Moj_ Patti
George Jetson on the treadmill
Jan 16, 2010
So, I'm barely maintaining my sanity right now...My mom got out of the hospital and back into the rehab facility. She's in a different room. One of her roommates is Sue, a Kaiser Hospice case, very nice lady. The Kaiser hospice nurse recognized me from Mom's evaluation for palliative care. There are signs posted above Sue's bed not to call 911 if there's an issue. (Choke.)
When my daughter and I visited yesterday, Sue's husband had brought her a bunch of goodies. Mom was sitting in a wheelchair, her mind in the bleachers at Wrigley Field or someplace like that. Sue's husband asked if kiddle could have some candy and I said yes. He gave her a snack size box of chocolate covered caramels. Mom perked up some -- she wanted kiddle's candy.
It's frustrating... Mom has these moments where she's totally present. You can have a conversation with her about what's going on and she's totally there. Then 12 hours later and she's one step above drooling on herself. She still won't eat the meals they provide, but she inhaled the McDonald's biscuit I brought her when she was in the hospital. She keeps going on and on about this hallucination she had where my husband and I had abandoned her at a wedding in Ridgecrest (town about an hour from our house) and they wouldn't let her have any food. She told me one of her nurses at the hospital was a nazi.
The hospice nurse came back later a few minutes during our visit with her glee club daughter, who sang "The Way You Look Tonight."
The tears started flowing down my face. Eeesh.In late December, the postings for government jobs replacing my contract starting showing up online. I have applied for five. I have the results back on three. One, I didn't qualify because I don't have a B.S. degree, but I knew that when I applied. For the other two, I have ratings of 100 and 85, respectively. Unfortunately, for the job I have the 100 rating on (Public Affairs), there were about a zillion military veterans who had equal or higher ratings. So there's no chance at all they can hire me on that listing. For the 85-rating, there aren't as many vets, but there are still lots. (The vet thing means the government can't hire the contract people who've been doing the work for years. The government HAS to hire veterans because of their hiring rules.) A couple of veterans in our office have been hired. I'm happy for them -- they're keeping very mum about everything.
I'm waiting on my results for the other two positions. One of them had very specific questions about a special program where I work, so I'm hoping I can get on with that listing. The other was another public affairs job, but it was written so broadly that they're gonna get every veteran who's ever made a PowerPoint slide.
Other jobs in the area are few and far between. Jobs in my field are even more scarce.
I'm kind of kicking myself for not applying for a community affairs job at the mine where my dad worked. My rationale for not applying for job was that the mine's union is on the verge of a strike. The last strike in 1974 was really bad -- people got hurt. There was an 'industrial accident'/murder at the mine afterwards involving one of the scab workers. My father would be spinning in his grave if I crossed a picket line, since it's his local that may strike. But when the listing was open, I also had some misplaced confidence in my ability to get hired by the government. I have since learned from one of my mom's roommates at the rehab facility (old union gal from my hometown) that the guy who is currently doing community affairs was shocked to see his job advertised in the newspaper (must be a union job). I have moments where I think there's no way I'd want to work for a company that would be so underhanded. Then I look at the union's issues and several of them make the union look like a cow standing on it's teat, bawling it's head off. And there is the cold, hard reality that I am the primary breadwinner and we won't be able to make the mortgage if I don't have a job.
This is the worst time to try to find a job anywhere. I'm hoping the veterans who are applying for these positions get hired on someplace closer to home. I HOPE I CAN FIND A JOB, IT WOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF IT DOESN'T INVOLVE A 50 % PAYCUT.
