2009 At A Glance

Who would have thought it would take me almost a year to come up with something else to post about? Surely there had to be something interesting happen to me in the past 10 months? I can't be that boring......can I?

Oh, here's something.....The job I had working from home? Yeah. Well, that was a bust. Turns out the job was a scam all along. OK, maybe scam is too harsh a word. What do you call it when a company you work for suddenly stops paying you but expects you to still continue to work? What's it called when management belittles its employees, using incompetence as an excuse for not paying them?

Anyway, call it what you will, the company I worked for from December of 2008 until August 2009 suddenly stopped paying us in May. The excuse? Clients not paying them, and incompetent employees that caused them to lose clients. Yeah, right. It was all an excuse to not have to pay anyone. I worked from May until August thinking I'd get paid eventually, but finally got sick of the lies and bull, and quit. I put up enough of a stink and caused enough of a threat that I finally received all of my back pay in October. I filed with the Department of Labor in the state the company is in, as well as my own state. I emailed and called every day, bugging the crap out of the owner, and I started my own survivors forum for other employees from the company like myself who wanted to get paid. The owner didn't like it too much and threatened to sic her legal on me, but it was all talk. Apparently the threat was real enough for her though, cause she paid me. There are a couple hundred people still waiting for their pay....since May 2009. There's currently a law firm that knows the owner's history and has had dealings with them before, who are looking into the case. Should be interesting to see what happens there.

And, my website/forum is still up and running.....with over 50 members so far, and more trickling in every day. The owner of the company is livid that the site is still functioning. She can't believe that anyone would defy her like this. I can only laugh at her rage.

Let's see....what else?

Oh! Tristan cracked up our only good vehicle a week or so ago. That was interesting. Actually, it wasn't his fault. An old man backed right into him in the middle of the road trying to get his newspaper from the box. Seriously, the guy just stopped in the middle of the road, threw it in reverse, and plowed into him. Here's how the call home went:

The phone rings.
Me: Hello?
Tristan: Mom, I'm coming home.
Me: Why?
Tristan: Because someone just smashed the Blazer.
Me: No way! You're kidding, right?
Tristan: No, I'm serious. I'm coming home.
Me: Wait! You can't come home!
Tristan: Why can't I come home? (He was surprisingly calm up until this point. His voice started to quiver a bit here.)
Me: Because. You're supposed to stay at the scene and call the police! You can't come home! Go back!
Tristan: I already got the guy's information. I forgot what else I was supposed to do. It was cold.
Me: OK. Just come home and we'll call the police from here.
Tristan: OK, be home in a few seconds. (the accident happened just up the road from our house)

So, he gets home and we call the Sheriff's Dept. They send someone out, and I call the guy and he comes over. There's no damage to his truck except for a little cracked light cover in back. Our Blazer is another story. The entire driver's side front is demolished. I believe the vehicle is about two feet shorter than when it left that morning. The guy must've been excited to get his paper because he did a lot of damage in reverse in a short distance.

The body shop has estimated the damage at about $3200 so far, but they aren't done checking everything yet. Luckily, the old guy admitted it was all his fault, and had insurance, so they are taking care of the bill. Not sure if it'll be totaled yet or not, so we're playing the waiting game right now. In the mean time, his insurance company is paying for a rental car for us.

It's a Chevy Malibu. Nice car to look at, but horrible on snowy roads. And not very comfortable in the bucket seats in the front if you're bigger than, say a, french fry. When you have an ass like mine, you need flat seats. Nothing with sides that are contoured to fit nice, skinny asses. Anyway, living in Wisconsin requires 4-wheel drive, which out Blazer was, and this Malibu thing is not. It's made to look good, not be practical.

Mike and I tossed around the idea of buying a new car if the Blazer is totaled. At first we were excited by the thought of driving a new car. We were "test driving" it, we said. Well, it is unanimous that we will not be buying anything like a Malibu. I have no idea what we will buy if the opportunity presents itself, but that, we are sure of.

So, that's some of the excitement that's happened over the last few months. I'm sure there's more, but my brain hurts right now from trying to remember everything. When something else pops into my head, I'll be sure to return here and jot it down for you all because I'm sure you're just dying to know what life has been like for me in the last 10 months, right?

Suuuuuuuure.........