So yesterday was something I truly needed.
Yesterday, my mom and a good portion of her brothers and sisters held the annual family reunion. It was supposed to be at a local park, but, due to the rainy-like weather, we headed for the home of my cousin Kim. As I said, most of my aunts and uncles (with the exception of three) showed up but most of my cousins were not there. (One lives in Florida, last I heard, and another is in Missouri. The rest of my cousins probably had other obligations or responsibilities.) My mom and stepdad bought a bunch of hamburger meat last weekend so we could have burgers instead of meatballs and shaved ham (I'm not overly fond of ham. I'll eat it every so often, but it's not my favourite meat) or, worse yet, Aunt Mary's sloppy joes (they have no taste!).
There are two foods that are a must for a Patnode family reunion, and I do mean an absolute must! They are ham rolls (with the cream cheese and green onions . . . yum!) and deviled eggs. Since no one's ever forgotten to bring such delicacies, no one's ever complained (or started a riot . . . which is possible with ten children, twenty grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren, and we're all together in the same place at the same time). I would not want to be there should such an event happen.
It was great being around people who do not carry themselves with pretenses. My mom's family is Catholic, though I think Anne is among the very rare few that actually head to church. Kim does, too, but I don't think it's to a Catholic church . . . I don't even think Kim is Catholic! (She and her older brother are actually stepcousins . . . they're from my Aunt Mary's first marriage, but Joe's already treated them like they were his kids so . . . they're cousins. ^_^ Go figure, huh?) I would like to say it's weird, but it really isn't. My mom and my aunts and uncles have always been who they were, and if no one liked it, oh well. There's the door, don't let it hit you on the ass on your way out.
Anyway, being around family and actually socializing was something I truly needed yesterday. Why? Because Friday night, I had an epiphany. I'm starting to show the beginning signs of depression, and I will not allow myself to wallow in self-pity.
What's bringing this on?
The fact I'm now sure I'm in a battle to keep my unemployment benefits.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned I no longer worked at Wendy's. That I had done something stupid, and the end result was the loss of my job. At that time, I really did not want to go into detail about what had happened. I was upset with myself over the incident, and the thought of sharing with more than the few people I had was not a pleasant thought.
Now, it's time for me to speak up. The day I lost my job, I had lost a one-hundred dollar bill. I know I hadn't stuck it under my twenties or dropped into the cashbox like I was supposed to do, but, at the time, I thought I had. For some reason I still don't know why, I started to look for it under my large bills. It wasn't there, and I knew, I knew, I had to tell the shift manager, and so I did. She counted my till down while I and another co-worker searched for the missing money. No go. The general manager was then called followed by a call to the district manager. Now I'm never severely short on a till. Somtimes I'm over as well and sometimes it's exactly the amount it's supposed to be. Anyway, the decision was now what to do with me. It was asked if I was willing to pay the money back. Since I know they can't legally make me pay it back, I said 'no' and that I couldn't afford it . . . not even in payments. Because of my refusal -- not because of the actual shortage itself -- I was fired about an hour later.
Here is where things get really fucked up. This incident happened on June 30th. On July 3rd, the general manager thought about how the money could still be in the register drawer (which is where the cash drawer sits, for those of you who don't know these things), and she pulled the drawer apart to find the money. Lo and behold!, there it was. No shortage whatsoever now. She said she was going to try and get me reinstated to my job because the money was found. She was not hopeful because Bill could still say 'no' due to the fact I didn't follow proper cash procedure. I wasn't hopeful, either. I waited the entire weekend to hear back. I called on the 7th to find out what the verdict was and it was, 'no.' I filed for unemployment.
Now, because I've filed for unemployment and I have a very valid claim, I'm pretty sure the franchise owner wants to fuck things up even more. I'd been into Wendy's twice within the past week -- once on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday -- but it was Thursday morning the general manager called me and asked me to sign a new termination notice. She assured me it would not affect my unemployment so, stupid and sleepy me, I agreed.
