Unintended Consequences - Doper Division

Currently there is much discussion of the number of job openings with few or no applicants. One reason no one seems to address is drug tests. Most employers require drug tests. Their reasons may vary insurance requirements, contracts, and personal preference but it is barrier. Self inflicted on the part of applicants, to be sure, but a barrier none the less.

 The decriminalization of the evil weed, or, in my state (CO) legalization, has caused unintended, or unforeseen, consequences.

 A lesser but real factor is the escalating housing costs in the urban areas where you find most jobs. In the Denver area a small apartment rents for $1,200 a month. $12 an hour times 40 hours times 4.33 weeks less 60% (taxes, federal, state, local) nets around $1,247. Two incomes are needed. Deduct child care and???? At $18 an hour the net is around $1,870. That leaves just over $600 for food, transportation, utilities, and insurance.

 A realistic look at inflation is somewhere in the mid teens at a minimum (real world – not government speak).

 Do I have answers? No, none that stand a chance until the economy completely collapses.

 For a different perspective I ran this by my 46 year old son who works in a factory environment. He is in his fifth year of sobriety and was never a drug user beyond a toke or two in social situations.

 He has no problem working with pot smokers, so long as they don’t get high on the job, and tells me many have as much trouble stopping pot as he did with alcohol.

 As always, YMMV.

 

Back In The Saddle

Took on another part time (3 days a week) job. With the improved economy, fewer people are behind on their mortgages, so I’m getting less work. (Thanks, President Trump).

There are some upcoming expenses and I avoid all debt so this move, for me, makes financial sense.

The job is driving the big Nissan van with up to seven drivers to a rally point near the Wyoming border. It is a round trip of 130 miles and takes about 3 ½ hours. These drivers operate big tankers that collect oil drilling waste and take the waste to a processing plant.

The plan is to do the job for three months this summer. Come winter and I am gone. Pays $15 an hour.

I’ll still keep the mortgage gig.

Yeah, yeah, at 75 I should be ‘retired’. Fuck that, I’ll go until I drop.

Furloughed

Elephants stomp and ants tremble or so it seems. The courier biz is going through some changes and clients are lost and gained. My employer is losing some routes including the bulk of mine. I'm offered other routes but don't like them. Hence, I'm taking a self imposed furlough. 

Financially I'm fine other than facing some large dental bills. Then again, I'm kind of liking the Kentucky meth head look.

This weekend I worked because they didn't have anyone. Flu has hit the company hard. Sort of riding for the brand. The route involves driving to Estes Park, home of badly driven Subarus and SUVs, plus Boulder and Denver. Not something I enjoy.

  "Give me room, lots of room and starry skies above...."

One thing I've learned in life is this. The only constant is change.

So we'll see how this plays out.

500 Miles

A reader asked via email why I am still working and what my job involves.

The first answer is the money comes in handy.

The job involves driving to three hospitals (sometimes four and meeting a driver from a different route for a transfer) and picking up medical specimens (blood, urine, feces, tissue) and packing them for shipment via air freight or direct delivery to other labs.

 Nothing about the job is particularly difficult or requires specialized training.  There is a lot of detail, mainly the proper transport (refrigerated packs, dry ice) and accountability. What might be termed “chain of custody”. Considerable molesting of electrons with tablets and scanners are used (my weakest skill set).

Mainly the job involves driving 500 miles in all weather conditions. Company policy is, if the highways are open, we go.

There are two of us assigned to this route. We are both old farts with decades of dealing with bad roads and mechanical problems. Neither of us are subject to “vapors”.

Starting around 0330, we leave Greeley, CO westbound to Interstate 25, then North to Wheatland, WY.

These are some camera feeds from various highway department cameras. These are live and best viewed during daylight hours.

http://www.cotrip.org/map.htm#/default?StillCameraId=11114

http://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/I25Whitaker/I25WhitakerAll.html

http://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/I25Bordeaux/I25BordeauxAll.html

This site has such high winds the cameras get blown out of position.

The first stop is Wheatland, WY. From there we go to Torrington, WY on US 26 via Guernsey and Ft. Laramie. This route is prone to thick fog. No camera coverage for this segment.

From Torrington we go East (directly into the rising sun) on US 26 to Scottsbluff, NE.

http://hb.511.nebraska.gov/#cameras/albumView/59?timeFrame=TODAY&layers=roadReports%2CwinterDriving%2Ccameras%2CotherStates

From Scottsbluff we head South on Hwy 71 via Kimball, NE to Colorado 

Hwy 14. Hwy 71 is four well maintained and plowed lanes to Kimball. After Kimball it is two lanes, no shoulders,  not plowed at night, and the Colorado section is poor overall condition.

http://hb.511.nebraska.gov/#cameras/albumView/89?timeFrame=TODAY&layers=roadReports%2CwinterDriving%2Ccameras%2CotherStates

At Hwy 14 we head West for nine miles and then turn South on Hwy 52 to Fort Morgan.

http://www.cotrip.org/map.htm#/default?StillCameraId=10825

This camera site has one error. Hwy 52 runs North-South, not East-West as stated on the site.

From Kimball to Fort Morgan there is not one commercial establishment. Cell phone coverage is intermittent. There are numerous missile silos to remind you of what OldAFSarge calls, “Armageddon on demand”.

