So Many Years Ago.....

So Many Years Ago.....I find myself thinking now of 2000 and my return from Bullfrog Marina run by Aramark.  I remember how glad I was to get out of that crazily run and isolated place that just felt wrong and that had incredibly massive turnover.  I can remember when I got back to Phoenix and qualified for a medical research study at what then was MDS Harris Labs - I went to coolworks.com and I remember seeing that dorm proctor job of that older guy listed at Bullfrog - translation - sometime in the interim period since I had left he had had his fill and hit the road, too.

I can remember that ride to Green River, Utah and how I spent a weekend in that room there, and that kind GM who gave me a ride to the post office so I could send out some of my goodies.  I can remember the bus to Grand Junction, Colorado and that park downtown and how the place just did not feel right - it was not the same as when I arrived in Portland nine years earlier.  I was right to move on, I would not have fit in and the Valley that Grand Junction was in was entirely too sprawling.  I remember the hostel I stayed in and the library I showed my face at to get online.  I remember leaving and heading out to Vegas, another place I was glad to leave but that was my first time that I had seen the Venetian and I was indeed glad to see that much.  I remember coming back to the Valley and I never regretted leaving Bullfrog - it was the right thing to do.  It's amazing as now I don't believe I could get that job as Ararmark seems to have gotten all corporate at least as in regards to these jobs - and I have no real desire to live up there that isolated anyway. 

I remember that time.....I was 33 and was so glad to be unemployed and out of the Warren House.....a place that was just so dark and sinister.  Warren House is a place that I don't miss one iota and given that there have been numerous changes to the Warren House - fewer employees, employees kicked to the curb, Merry Maids coming in to clean instead of hiring actual employees like my Mother, a lot of their properties sold off - I wonder if they do tenant background checks now and if the place has become any safer?  I remember being so glad to be out of that place and I don't know that I would care to live in any such similar apartment situation ever again.....it was very unpleasant for me and I wish I had known none of my neighbors and just had total anonymity.  At least it's been 19 years this April since I was a Warren House tenant.  That much is something nice at any rate.

I remember I sent Debbie Marshall an email trying to get my deposit on the housing money back - which I did get even though I didn't leave the housing "properly" - and she must have freaked out as one of the Admin guys I remembered emailed me back telling me that contact with Debbie Marshall would no longer be necessary.  She must really have hit the ceiling at my email but it was not rude, it just stated that her and Gary needed the rank and file more than we needed them due to the low unemployment rate and the ease of finding new jobs.  I don't think she cared  much for that email.....well then you could have run the place a little bit better, no? 

I can remember that Summer the moisture came up from Mexico early.....one day when I was staying at the hostel it even rained in Las Vegas in June in the middle of the afternoon, it was so bizarre as it was June, raining in the driest  month of a city that gets around 4 inches of rain a year.  I do remember that as well as my first sight of the Virgin River Gorge and passing through St. George, Utah for the first time, as well as passing through the mountains of Southern Utah.  It was a nice trip down to Las Vegas, I do have to give the day that much.  I don't regret my time in Colorado nor my time in Nevada, either.  It was just breaking away from the Warren House and I did get to do some travel, too, so that was cool.  Honestly, though, at this point in my life I would not at all care to go back and to be that isolated again.  It was hard enough then but today after my experience in isolated rural Utah back in 2013 at Flaming Gorge Resort?  No Thank You, never again.  Plus I've seen how Janet Hadley was let go by Xanterra over something extremely stupid.....I would never want to work for them again, either - and won't get that chance as I am sure I am a no-rehire and I would not pass their applicant tracking system these days.  I'm thinking more and more and more that unless I generate income on my own somehow, my days of working are pretty much done.  At least working for someone else.  That does not especially break my heart, given what the American workplace has  become these days.  It's not the same place nor economy it was back in 1997 when I entered the world of serving and hospitality.....back then they were screaming for bodies and asked few questions.....now there are applicant tracking systems, background checks, and all kinds of hoops to jump through.  Top that off, in Arizona food servers make $8 an hour now before tips....can you believe that?  Most of my time on the floor was at $2.13/hr until the end of my time on the floor.  Now that it's $8/hr to have you on the floor, there are going to be all kinds of expectations on you to justify that wage and further, companies will be looking to remove servers from the equation to begin with.  I believe in the future that it is going to get very competitive to get a server job as there will be fewer to be had, no one will train you like they once did, and experience will be the key but how do you get this experience if you have none?  And we are talking for a server job here, what  a nightmare.  I am so glad I am not in the midst of this these days, that's all I can say. 

