going away for the summer.  He tells me he thinks Billy is a great kid yada yada yada and understands my challenges with him but his hands were tied as 'she' is senior to you Patti. So if you understand my challenges, why doesn't anybody besides me stand up for him ? You sure didn't when this whole mess was introduced. I tried Patti, he says. Riiiiiite. I had also let him know that I checked into the Employment Standards Act and it says seniority bumping can only happen when there is a termination, a layoff, maternity leave, etc. Nowhere does it say a senior driver can bump a junior driver. She's only doing it because she's a *itch and wants to. (and yes, that went over like a lead balloon too lol) I told him that I did not create this mess for him to deal with. He did.

Anyways, it has gotten a whole lot worse since then. The president has sent out emails to all of us about the internal bickering ... how the director of operations should be liaisoning with the office staff for the good of the company etc etc. I was quite impressed with his email, providing he meant every word in it. He even included attachments of what the duties of the director of operations is, the duties of the office manager is, and what the duties of the office assistant is. Let's just say that the D.O. isn't following the guidelines, does half of the office managers jobs without telling her, and respect for other employees is nowhere to be found.

Then we come to yesterday. The transit bus I drive every day was missing from the yard when I got there at 6:40. The other morning shift driver said it wasn't there when she got there. Oooookay. Key was under the mat for the Sprinter so I started it up and started my day. The boss comes along just after eight when I got to my Walmart stop and says the bus should be ready by ten.

Is that a definite? I didn't want to go to the mechanics and find out it isn't ready. He says it should be. Got your phone on you? Yeah. Just let me turn it on. It's one of those pay as you go things? Yeah. I'll come to you instead. Okay. I assumed he would bring me the bus and we'd swap at Walmart.

Ten o'clock and no boss. Eleven o'clock and no boss. Twelve o'clock and no boss. In the meantime, the customers are complaining about the Sprinter. There is no automatic door on it. The customers have to open and close the sliding doors themselves and some do get pissy about doing it, to the point where they won't close the door properly and I have to hop out of the driver seat, go around the front to close the door myself. And what with some traffic conditions, it's not safe to do that. I swear, some drivers test to see how close they can come before actually hitting me, even though I do really watch for the right time to pop out of my seat. grrrrrrrrrr

Boss shows up at one o'clock. My last hour of my shift. He tells me what we are doing. Yeah, that right there is going to throw me off schedule and that's not fair to the customers standing in the rain waiting for me. Then three people come running across the Walmart parking lot, wanting the bus.  Yeah, they live at the opposite end of my route. So I made a suggestion of how to go about it and it involved calling in the woman (that started this whole afternoon shift mess) a half hour early, taking her to go get the thing and I'll just finish my shift in the Sprinter. Saying he didn't like that idea is an understatement. But John, I'm going to be twenty minutes behind schedule if I go with you to get the bus. So? Oh yeah, the customers standing in the rain are going to be very pleased to hear you didn't give a damm. He says he had been in meetings all day with the town representative and couldn't get to the bus or me before now. So why didn't you call the office manager and let her keep an eye on when it was ready and arrange for me to get it? (that would be the 'liaisoning with the office staff the Prez had in his email)

Strike three for Patti. Maybe I should stuff my mouth with cotton balls ?? 

He packs the three customers into his van (company logo on the sides). Tells me to meet him at the yard, to park the Sprinter, and then hop into his van and he'll take me to get the bus. Before or after you drop these passengers off. Before. Follow him to the yard and park the Sprinter. Of course, I'm upset as he's thrown my schedule off, it's raining to boot. I threw my stuff out of the Sprinter onto the wet ground, did up the paperwork for it, threw the stuff I didn't need just to go get the other bus, into my car, climbed into the van and he tells me when I get the bus, to park it in the yard and go home as I was upset.

Then, in front of me and the customers, he calls this other driver to tell her that the bus will be parked and locked up in the yard as "Patti is upset so I'm sending her home".

