Perpetual Ruminations

Tuesday

Not as late tonight, I'm doing a little better with time today. It was a full day but a good day. I was up shortly after three and to work by five, but was done by ten thirty and out of there by quarter to eleven. I called Rhonda, who had the day off, and talked for a bit, then drove over to my brothers and visited with him for a little while. He was trying to get a burner on the gas stove to work, it would not light with the igniter, but it would with a match. I had suffered similar problems with gas stoves, so I had an idea what the problem was. I got a pin from him and run it through the small hole that allows gas to flow to the pilot or the ignition. It had gotten a small amount of something spilled on it, and the heat then sealed it shut with carbon as the debris burned up. It worked fine after.

That done, he took me out for a quick lunch. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was good and it filled me right up. After I accompanied him on some shopping and a return, burning up a good hour, or better. I had to meet with an ex-guard at one in the afternoon, and this was a great way to burn up some time. After he was done, we parted company and he went back home to try his new smoker out, and I headed over to Target where I was to meet the person I mentioned.

She worked for us last year, and at first she was doing pretty good, but didn't have a lot of confidence in herself. In time she got better and was soon working alone. This allowed Rhonda and I to finally get some time off together, but then this guard had some other issues and could not work that shift. From there it just got worse, and by the end of summer she was leaving to pursue another position.

That didn't work out quite the way she had planned either, and then I seen on Facebook, she was going to try yet another position. Again, it seemed to dwindle into nothing. Recently she had an opportunity to follow her chosen career and move across the state. It looked like things had started working better for her, and she invited Rhonda and I to her going away party. From what I could gather from her posts and comments, they, her boyfriend and the kids, were all set to move and had a place all set up already. So, when she asked me if I had any openings, I was kind of surprised.

I don't know what happened last summer, but she began to lose interest in her job, she was very limited what times and days she could work, and then her performance also began to taper back. She did alright, but not as good as she should have. I assumed it was because of her looking for another job; she didn't want to put any effort into this one. I tried to talk to her a couple of times, but even her reasons began to conflict. One time she said one thing, then it was the something else. Not a lot, but enough to know that she was not telling the whole story and was trying to conceal something. Again, I figured it was something to do with her looking for another job.

But, it turns out that was not the case. Oh, it may have been a part of it, but there were more serious problems underlying the little things. She tried to keep things under wraps, but in the end things happened that indicated that there was some domestic trouble, which can really mess a person up. I don't know what the trouble was, and I don't care to know, it's none of my business. That it messed her up with work, that part I guess I had some rights to know, but the reasons and the actual problems didn't. I do know she left the guy she was with and ended up with a new boyfriend.

It was at this point that things seemed to turn around for her, too. That's why I think it's safe to assume there was some serious domestic problems, much deeper than the little bit she did disclose. After getting out of that relationship, she seemed to find some focus and tried to get her life back on track again. Only, her new job and new city to live in would have caused some serious problems with the dissolving of the past relationship. Again, I don't know very much at all, and don't need to. But, what I do need to know is that she is dependable and can be counted on to do her job, work her hours, and not need a babysitter.

From talking to her today, I feel she has confronted her problems and is trying to break free completely, but then, there are always some little strings that tangle a person up some. She made the decision to get clear of the strings before she would take the new job and leave with a clean break. The bottom line is, as far as it concerns me as her new boss, is that she wants to work and is showing that she has made the changes needed from last summer. I hope I'm right and this works out; I took a chance and gave her a second. Sometimes you just have to.