Before anyone here starts to bitch at me for signing the new slip, I'm going to say this now: It has NOT been signed. I've been informed, repeatedly by my parents, my stepparents, a really good friend of mine, AND a lawyer it is illegal for Wendy's to be doing this. I've not stepped foot into Wendy's since Wednesday morning. The lawyer (who is in Bay City and counseled me over the phone) has also told me any requests to them now have to be in writing. In fact, I asked for copies of the original termination notice and the new one on Thursday. The old slip has been thrown out.
I'm not happy about any of this. I spent almost an hour on the phone with the unemployment agency just to find out if it were legal for Wendy's to be asking me to sign a new notice two weeks after the initial termination. As my luck would have it, I spoke with a very soft-spoken lady, had a hard time hearing her responses to some of my questions, but I know, from her, that Wendy's has yet to respond to the questions in their investigation.
Oh, and here's why they want a new termination notice slip. On the original, it was written I was being terminated for being unable to pay the one hundred dollars back. The manager who wrote the notice is now fired as well. A little too much on the conveniences, no?
Now, I want to say this to everyone. This isn't Wendy's the Corporation acting like this. Like with McDonald's and Burger King and every other fast food restaurant out there, the Wendy's I worked for is owned by a guy in Big Rapids. They also have a regional office in Detroit and it's the guy from Detroit who I believe is behind all of this. The fact he hasn't responded to the unemployment agency's questions right away looks bad for him. Even if he doesn't answer, the agency will still make a determination. Up until then, I'll be keeping track of the times my former boss calls me and what the phone calls are about. She hasn't called me back since Thursday morning, which has put me a little on edge, but she's not going to be happy when I tell her if she wants the new termination notice signed, she'll have to submit it to me in writing and stating the reasons for the new termination slip.
Yeah, I'm a bitch, and I know it. Ain't life grand?
So that's the whole story. I'm pretty sure if it hadn't been for Thursday morning, I would be fine. After the whole incident, I had to be honest with myself about my reasons for staying at my job, and it doesn't bother me that I'm no longer there. Things happen for a reason, and it's up to me to figure out those reasons. I just need to put a damper on my dampened mood and LIGHTEN UP. ^_^ So that's what I'll do.
Now to do something fun yet constructive . . . oh man, I wish I would have thought about that fortress sooner!
There are two foods that are a must for a Patnode family reunion, and I do mean an absolute must! They are ham rolls (with the cream cheese and green onions . . . yum!) and deviled eggs. Since no one's ever forgotten to bring such delicacies, no one's ever complained (or started a riot . . . which is possible with ten children, twenty grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren, and we're all together in the same place at the same time). I would not want to be there should such an event happen.
It was great being around people who do not carry themselves with pretenses. My mom's family is Catholic, though I think Anne is among the very rare few that actually head to church. Kim does, too, but I don't think it's to a Catholic church . . . I don't even think Kim is Catholic! (She and her older brother are actually stepcousins . . . they're from my Aunt Mary's first marriage, but Joe's already treated them like they were his kids so . . . they're cousins. ^_^ Go figure, huh?) I would like to say it's weird, but it really isn't. My mom and my aunts and uncles have always been who they were, and if no one liked it, oh well. There's the door, don't let it hit you on the ass on your way out.
Anyway, being around family and actually socializing was something I truly needed yesterday. Why? Because Friday night, I had an epiphany. I'm starting to show the beginning signs of depression, and I will not allow myself to wallow in self-pity.
What's bringing this on?
The fact I'm now sure I'm in a battle to keep my unemployment benefits.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned I no longer worked at Wendy's. That I had done something stupid, and the end result was the loss of my job. At that time, I really did not want to go into detail about what had happened. I was upset with myself over the incident, and the thought of sharing with more than the few people I had was not a pleasant thought.