I swear, that man has a death wish lol

Like how dare he call her and tell her that in front of me and customers ??!!!! By the time I hit the yard with the bus to park it, I was absolutely livid !! The driver of the other route's afternoon shift had just got there herself, and she knew by the look on my face, how mad I was.

Uh oh. She couldn't spare but a minute or two so I gave her a quick version of what happened.I'm not sure when he did it, but he took the key off me for the Sprinter and went to get the other bus with it in his hand, but it was in the Sprinter by the time I got back to the yard. And yeah, I had trouble sleeping last night.

An hour later, he sends a nasty email to the office manager about everybody butting into his business and too many people want to know what he's doing when it's none of our business .. how he called the labour board two weeks ago to clear this seniority bumping thing was on the up and up (riiiiiiiiiiite) and that a driver can cause enough trouble on her own. She forwards it to me as an F.Y.I. email.

Then today was supposed to be a good day. A school had called the office and inquired about the transit company/buses help teach grade three and four students the procedures and whatnot about riding the transit buses. It took a bit of planning and co-operation with the boss and the president to do, which they agreed to, and could be done with very little interruption in service. Basically the transit buses pick up the students, the students pay their fare, and we take them down the road. Today they wanted to go to the beach, which is off route for me, but is on route for the other route.  Everything went great. When it came to picking them up at twelve thirty at Beach 1 and take them to Beach 5, that's where we ran into a glitch. And it wasn't us that caused the glitch either lol. It was the boss. He was to cover route 1's (not me) run for the hour because of the timing of it. He might have done half the route, but he didn't get all the customers, so several were 'abandoned' and not happy.

He had nailed me at twelve (a half hour before picking up at Beach 1) when I pulled into the Walmart stop, that this school thing is never going to happen again as we were inconveniencing customers yada yada yada.

Uh oh. But the students and teachers paid the fare to do this. Is part of the whole educational thing. But you went off route and you're not allowed to, he says.

Uh oh. Here comes trouble.

After I dropped the passengers I had at Beach 5 and turned the corner to get back on my route ... and the timing of it was turning the corner when I did put me on schedule lol ... the boss was just coming down the road in the opposite direction and saw me.

Uh oh. Called the office manager on the radio (she was driving the Sprinter for this) and told her I would call her in a few minutes and warn her about something. Okay, she says.

Called her a few minutes later and told her what the boss said while I was at Walmart and that he just saw me turn off 34th St onto Mosely. She says ok, thanks, she'll handle it.

I had time between my transit bus shift and doing a run for the school bus boss, so I checked my email here at home.

Uh oh. The boss sent a very nasty email to all of us about how we're not allowed to go off route and if it is a request BY ANYBODY we are to call him and ask for permission to do so and he'll let us know if we can do it or not. (we can get fired for going off route without permission, even though the day I trained, he called me and asked if 'she' had gone off route while I was with her .. no ... then she did it on her own yada yada yada and yet, she still works there lol)

Then there was this whole thing in his email about not doing the school thing any more as we are inconveniencing paying customers yada yada yada.

geeeeeeezzzzzzzzz

By the time I got home from the school bus thing, the office manager had replied to all (he sent it to all so why not?) , so I replied to all following her reply and said I thought it was a great community service thing we did ... educational .... future customers ... they learn about paying a fare (they did pay their way) ... they learn about asking for transfers ... etc etc etc. About listening to the kids excitement and how they'll teach their families 'the ropes' about riding the transit bus etc etc. The office manager replied (to all) about agreeing with what I said and how it's possible we might get more customers from those kids .. if their families are reluctant to take the transit bus for whatever reason at the moment yada yada yada.

But I tell you, I have wondered why the boss didn't just ask for my resignation. This so-called assumed meek and mild and doormat of a person he hired, isn't.

