God's Strategy Game
I am God's practical joke right now. It kind of sucks.
So we started out in May with the mugging at the gas station. Most of you guys know about that. Drivin' home, I stopped to get coffee because I was tired, ended the night getting assaulted by some psycho. Of course, I didn't have any more money so it's not like the dude got anything.
That experience definitely had me on edge. The past couple of weeks haven't been super cool, plus the pressure of school and preparing for the ren faire that I volunteered for. Friday I had a meeting with the ole boss, and he dropped a bomb.
Paul and I found out we're getting our pay cut significantly and there would be a "commission structure" in place above the 60% or so of our base pay. (Yeah, like, I run things. I don't have time to sell jack squat, not with the mess that they've made of this business, but that's beside the point.) He said costs needed to get cut and so that's what had to happen. Oh, and he was coming on full time in the fall (cut my pay to take care of yours? Could that be it?). Great. Not only that, but we'd be responsible for a good chunk of our health insurance too.
I felt like throwing up as we walked out of the building. The guy may as well have handed me a piece of paper that said, "please quit your job." That's what it felt like. I have outlived my usefulness so I would be driven out. The thing is, no one knows how to run that business except me. Good luck. Even Max can't run it these days because process flow has changed so much.
So as I sat in the car panicking about finances -- we barely make it now, Paul and I, nevermind at like eight bucks an hour less than I currently make -- I finally just passed right out, only to be awoken by Paul SMASHING THE CAR INTO ANOTHER ONE. No, I kid you not. They'd paved 495, we had five minutes of torrential rain, and after that, braking on 495 was like braking on sheer ice. It wasn't Paul's fault... it was just bad luck or something.
So there I was, on 495, realizing that I had no one to call who could help me. I scrolled through the phone book in my cell, and tried to figure out how to get my prop to the site for the faire, and get myself off of the highway. So I called Ed down in Connecticut and got the numbers for the folks running the faire. One of them came to get us, and that was very nice. I acutely felt the distance from my family -- when bad things happen, I don't have anyone here. Whee. That was a pretty awesome feeling. Nothing like being single, away from your family, and having your one local friend IN THE CAR with you.
This week I'm just kind of shell-shocked, trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Being in school full time and working full time makes it really hard to get a second job. I think really the only solution is to go elsewhere and get a better paying job. I mean, what else can I do? Life is not fun right now, and it definitely feels like God kinda has it out for me, but truth be told, perhaps it's better this way. I probably would never have thought about leaving the company and going someplace else if I hadn't had the pay cut announcement. Now, I simply don't have the luxury of staying.
Anyway, if any of you guys knows of a company that might want to hire someone like me, hey, lemme know. At this point, I will go anywhere in the country. I can't stay in this position. I certainly can't lose my health insurance -- I would be absolutely screwed. So keep me in mind!