The Waiting Game
So I got a call from a friend of the family saying I could have my old job back with the CSX railroad and would even get to keep my seniority. For those who don't know, seniority on the railroad is EVERYTHING. Better pay, better jobs, better time at home. I was hired by CSX back in June of 2002 after spending $7,000 of a family loan to go through their "railroad college" in Cincinnati, and I was assigned to a railyard an hour from my home in Danville, Illinois as a freight train conductor. At the time I was taking care of my dying father, the railroad made a whole bunch of promises they didn't follow through on, and I was laid off or "furloughed" 6 months later in November of 2002. Needless to say I was furious, but my father needed my attention more and more everyday, so I didn't fight it.
In June of 2003 I tried to hold a position in my home town of Lafayette (which is one of the promises the railroad broke the year before saying I could work there), and after a measly 2 trips which I never even got paid for, I was "furloughed" again, or so I was told. I thought I was done with CSX for good.
Fast forward to July 2006. We've just moved back home from Vermont, I'm STRUGGLING to find a job in my "wonderful" hometown "FULL of employment opportunities" (two descriptions I sold to my wife to help ease her decision to move back home), and this call comes in. A family friend, who is a friend of someone I graduated "railroad college" with back in Cincinnati in 2002, says I can hold a position in Indianapolis with all of my seniority, and since that's four years seniority I can forget about ever being laid off again and also that means I would only be gone 8-10 times a month. She was the only woman in our class and she and I got along fine, so I have every reason to believe her. Plus, all of this wonderful news is coming from my old boss from Danville, again, someone I got along with real well despite a bunch of broken corporate promises. He's excited that I can come back on such good terms, my classmate is excited, I'm so excited I can barely sleep.
To top if off, my old boss even set me up to get into an open dispatcher position in Indianapolis. I called the person he told me to, but it turns out I missed the deadline by a miserable two weeks. For those who don't know, train dispatchers make VERY good money, especially those working for one of the giant railroads in America. That little poison pill hurt, but if I can be a conductor for a year with the same railroad, I've "got my foot in the door" so-to-speak. My name is on the list for next year's dispatcher hire.
So I drove down to Indianapolis last week to rattle a few cages and get the ball rolling. If it's rolling... it's rolling UP-HILL! It turns out that everyone in Indianapolis is all for it, bosses and safety people, conductors and engineers, the training coordinator (who is at the front of this re-hiring movement), the terminal superintendent, EVERYONE. They need people badly. What's the hold-up? The same corporation down in Florida that's screwed me over time and time again. CSX corporate was apparently caught way off guard that I was even still in their computer, let alone still LEGALLY able to hold a job on the railroad, and it's gotten through two levels of corporate red tape so far. I've stirred up a hornets' nest and now everyone's looking around at everyone else and shrugging their shoulders. Everyone in Indianapolis says it's all still very positive and they're making plans for me to be there.
In the meantime my entire family is waiting on pins and needles for a single answer. This job could mean a VERY good life for my family and everything that I am is SCREAMING and DYING inside for this to happen.
Patience has never been one of my best attributes. It's grown since getting married and having a kid, but the promise of a better life for my family by doing something I love and will be well-paid for but is taking a little while to happen is almost more than I can bear.
In June of 2003 I tried to hold a position in my home town of Lafayette (which is one of the promises the railroad broke the year before saying I could work there), and after a measly 2 trips which I never even got paid for, I was "furloughed" again, or so I was told. I thought I was done with CSX for good.
Fast forward to July 2006. We've just moved back home from Vermont, I'm STRUGGLING to find a job in my "wonderful" hometown "FULL of employment opportunities" (two descriptions I sold to my wife to help ease her decision to move back home), and this call comes in. A family friend, who is a friend of someone I graduated "railroad college" with back in Cincinnati in 2002, says I can hold a position in Indianapolis with all of my seniority, and since that's four years seniority I can forget about ever being laid off again and also that means I would only be gone 8-10 times a month. She was the only woman in our class and she and I got along fine, so I have every reason to believe her. Plus, all of this wonderful news is coming from my old boss from Danville, again, someone I got along with real well despite a bunch of broken corporate promises. He's excited that I can come back on such good terms, my classmate is excited, I'm so excited I can barely sleep.
To top if off, my old boss even set me up to get into an open dispatcher position in Indianapolis. I called the person he told me to, but it turns out I missed the deadline by a miserable two weeks. For those who don't know, train dispatchers make VERY good money, especially those working for one of the giant railroads in America. That little poison pill hurt, but if I can be a conductor for a year with the same railroad, I've "got my foot in the door" so-to-speak. My name is on the list for next year's dispatcher hire.
So I drove down to Indianapolis last week to rattle a few cages and get the ball rolling. If it's rolling... it's rolling UP-HILL! It turns out that everyone in Indianapolis is all for it, bosses and safety people, conductors and engineers, the training coordinator (who is at the front of this re-hiring movement), the terminal superintendent, EVERYONE. They need people badly. What's the hold-up? The same corporation down in Florida that's screwed me over time and time again. CSX corporate was apparently caught way off guard that I was even still in their computer, let alone still LEGALLY able to hold a job on the railroad, and it's gotten through two levels of corporate red tape so far. I've stirred up a hornets' nest and now everyone's looking around at everyone else and shrugging their shoulders. Everyone in Indianapolis says it's all still very positive and they're making plans for me to be there.
In the meantime my entire family is waiting on pins and needles for a single answer. This job could mean a VERY good life for my family and everything that I am is SCREAMING and DYING inside for this to happen.
Patience has never been one of my best attributes. It's grown since getting married and having a kid, but the promise of a better life for my family by doing something I love and will be well-paid for but is taking a little while to happen is almost more than I can bear.