I've told Billy that I don't have a choice but to do the three afternoon shifts a week for the summer, or else there would be no money to drive him and his friend to baseball (they practice/play baseball with the special olympic team in Collingwood) .. there would be no money to give him so he could go bowling with his friend Thursday nights ... no money for anything, food included. Dummy me for using my pay to catch up all my bills instead of socking it away due to a termination of two jobs instead of a temporary layoff from the school bus.

Oh, and rumour has it, and I'm supposed to be forwarded an email so I can read it, but it is from the Prez about how he is the one in charge and not the boss the drivers have to deal with etc etc. I guess the boss was not happy when he read it. (any chance I could be an attachment back and forth for all this? lol)  It wasn't in my email when I got home but I hope to get it soon. I would be interested to read it. And from what I heard about it, maybe it should have been sent to all of us.

Enough is enough. The one driver who wants me to keep fighting and the office manager both know I am thisclose to calling it quits by the end of August and go back full time to the school bus if something isn't resolved and this particular boss isn't forced into retirement or something (he's 77) The Prez is supposed to be coming back in August and I am hoping he'll have a meeting with the drivers ... one on one even, due to the one pushing her weight around aka sucking up??  ... to get the whole story of what has been going on in his absence.

Sleepless nights, I've had a few. And no, I haven't taken a sleeping pill to help. I hope it never gets bad enough for me to consider a pill. Hey, if it comes to that, then it is time to call it a day and move on.

So just call me trouble. With a capital T !! hahaha


 

Fable of the Porcupine

Fable of the porcupine 

It was the coldest winter ever. -  Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.  This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other. After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it, was the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive. The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but  when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

The Moral of the story!..........LEARN TO LOVE THE PRICKS IN YOUR LIFE !! 

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

(for as long as Vevo lets me ... just want to introduce her)

This young lady from England just turned 23 on May 5th !!! She also co-wrote this song as well. Helluva voice she's got. This song of hers spoke to me, speaks for me. Love it.





There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark,

Finally, I can see you crystal clear,
Go ahead and sell me out and a I'll lay your shit bare,
See how I'll leave with every piece of you,
Don't underestimate the things that I will do,

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark,

The scars of your love remind me of us,
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all,
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,
I can't help feeling,

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hand,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Baby, I have no story to be told,
But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn,
Think of me in the depths of your despair,
Make a home down there as mine sure won't be shared,

The scars of your love remind me of us,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
I can't help feeling,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Could have had it all,
Rolling in the deep,
You had my heart inside of your hands,
But you played it with a beating,

Throw your soul through every open door,
Count your blessings to find what you look for,
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold,
You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you've sown,

(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
We could have had it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
It all, it all, it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),

But you played it,
You played it,
You played it,
You played it to the beat.

First ramble of 2011 haha

I tell you, it's been a weird few months. But good in some ways as well.

I had found I was just getting a tad too antsy about things. Things that shouldn't have bothered me as much as they did. I do suspect getting antsy about some things were to avoid dealing with other things like I should have.

Got to say some things are a blessing in disguise. Like my laptop crashing when it did. Even if it was weird. Things were fine and dandy before I went to visit my friend Jean up north for a few days last August. Even the Saturday the kid and I were leaving it was working fine. Goodness knows she and I were emailing each other back and forth while I was trying to get the kid and I packed up and out of here haha. Strange huh ? But we had hit a snag in those emails. I sent her an email the night before, teasing her about her excitement of us coming. She took it the wrong way and the email she sent the next day ? Well, if I had read it, I wouldn't have gone. So our visit got off to a bad start and didn't get a whole lot better while I was there. Pretty much ready to call the friendship quits. I had even told her previously that she didn't need me as she had made new friends there etc etc. The day the kid and I came home is the day I found my laptop had died. And I don't mean the hard drive. Had replaced that a few months earlier. This time it was the motherboard and my computer geek lady said that replacing it would cost just as much as a new one, pretty much. And considering how much trouble she had finding a hard drive for an old laptop (came all the way from North Carolina, I think), it was better to just give my laptop a burial of a sorts. Even if it was really hard to do that. I didn't want to say bye to it. It was my lifeline of a sorts. Helped me sort a few things out within myself. And gave Jean and I a much needed break to heal.

