Random thoughts

I find myself sitting here at home, wondering just what a 58 year old female can actually do when needing a job.

yep, i'm outta work again. this time its transportation related. i don't drive, and the city buses here in my town don't offer evening or weekend service. well, we can ride the bus from 9am till 3pm on saturdays, but when your hours last until 7 or 8pm and you need to get to work on sundays, its a problem.

four years ago, we had evening service for the general public that ran 6 days a week, called the nifty lift.

the nifty lift are buses that are used primarily for handicapped riders, as they go door to door, rather than making the handicapped travel to bus stops. they were also available for seriously senior citizens, who were still living on their own, but needed the extra 'lift' to go do their errands, or visit their friends.

four years ago, the new mayor canceled this service. we still have the nifty lift, but it runs during the day and doesn't take non-handicapped riders anywhere....unless the regular buses break down, and the nifty lift is required to finish the run.

needless to say, a lot of people in this town lost their jobs. employers like it when you actually show up to work your shift...and not enough employers were willing or able to change things so the employees could work different shifts,

a lot of folks here are not happy with the mayor. we just had an election here. with over 40.000 registered voters in our county, only 10,000+ voted...but they were mostly all democrats...the mayor is republican.

which brings me to my problem. i'm really pretty good at the job i just lost. but it makes a difference WHEN you do it.

i sold prepaid portrait packages for olan mills studios here in my town. when i first started, i had a ride, so i could work evenings and weekends. i could easily make my quota of sales per hours i worked, cause the ability to sell these packages depends on how many people are out and about on any given day. people generally shop for their families evenings and weekends...about the time i'm packing up to leave for the day, people are starting to enter the store our studio is located in to shop for their family needs.

so my sales fell, and my superior had to let me go. i don't know about you guys, but i've never had a boss fire me with tears in her eyes. she said if my transportation problem is ever resolved so i can work the hours needed, she'd hire me back in a heartbeat.

that makes me feel good. to know that i am valued as an employee, and as a person...she said that she really liked me, that my coworkers appreciated the extra things i did to help them out when the studio was busy, that the employees of the store the studio is located in said they thought i was a really nice person.

so its down to the mayor and his betrayal of the citizens of my town who don't have cars.

shoot, if there was the money to buy a car, i'd drive it. i've done it before. i drove for nearly 20 years without a license.( i don't like taking tests.) i finally got caught. went to court, paid a fine, did probation, and its over. i haven't driven since. the fact that i don't feel comfortable behind the wheel of a car has nothing to do with the law. perhaps that makes me a terrible person, but its a truth. what it does reflect is my health. i don't have the reflexes now that i did before.

i'm not sure i could make my hands and feet do what my mind tells them to do.

so i really need the bus. and maybe come november we'll have a mayor in office who sees the problem and does something to fix it.