Most apologetic litter ever!

The rains came, and the winds picked up.

Adminisk8or

11/13/2022

This week's fun photo is brought to you by the most apologetic piece of litter I've ever seen blow up on our back porch.

Gee, in the matter of just one week, so much has happened. Where to even begin?

Well, for starters, my wife and I performed a musical number in church. The funny thing is, we didn't actually decide what exactly we were going to perform until the night before, at which point I began plunking things out on the keyboard, and my wife patiently followed along with her pretty voice. The next morning, we were practicing again, just before church, and I found myself forgetting things left and right- and I was getting anxious for myself. When it came time to actually perform, although I made one obvious error, it was made practically invisible by my wife catching it and just following along, so that it sounded intentional, and even good. All in all, just a fun story about last-minute success and little blessings.

Or there was the day before. My wife was at work, and we were expecting family from out of town to be staying at our abode that night. Since I don't work weekends, it was my duty to get the house looking spiffy. And spiffy I made it! Between sweeping the patio, taking down Halloween decorations and lights, clearing out half of my office to make room for an air mattress, vacuuming the house, doing the dishes, having lunch, dusting, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, and giving the shower a WELL needed cleaning, it's safe to say I was pretty exhausted when I finished it all right in time for us to all go out and meet at dinner. ...at which point we figured out they weren't actually going to be staying with us... so, that was admittedly a bit of a letdown, but I have to admit, this apartment really looks good, now!

But I should address the most serious news of the week. I came home Tuesday to discover my wife put in her two weeks at her job as a hair stylist. I was frankly shocked, because a couple of weeks prior, she was smiling for joy, because she and her co-workers at that salon essentially all banded together and said that they refused to work any more weekends, because it was taking its toll on them all. That worked pretty well, until some higher-ups said, oh sorry, you can't do that. But it wasn't really a matter of wanting this, as much as it was needing it; as such, my wife, boldly and truthfully, responded to the text, explaining that her mental and spiritual health has greatly deteriorated because of having to work weekends- particularly Sundays, and that she needed at least Sundays off to keep her health well- and that if this couldn't be accommodated, to consider this her two week's notice. I came home to find her in much a sad condition, and there were brave tears shed that day.

But there's more to understand about this story. She had been working in the industry for nearly 6 years, and is very skilled and very good at what she does. What's more, her coworkers at that salon had become very close friends to her. It's natural that when you leave a job you feel like you are leaving a part of your identity behind- it's a big part of your life. But it's made all the worse when you are leaving behind seeing your good friends everyday. And compounding that with the fact that, once again, she had been working there for almost 6 years, and was being told that she couldn't change her availability after that much time? I mean, come on!

But as my good friends would say "Wait, it gets worse"- which it does. She was making an hourly wage of $18.50... or so she was told. When she went back to look at her most recent statement, it showed $16.50/hr. So, she went back a statement- that showed 17.50. So, she went back another statement... also $17.50... and so it was all the way back until May of this year. And no, nothing was ever communicated to her about this. Partly alarmed, and partly furious, she requested that the issue be fixed, and thankfully, the owner of the franchise said he'd take care of it. But as you can imagine, on top of the turmoil already going on in her mind, there 's nothing that'll add even more like finding out you've been underpaid (or robbed, if you prefer) for half a year.

And right now, in about a week's time, it will be her last day. Thankfully, we're doing just okay enough right now that, with what I hope will be a good and plentiful raise for me come the new year, finances won't be too hard... but on the other hand, our saving-up-for-a-house fund is definitely on a freeze... so, that's fun. Alas, we do what we can, right?

Until next week, see ya!