A Worker's Lament

Came across something I had written years ago but never added to portfolio.

Where would we find the money we needed to make ends meet? How would we ever be able to make it on just one income in this day and age of two cars, two incomes, and when you think about it, two lives? If you honestly look at people, you would not believe the number of them that seem to be one way at work and quite another away from it. I know that to some it seems rather elementary and not a real shock, but have you ever worked with someone, anyone, for an extended period of time? After a time, whether it be a short or long period is affected by many different variables, one person thinks they know everything about the other and knows exactly how that person will react to a given situation. Yet, if they run into them outside of that environment, they are shocked when they see that other wearing, eating, or doing something totally out of character. Back to my original train of thought...

Just yesterday, we had a company meeting, where we all were informed that there were to be changes made in hours worked by all hourly employees. Immediately, the newest member of the crew became tense. He had just started with us recently, having come over from another company, that had to lay off staff due to the fear of a falling economy. It was a common enough occurrence around the country, but still not that common around our neck of the woods( I wonder what the equivalent of this cliche is when you live in the desert?).He was given to understand that we were not laying anyone off, just shuffling hours to buffer the amount of money spent on more than one person doing the same job at the same time. I have been with this outfit for a few years now and I have seen times when we got sent home early to keep hours down. I've seen times where you had to put your foot down and say, enough, I've got to get some sleep. I had seen the times of feast and the times of famine, still, I had never seen it get to the point where everybody's hours were to be 40 a week. No more, no less, this was new. Work was staying relatively steady, but the revenue was down due to giving out lower deals. These deals were made because of both the economy and also because we had seven other outfits doing the same job in a town of just over a million (stat does not include any persons not counted due to citizenship status and an aversion to living in the light. I never understood this living in the shadows thing, hadn't people just taken part in numerous protest marches out in the open?).

This morning I got up and went in to work, like any other morning, before the sun got up. I didn't have a feeling of fear, a gnawing in my gut, not even a weight on my shoulders. I know that we will get through this somehow, I also know that it will be on our own. I refuse to even think about seeking government handouts, I don't believe in them (plus I never understood people saying the government owes them something, why? Where is that written?). I leave my home and head off to the job that I was asked to do. It is not my job because of the simple fact the job existed before I came along to do it and it will be there long after I stop doing it. People seem to have this notion that they own their job and that the company should thank their lucky stars to have them as employees any damn way. Huh? My head starts to hurt when I try and figure these people out, kinda like an ice cream headache without the initial joy of eating something that cold too fast, even after years of knowing better. You still do it, all the while, knowing your going to regret it later.
I was on my way to work when my phone went off, it was the boss informing me that our other early guy had gotten hit and knocked off of his motorcycle on his way in. Don't even start with, "Was he wearing his helmet?", I don't know and it isn't my place to question him about it anyway. All I know is that someone who busted his butt every day, more so than a lot of kids half his age, got hurt because some idiot didn't watch close enough. My fellow co-worker and I haven't went and hung out after work, we've never had a beer together, and seldom see each other more than a few minutes in the morning. Yet, we possess a mutual respect for each other and also for the work ethic we have. Our jobs are not done based upon if it's raining or not, if we have a headache, or anything else that gets used as an excuse for missing work. Our country was not founded by men of lousy work ethic and, thank the good Lord, some men still know what it means to earn a living.

Later today, I found out that my fellow worker had to have surgery, would be off at least three months, with him probably not feeling back up to snuff for six to nine months. After worrying about my problems with finances, I felt ashamed. I guess that I will now get some overtime from taking up the slack left from being a man down. Don't get me wrong, I will take O.T. anytime I can get it, just not at the sake of someone else. He did not ask for time off and I did not ask to benefit from something like this. I guess what they say is true, "sometime when you least expect it...".

All in all, I'd rather pull my forty and have him there getting his share, not because I can't handle the load, but because we are both working men. We get the job done, day in and day out, thankful that we were able to fill the job that was being offered by this company. Both of us have had jobs a lot worse than this, some without near as many hours or work, but not nearly as fulfilling as knowing we have a hand in making our branch grow and succeed. No, I'm not some HR persons dream candidate, I have a tendency to smoke too much, drink too much coffee( is that possible?), and call a spade a spade. I just hate to see someone who works his tail off get put out of action, when someone who is better suited at licking the bosses boots gets a raise and a job riding a desk. Keep your desk, I've got work to do.