The hard part was leaving behind some important people in my online life. No word of warning to you. And I was very lost.

Finally stopped moping around and caught up on some favorite books I had read before. Even found some new favorites.

Ranted and raved about the injustices of having to have two jobs and ranted that neither were doing what I needed them to do, all the while being thankful I did have them.

Got loads of yarn and started crocheting afghans again. Even tried my own pattern and after working on it and ripping it out a dozen times, finally found one I liked, even if it was a known pattern modified haha

My second job has changed. I'm no longer a 'sporadic' spare driver. Two drivers were let go within months of each other since January 1st, which opened up a spot for me to work three days a week, regularly. And three days in a row is considered full time with the transit position as you put in 36 hours in those three days. Whew. The third day was, and is, a hard thing to get used to. Even though I was only driving, I was exhausted by the time I got home Saturday nights. But believe me, I was so very thankful that I was making more money and able to get back on top of things around here. Just meant I had to tell my other boss what was happening. He was not happy and wondered why I wasn't happy doing just the school bus and leaving the transit as the 'extra' pay instead of vice versa now. So I told him. As nicely as I could too. The obvious lack of charters/school field trips were killing me. No, I didn't expect to get preferential treatment and get more than a fair share just because I became a 'single mom'. But it really irked me that a particular driver was scooping ALL the charters, even out of my schools, and what he turned down, another grabbed them and he had six years less seniority than me. Plus competing with a particular couple that the boss had worked with before. Wondered what I had to do when the transit job sort of fell into my lap. He wanted two weeks notice but being as this new thing was going to start the week of our March Break, it wouldn't really affect him for two and a half weeks anyways. And it was nice to have some breathing space when it came to paying the bills and getting everything caught up.

Then the transit job changed again. The town that we ran in decided that being available 14 hours a day was a good thing. That boss, the one that hired me and runs the transit system for now, called one day and said I would be getting an extra two hours a day, six hours each week, which meant an extra 12 hours on my pay. What ?? Thought he had lost his mind actually. We are under the same rules and reg's as other professional drivers ... eg truck drivers .. in that we cannot drive more than 13 hours without having a solid 8 hours off. He figured it didn't apply to 'him' and he could do whatever he wanted. Someone called the department of transportation on him, he was not happy because they told him flat out that he had to follow the rules and reg's or suffer thousands in fines. So now, instead of doing three 12 hour days, we are doing five 7 hour days. Yeah, we have some issues lol. Over the pay cut ... and not just the hour we lost .... plus other things that have cropped up. And no, he doesn't want a meeting to discuss them, so the drivers are kind of at a loss. Morale and respect has gone downhill. Some are even considering a 'work to rule' thing if the issues don't get solved soon. But still, we're glad we have a job.

Because of the pay difference between both jobs, picking up more hours with the transit job actually got me a new laptop ... a Lenovo Think Edge .... sooner than I would have if I had to rely on just the school bus pay. And what with summer coming up, it might have been another year before I made it back. Called my computer geek lady and gave her an approximate date on when I can finally swing it. She had this thing at her place for two weeks (she called and ordered it right away, apparently) and told me to take my time, no rush. How happy was I when I finally got to call her a bit sooner than I thought and ask 'when is a good day for you to have me come and get it?' haha

Then I pop over to Multiply and I'm looking at my site and thinking 'and how much did I forget in the meantime?' A lot, apparently. Took me a whole day to figure out how I got near the codes I needed to get at to change my site hahahaha

And yes, I'm very glad I'm back.
 

Just saying ......

:)



(p.f.o.w.)