Some of the locals are not friendly.

An occasional annoyance are a string of Air Force Hummvee’s tooling along at 40 mph. Up armored with a weapon turret. Sometimes they have a machine gun mounted.

From Fort Morgan it is all four lane Interstate and toll roads to Denver International Airport (DIA) where most specimens are air freighted to the Mayo Lab in Rochester MN.

Leaving DIA we make our way northward to Greeley where we deliver the last of the specimens and inter hospital packages and mail. 

After  pickup of inter hospital mail and packages for delivery the next day, we return to base, finish paperwork, and clock out. Usually it is a 13 hour day without weather delays.

One positive of the job is no micromanagement. I check in with dispatch and check out. Days will go by without talking to anyone in management. We drive a Prius, which I dislike, but there is no skimping on maintenance, tires, and repairs.

I have hopes 2017 will bring to an end some long term problems I deal with and I can finally retire. For now, the job allows me to do things important to me and those who depend on me.

Fatigue

Slacking in the blog writing department caused by a combination of fatigue and no inspiration explains the lack of recent posts.

Readers may remember I started working part time to deal with medical bills from the heart problem and pacemaker implant last August. Overall, the total now runs well over $150,000. After insurance, etc., the balance is around $7,000 which I will dispute after having a billing expert review my case. It appears AARP/United Health Care is trying to avoid paying around $4,000. In any case, all the “piddling” bills are paid and a payment schedule arranged with the hospital. That bill I won’t live long enough to pay but the monthly payment is about the same as a bar bill. Life goes on.

I’ve been putting in long hours on the “part time” job. In my prime 60+ hour work weeks were no problem. In my dotage they are a bitch. Part of the increase is training to take over a different route. The other is a major shakeup with my employer.

My employer was a lean, mean working machine. They used Toyota Corollas and Subarus that they kept running with engine and transmission replacements. One Toyota had over 600,000 miles on the body.  They out hustled the hated competition. Their competitor was bought by a big multinational firm who then purchased my employer. The resulting turmoil of the mergers is causing an exodus of long term employees. Many are quitting over butt hurt feelings because changes are being made. Stupid. The only constant is change and you best have an ownership position if you think you can dictate what changes can and cannot be made.

My supervisor is a woman in her forties with eleven years on the job. In addition to the turmoil she has learned she needs a double mastectomy.  Somehow she keeps her focus on the job. She has asked me for help covering gaps as she hires and trains new people and I don’t have the heart to refuse.

Next week I was scheduled to take a new route and have been training on that route along with covering my existing route which is the cause of the 60 hour weeks. That has now been postponed for a week. The person I’m replacing has agreed to stay another week as a new person is trained for the route I’ve been covering and another silly employee comes back after taking time off to get married.

I’m looking forward to the new route, three days a week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It starts at 0330, goes to Wheatland WY, Torrington WY, Scottsbluff NE and then Denver International Airport. Makes for about a nine hour day. Yes I know, come winter I may regret my decision. Here are some pictures of the daily “grind” I will face.

What is hardest to do is stay “retired”. I’m determined to be just a worker drone and stay the hell out of management. As an example, we have an employee who makes terrible decisions with her personal life. Worse, she wants everyone to know about her personal dramas. Certainly, she will be sharing all of this with our customers as she makes her rounds; she won’t keep her mouth shut. There are two obvious solutions. One, put her on routes that pick up specimens from lock boxes only with no people contact. Two, terminate her.

I clearly see a train wreck coming. Hard as it is for me, I am keeping my mouth shut and focusing on being that worker drone. I’m done with herding cats.

For now I’m enjoying reading your posts. Assuredly, rants are building up inside and will gush into the internet in the future.

Can't Quit Working

Much to the disgust of some of my friends, notably Dirty Al, and some family members, I can’t retire. Guess work is an addiction.

Left the car testing job last fall and picked up a job deicing airliners. Nice job, mainly 4-5 hour shifts, pays decently, and I can play with big toys!

Come spring will find something else to do. Probably be back on the road but I’m glad I am sitting at home this winter.

Having a steady retirement income does allow me to only do jobs I find interesting.

Alas, Back To Work

Rejoined the work force recently as the snow plowing job has never materialized (Colorado Welcome Wed Oct 28, 2009). The idea is to have more funds available for summer excursions. This new job involves test driving and evaluating pre-production cars and trucks. That is as much detail as I can disclose.

There is one problem. I need to become familiar with the new technology being built into cars; sound systems, nav systems. hands free phones, built in computers, etc.
This will bring unending amusement to family and close friends who know I despise reading instructions. I am a technology Luddite. As an example, a young friend had to set up a function on my cell phone for me. My TV remote has never been programmed past on/off and channels up or down.

I will learn. It will involve cursing, adult beverages, “encouraging” comments from family and friends but it will happen. For someone who spent years selling cars and trucks, it is about as fun a job one could find. In the end, I just evaluate. I don’t need to buy the stuff.

The job is set up to be part time, no benefits, which is fine with me. Right now the part time isn’t happening - lots of hours. Oh well, it keeps one off the streets.

The good part of the job is what it isn't, management, dealing with public, and herding cats and chickens.