Vertago

Pulling a Fast One

      Money is the root of all evil. After being a caregiver for half of my life;
      it was time to pursue my career. I did warehouse at Service Merchandise.
      The company went bankrupt and didn't tell its employees. On payday we
      stood around in the parking lot of Service Merchandise and discussed how
      to get our final checks. I was living on minimum wage; pay check to pay check.
      My big brother told me to get a job at the Post Office. He liked to mail me
      M&M plastic Elfs for Christmas. So, I did.

      I was a 90 day wonder at the Post Office, but I never got full time.
      It was time for a serious job with benefits. I got hired as a manager at
      K-Mart. Being a manager has many perks, I was elected to shovel out
      the fire exits and clean the toilets. There was a tight budget at my K-Mart,
      but I believed in the K-Mart college. Someday I would retire as a store manager.
      I closed the store and put the cash in the safe. This was Assistant Manager
      work, but I wasn't an assistant manager. I was a department manager.
      I got fired for sexual harassment.

      The store manager had an assistant manager girl friend. He was married to
      another woman. I like his girl friend too. That was stupid. I weathered the
      storm and got a cashier/lot attendant job at Wal-Mart. That lasted 5 years.
      A college student from UNH said I was standing too close, when she asked
      which light bulb to use in her lamp. I had no idea that there was a three foot
      rule at Wal-Mart. The customer has a three foot circle that should not be entered
      by associates. The customer never told me I was standing too close.
      Tricky.

      When dad was being evaluated for an adjudication into a nursing home; he
      said, "I don't trust anyone." I thought that was ungrateful. I had been taking care
      of mom for 15 years until she died from klebsiella pneumonia. Dad died 3 years
      after entering the nursing home. My sister's husband said, "It was merciful."
      Dad had alcoholic alzheimers and couldn't move. The morphine IV drip was too
      high and his heart stopped. It was time to find a new career.

      "Hey mother fucker! I guess pay backs a bitch!" a fellow associate at the
      Home Depot shouted. He was referring to my foreclosure. I thought this was
      rude, but no one else did. The assistant managers thought it was funny.
      I asked my sister for $800.00. Her husband told me their money was tied up
      in IRAs. "Are you trying to pull a fast one?" she said.

      Row-row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily Merrily life is but a dream.

      =+=