Fixin' to toss myself in the dumpster

[mark page]

What a last couple of weeks. Had to lay off one of my team at work per corp. payroll standards, and cut another to basically part time. (Only took me close to a year to develop the outstanding team that I have/had). Now am operating a full schedule commercial operation with basically 2.5 people. Of course I am the only salaried personnel on duty, so you know what that means, 70 hr work weeks to keep the same customer satisfaction level plus all the paperwork involved.
Got #1 step-daughter that just got married the day before Easter this year. Now wants divorce. Seems LOML outpours the cash to her bank account. I have yet to state the ole "I told you so" story, so I bite my tongue. Seems she has a home town girlfriend living with them, without job, etc. so it seems I'm not only supporting a married couple but a jobless friend too. Come home tonight and all are here plus about $80.00 worth of pizza on the counter.....:mad::mad::mad:
The day gets better...I send a co-worker to get a case of soda with my debit card--it gets denied twice and states invalid. No other reasons stated. Worked fine on the way home at my banks ATM and local C-store. Spent several hours wondering if someone hacked my bank account.
Last week get a call from my son and daughter that the ex was taking off with a fling and gave them 3 days to move out and find a home. Got them fixed up. Then get a call today that daughter was arrested for minor in posession of alcohol charge. Third offense in est. 6 months. (I don't blame her for drinking but dang-it!!). She's 19 yrs old now. Gonna guess she will get some jail time out of this one. Plus this puts the burden on my son as she was sharing the rent with him for the apartment I helped with.
Defroster not working on one work vehicle so that means at least two days in the shop minimum to pull dash and figure that one out.....plus that one is my daily driver.:mad::mad::mad:
Then many years ago when I was laid up with a neck surgery, I read the complete article of Einstein's theory of relativity. All 213 pages of it. I didn't understand the first sentence in the first paragraph of the book. But I read it all thinking I would sometime wake up in the middle of the night with a revelation that now I understand the whole universe. Tain't happened yet.

The unidentified noise that you all are about to hear is just me walking out on my deck and letting loose....:eek: Sorry, just had to vent somewheres.

[David G Baker]

Once in a while I get asked why I left my 2nd wife and three grown step children in California and moved to Michigan. My answer is pretty much what you described that is going on in your life right now. Mine took place 7 years ago and I have never been happier. I am much poorer now than I was in California but I am now semi-sane and am starting to understand E=MC squared.
I wish you luck.

[Peter Stahl]

Sounds like you need to start building that ladder so you can get into the dumpster. Sorry you're having such a bad year, hope it ends on a better note for you Mark.

[Paul Greathouse]

Dang Mark, You sure make me feel guilty for complaining about my petty problems. Seriously though, I hope things get better for you. Try getting in some extra shop time, it might help take your mind off of things for a while.

[Sean Troy]

Sounds hard to imagine now but, your getting rid of all or at least a lot of lifes crappies in a relitively short period of time which will leave you with a longer amout of lifes much better times.

[Jim Becker]

Look at it from the bright side...you're getting past all this stuff at one time. :)

Seriously, I hope things smooth out for you quickly!

[Jim O'Dell]

Mark, so sorry life is dumping on you right now. Keep your chin up. Jim.

[Ted Shrader]

Mark -

Sorry to hear of your troubles this year. There is a saying that "You are only given the load you can bear." Sometimes we wish we weren't so dang strong.

Hang in there buddy, we are with you.

Ted

[Calvin Hobbs]

Hopefully you're not a Chiefs fan as well!!

Cal

[Judy Kingery]

Mark,
You know it's cliche, but there is some real truth to that saying when it rains it pours and that can sometimes really leave you feeling overwhelmed, understandably. It's good you wrote to friends and family here and come back and read encouraging remarks from time to time; that can help - and knowing we listen. Hang in there, maybe try to deal with one thing at a time and hopefully before long, things will look up once again. One other suggestion? Find what you like to do for YOU - such as shop time suggested. Where you can just be. Music, working with hands, something alone without a zillion things going on around you and yep, take some time for you. Will keep you in my thoughts. Jude

[John Schreiber]

Mark,

Feel free to dump here any time you need to. You've got more on your plate than I ever hope to. Step back and take a deep breath when you can. Value and take care of the good things you've got and make wise decisions.

Even though we are spread around the country and world, we are all pulling for you.

[Randy Moore]

Hopefully you're not a Chiefs fan as well!!

Man, Calvin that was a low blow. LOL But they are terrible.:o

The unidentified noise that you all are about to hear is just me walking out on my deck and letting loose....:eek: Sorry, just had to vent somewheres.


Mark, if you want to say "I told you so......" Don't, you will end up in more trouble than you can shake forrest at. Been there, done it. I been married twice before this wife. I have a tounge that is about an inch shorter know than 11 years ago, and getteing shorter all the time.

PM me if you want a shoulder to hit. I will give you my cell #

Hang in there \. And this is what family is for. We are family

[mark page]

Thanks all for the support. I feel better today, and trying to keep Mt. St. Marks from errupting. I know that some days you're the dog and some days the fire hydrant. Big thing now is to try to keep work at work and not bring it home, and keep home at home and not bring that to work. Plus sorry to the moderators that my original post had to be edited. It just kills me that I have proved mathmatically that it takes a minimum of 180 man hours a week to run my store. (this takes in account of me working 60 hrs of that). So 180-60=120 hrs. I now have 65 man hrs to work with minus me. I am now 55 man hours short. I got to admit that I'm good at what I do, but not THAT good. I can multi-task with the best of them, but I can't be in two places at the same time.
Now if only I can pick the correct 6 numbers this time, I can add another headache to my list (but a good one) lol. :D:D:D

About the Chiefs (Chumps). I have to admit they played decent the last game, but there is little hope. I do believe the GM has got to go before things get better for them.

[Calvin Hobbs]

Mark,

I hope you took my Chiefs comment the right way....I do hope things turn around for you.

If you are interested, call me in the morning at 816-985-7432 I think I have access to a free pair of tickets to Sunday's game. I will be at work by 7 or so. Cal

[mark page]

Calvin,
I DEFINATELY appreciate the offer on the tickets. Unfortunately the only days that LOML and I share off are Saturdays, which I get two a month off. I ultimately end up doing a fair share of kid watching on Sundays. I was going to call you tomorrow to give you the proper thanks in person, but with my schedule will space it off. No offense on the Chiefs. I'm totally disgusted with their performance & management. It's like Tony Gonzalez, he has earned a right to try for a super bowl ring, but will never get it with the Chiefs. He definately needs to get transferred for at least a shot at one. I back him 100% and do not consider him whining at all. As a personal opinion, Carl P. has got to go for the Chiefs to turn around.
Again, thanks again for the generous offer. We will need to have a Creeker visit sometime.
Mark

[Jim Becker]

I do remember the retail world well from my Radio Shack days and feel for your situation. The primary reason I moved on back in 1987 was the hours. Being in a mall, when the mall is open, the store had to be open...and that means staffed. Being paid on P&L results means carefully managing staffing to the minimum necessary to produce sales gains, but when someone calls in, um..."sick"...and there is nobody else available at short notice, the boss gets to work. And then there were the 8am Saturday morning sales meetings we started to have to do, even if scheduled to work until close. The money was great as it was a successful store, but I couldn't take it physically anymore...