Now, it's time for me to speak up. The day I lost my job, I had lost a one-hundred dollar bill. I know I hadn't stuck it under my twenties or dropped into the cashbox like I was supposed to do, but, at the time, I thought I had. For some reason I still don't know why, I started to look for it under my large bills. It wasn't there, and I knew, I knew, I had to tell the shift manager, and so I did. She counted my till down while I and another co-worker searched for the missing money. No go. The general manager was then called followed by a call to the district manager. Now I'm never severely short on a till. Somtimes I'm over as well and sometimes it's exactly the amount it's supposed to be. Anyway, the decision was now what to do with me. It was asked if I was willing to pay the money back. Since I know they can't legally make me pay it back, I said 'no' and that I couldn't afford it . . . not even in payments. Because of my refusal -- not because of the actual shortage itself -- I was fired about an hour later.
Here is where things get really fucked up. This incident happened on June 30th. On July 3rd, the general manager thought about how the money could still be in the register drawer (which is where the cash drawer sits, for those of you who don't know these things), and she pulled the drawer apart to find the money. Lo and behold!, there it was. No shortage whatsoever now. She said she was going to try and get me reinstated to my job because the money was found. She was not hopeful because Bill could still say 'no' due to the fact I didn't follow proper cash procedure. I wasn't hopeful, either. I waited the entire weekend to hear back. I called on the 7th to find out what the verdict was and it was, 'no.' I filed for unemployment.
Now, because I've filed for unemployment and I have a very valid claim, I'm pretty sure the franchise owner wants to fuck things up even more. I'd been into Wendy's twice within the past week -- once on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday -- but it was Thursday morning the general manager called me and asked me to sign a new termination notice. She assured me it would not affect my unemployment so, stupid and sleepy me, I agreed.
Before anyone here starts to bitch at me for signing the new slip, I'm going to say this now: It has NOT been signed. I've been informed, repeatedly by my parents, my stepparents, a really good friend of mine, AND a lawyer it is illegal for Wendy's to be doing this. I've not stepped foot into Wendy's since Wednesday morning. The lawyer (who is in Bay City and counseled me over the phone) has also told me any requests to them now have to be in writing. In fact, I asked for copies of the original termination notice and the new one on Thursday. The old slip has been thrown out.
I'm not happy about any of this. I spent almost an hour on the phone with the unemployment agency just to find out if it were legal for Wendy's to be asking me to sign a new notice two weeks after the initial termination. As my luck would have it, I spoke with a very soft-spoken lady, had a hard time hearing her responses to some of my questions, but I know, from her, that Wendy's has yet to respond to the questions in their investigation.
Oh, and here's why they want a new termination notice slip. On the original, it was written I was being terminated for being unable to pay the one hundred dollars back. The manager who wrote the notice is now fired as well. A little too much on the conveniences, no?
Now, I want to say this to everyone. This isn't Wendy's the Corporation acting like this. Like with McDonald's and Burger King and every other fast food restaurant out there, the Wendy's I worked for is owned by a guy in Big Rapids. They also have a regional office in Detroit and it's the guy from Detroit who I believe is behind all of this. The fact he hasn't responded to the unemployment agency's questions right away looks bad for him. Even if he doesn't answer, the agency will still make a determination. Up until then, I'll be keeping track of the times my former boss calls me and what the phone calls are about. She hasn't called me back since Thursday morning, which has put me a little on edge, but she's not going to be happy when I tell her if she wants the new termination notice signed, she'll have to submit it to me in writing and stating the reasons for the new termination slip.
Yeah, I'm a bitch, and I know it. Ain't life grand?
So that's the whole story. I'm pretty sure if it hadn't been for Thursday morning, I would be fine. After the whole incident, I had to be honest with myself about my reasons for staying at my job, and it doesn't bother me that I'm no longer there. Things happen for a reason, and it's up to me to figure out those reasons. I just need to put a damper on my dampened mood and LIGHTEN UP. ^_^ So that's what I'll do.
Now to do something fun yet constructive . . . oh man, I wish I would have thought about that fortress sooner!