Here We Go Again: Another Bout of Unemployment

David was let go a week and a half ago. It was mostly unexpected, although not surprising considering the problems he had with his latest new boss. What's funny is that this new boss couldn't even come up with a valid reason for letting him go. His excuses ranged from: "because you transferred your phone to someone else last night when a job was going on and we might have needed to get in touch with you" (bogus- it was only for 3 hours while we went for dinner and a movie, he was still able to receive emails, and in case of emergency they could always call MY phone!!) to: "you didn't get an incident report turned in to a client in a timely manner"... even though David had asked for the report (from an employee in a different office) on Friday afternoon, the employee turned it in to his local boss who didn't forward it to David, and David still got it to the client by Wednesday (and the client was satisfied with that.) In the end they basically said "make up whatever reason you want for us letting you go. When people call all that we'll tell them are the dates you worked and what your salary was." Incredible.

It was ironic that we found out that they had to turn down FOUR jobs from two of their major clients after David left- something he would have been fired for!! But, since the new boss brought in his buddy to run the show, it's all good.
Yeah, I'm still rather bitter.

As most of you know, I was working full time with David at this point. I was told that I was welcome to stay with the company. As if. When I found out that they had let David go I immediately quit. I have no use for people who are so arrogant and blind that they don't even notice all of the hard work David put in, much less show any appreciation for it. (That would be expecting way too much.) Besides, when new boss called David to find out why I had "tattled" on him (for reporting a safety infraction) I knew that my time there was limited. I couldn't continue to do my job as a safety officer if I had to worry about what the boss was going to think or do- that's a good way to go backwards in your corporate safety program!!

Thankfully, I felt inspired to put most of my earnings straight into savings and David was given 4 weeks severance so we'll be fine for quite awhile. And...

David has a job interview this morning. I'm praying that it goes well and that it will lead to an offer for a decent job (dare I hope for a decent boss also??!) He already has one offer on the table but it would require him to stay up in Cleveland for the next 5-6 months and could also require a lot of time away from home. Neither of us want that lifestyle so we're really hoping something else comes through before he's forced to accept that one. It's interesting going through the unemployment cycle once again. It almost feels like a regular routine at this point. Unfortunately, in David's line of work it's common for employers to use people for all their worth, wear them out, and then discard them after 2-5 years. It's rare to find people who have been with the same employer for more than 5 years.

At this point I'm feeling pretty well resigned to whatever happens. I have my wants and wishes (local job, no need to move, good boss, good benefits, not working 80+ hours a week for a 40 hour a week salary) but in this country you kind of have to take what you can get.

I try to stay hopeful and positive and have faith that all will work out for the best. It's getting hard though when we keep running into the same employment issues over and over- namely that David is unwilling to be dishonest and that he isn't willing to put his job above God and family. Are there any employers out there any more who believe in being honest and fair, and who don't feel that they own their employees?