I’ve been thinking a lot lately about going to Oklahoma for a month or two and working with my father. He would pay me in cash which means I’d take home about $400 a week. Not a bad bit for doing manual labor.The thing is I live in what would be a small Midwestern cow town were it not for the giant university sitting on their grounds. Indiana University comes with 30 odd thousand students, plus professors, faculty, staff, and all of the miscellaneous companies that support such a population. So there are plenty of malls, restaurants, bars, and book stores, but very few other corporations. For the few decent places that employ here there’s that 30,000 pool of fresh faces with degrees (or soon to be degrees) in whatever specialized field a company would need.
Which means finding decent work is difficult. I am either under qualified or completely over qualified. Most of the jobs I could get right now would pay in the $10/hour range making my take home pay around $250-300/week.
Can you see how doing grunt work for my dad suddenly looks appealing?
I was very much considering it and had made up my mind to go when my folks told me they were heading out on vacation to Colorado and invited me along. I figured I’d take a free vacation and then spend a few weeks making some extra cash. With my severance checks still flowing in, an extra few hundred a week would pay off the credit card and make life much easier.
The only problem was that they were leaving this Friday which put me in a bit of a rush to get there, but without any obligations that didn’t seem like too much of a challenge.
Until I talked to my wife.
We had talked about me going out and working a few times, but the immediacy of the trip hit her hard. Plus, she said, we had planned a little birthday party this weekend and I just had to come to that.
Given the choice between a small party with friends and a free trip to Colorado I was leaning towards the mountains. But I had to play it cool and I tried to make it look like a hard choice.Then I realized the book fair was the weekend after this one. Annually the Red Cross holds a weekend book fair. They have a huge warehouse full of books, and they are darn cheap. First night you pay a small cover and get major discounts. Next day it is free to get in and all books are half off. The next day it is five bucks for all the books you can stuff into a grocery bag. And then the next day you take what you want for free.
How could I pass up that. Well, maybe I could just send Amy with a list of books I’d like to have.
Ultimately, I decided not to go. Not because I’d miss my wife’s birthday party, nor that I’d not be able get my hands on some choice books, but because the season premier of Lost is next Wednesday. If I went to Colorado I might miss it, and that is simply unacceptable.
This is how low my life has sunk. I’ll give up stacks of cash and free vacations to not miss a television show.
13 comments:
I wouldn't let your wife see this if I were you.
Additionally, you might notice that she's not herself or more depressed over the next few weeks. This is because she just turne 30. She needs you now more than ever. She'll be asking herself lots of "Why" questions and wallowing in self-pity.
I hope you can find a job soon, dude. You sound like you have gotten a little too comfy...
Believe me, she knows.
I don't think I'm too comfy. If anything I'm getting more stressed.
Ugh, I'm sorry. We're praying, man.
We should create a wikipedia page for the ACPO. I nominate Sipper to do it.
It could be some fairly small blurbs right now, but once we get going on the website/book we can update it
As far as the Wikipedia page goes...
I still have to figure out how to create it. I'm not sure when I'll get to it.
I'm already going to be making the website, so could someone else volunteer for this?
I would do it, but I just don't have a free moment at the time.
I'm trying dude. Amy is applying for a university gig up near Indy for the spring semester. Cross your fingers that works.
If something doesn't pan out in a few weeks I'll probably hook up with my dad for a few other weeks to earn some cash, while continuously looking for something good. I have a feeling I'll wind up in someting crappy, but I don't want that until I have to which means when the severance/unemployment runs out.
About wiki, I was reading up on their terms and they seem to be very against self pimping. So I think we should chill on that idea until we get the website and other things going pretty strong.
Cool, sounds good.
I'm really busy these days, man.
Hopefully, we can make somme headway on the site soon.
So....
What's wrong with making $10 an hour???
Nothing is wrong with it, dear. I've made less many times. But I've worked hard for many years to put myself in a position where I make more. Making ten bucks now is like going backwards many a year. I much prefer forward.
Yeah, ten an hour is fine until you’ve spent some time making more than that.
$10 an hour is like turning 21, 30 or 50, it’s something of a milestone to pass it.
I was making $10 working the summer while at UTK painting, tax free, under-the-table is heaven because no one knows what you’re getting.
When I started at Scripps I was at $10, almost six years ago I’m miles away from where I’d like to be but I’m far enough away from my starting position that the idea of dropping back to that is bothersome.
I understand your pain Brew, making sure every last stone is turned over is tough because you do want to maintain your comfort level to most extents but yo udon’t want to string your self out there for too long because then it looks like you may not have been trying to get a job.
Julie’s mom just started working again and she’s making $10 an hour and it’s the first time in her entire life she’s made that much money an hour, she’s in her early 50’s. Perspective is a wonderful thing to have in your bag.
Brew I say do some work for your dad, figure out everything he knows pick a new city and find work as a contractor somewhere, if you're good the work will find you evetually.
Thank you mullins for putting that better than I. No harm was meant for workers making 10 or less.
Actually I am reminded of a time just after FU graduation when I turned down a $10 job, for reasons that I have left my mortal memory, and for months I was kicking myself for not taking such a high paying gig.
But now having lived many a year on more, it pains me to go back.
I very likely will kick on down to dads for a little under the table action. I also got word of a guy in Indy who hunts heads for better pay so I'll do that angle too.
Brew, a contractor? What's the world coming to?
Actually, if Brew and I had our Dads' cumulative knowledge, we could start something up down here that would bust the bank. But, starting a business is always risky.
I'm sure Brew will find the right thing soon.
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