After the Great Recession, the job market in general really has changed.  The shift towards applying online and Applicant Tracking Systems had a lot to do with this, I'm sure, and now there is no going back from here.  I guess I'm glad for my time waiting tables as unless the SS system changes, which it may very well change, who knows, as we speak at the age of 62 I can get a small check.  And I do have enough credits in the system for Medicare at 65.....that may very well be the crown jewel of all  that serving, the one thing I get out of it that's worth anything.  That Medicare.....Without those years of serving, I would not have enough time in the system for any kind of SS check nor for Medicare.  At least I managed to pull that much off through those horrible serving jobs over the years.  So it was not all for naught.....but I could do just as well never being in a food setting with a server ever again nor ever waiting another table again, nor even being in a hospitality setting to begin with ever again.  I even saw online recently background checks for hospitality staff featuring social media checks.....if you post the wrong thing, you don't get a job as attitudes in your postings seem to translate to how you would serve guests.  No Thank You, too Big Brother for me, as was Janet Hadley's termination.  I am just so glad to be out of there as things seem to have tanked further since my termination ten years ago this beginning September.  And I still remember waiting before my meeting with David Traylor and company that day.....I am glad I got to see Tom one last time before being fired and I am glad I did get fired.  I would not want to be there in it's current form, No Thank You. 

More later, Rob

Update As To AA Application Idea.....

Update As To AA Application Idea.....apparently that's also a no-go.  I read online that one does need to have a valid DL to drive something called the Jetbridge whatever that means/is.  Given that I don't meet this requirement and most likely never will in this lifetime, that job is not happening.  Well, at least I didn't get my hopes up nor did I waste any time applying.....that much is good anyway.  So for the airport it looks like Prospect, which is shaky due to my age and the background check process and there would be no flight benefits, either......just the AA credit union, nothing else.  So much for that idea, I guess, but AA is a large corporation anyway and I rather doubt I'd fit in to begin with.  I've never done well in a corporate setting anyway.  Probably this is for the best.  Rob

And Sometimes Things Do Get Interesting Years Later.....

And Sometimes Things Do Get Interesting Years Later.....Recently I noticed that Paul Lambertsen's name when combined with My Life showed that Paul Lambertsen has a criminal record and arrests.  That blew my mind away as I can still remember when we were roommates back at the South Rim in 2004 and he was held up by some Native American guy at Trailer Village - I was the one the police spoke to, and not Paul.  And I was so worried that Paul would find out about my record and our friendship would be lost.....LOL LOL LOL.  Interesting how that worked out in retrospect, isn't it?  Wasn't much worth worry about, after all. 

I did wonder however, how  could it be that Paul has a criminal record but yet is able to work at the airport?  He's got two misdemeanor thefts and a public indecency charge on his record along with driving issues - yet he still works for American Airlines, no problem.  I wonder if this is why he is not in flight?  Because the background check process for in flight is stricter, maybe?  And his being hired at American Airlines dates to 2005, well after 2001 and the changes brought about by 9/11.  American Airlines still hired him.  (I have read that they are indeed a felony friendly employer, so who knows?  I would be willing to bet that his being gay helped with his being hired, too, as AA is very gay friendly......and this was before the financial crisis of 2008 so it was easier to get hired cold without knowing someone, plus he was younger then). 

So interesting about Paul, no?  I ran a background check on him for 9.99 charged to my Paypal Credit Account.....it was worth it to find out the truth after all this time.  Now I can let him go.....and what a dick Paul is.  My instinct about him that I tried to bury and not listen to was dead on, it really was.  I am glad now that he is out of my life.  Not because of the background check results but because he is walking and talking instability and emotional issues personified. 

But the life lesson here?  I might as well apply for American Airlines myself....all they can say is no or they can blow me off.  Nothing lost if they do.  I could go to the DES up on North 7th Street....jeepers, can you believe that next month it is 7 years now since I was forced to attend their week long find a job thing?  They were truly no help whatsoever......but maybe now they can help me throw together a resume so that I could attach it to the American Airlines application as more than likely they probably use keywords is my guess, even for a minimum wage job out at the airport.  But honestly, what do I have to lose by applying out there?  So maybe I owe Paul a Thank You in a way......I just went to the AA website and  it doesn't look like they are hiring that much and for nothing like Customer Service in Phoenix.  And it looks like you need a valid DL for the job though I can't for the life of me understand why this would be.  So maybe I could not get that job....but Paul did, for better or worse,  Paul did.  Even with his indecent exposure charge, he still got that job.  The mind reels, no?  I still wonder if this is why he can't work or has not worked in flight as a flight attendant?

At any rate, I kick myself now for worrying about losing Paul's friendship.....I am grateful to have Paul out of my life.  And how funky it is that Paul's got a criminal record!  It fits given the givens and looking back I can see that it fits but at the time I would never have believed it.  I guess what I can do is to apply at the airport but first I'd need to let some time pass to pass the whiz quiz and then of course there would be an intense federal background check.  I'm not sure I'd really want to work at the airport, anyway, truth be told....but it would not hurt to apply with AA, no?  And maybe Prospect, too....all they can do is to say no, but from what I have seen employees working for Prospect do tend to be young.  I could very well get age discriminated out of consideration but it would not hurt to apply, no? 

Very interesting about Paul, though.  I'm glad I know this as it makes me grateful that things ended out as they did.  I'm a bit embarrassed now that I helped him get out of the Canyon and that I clung onto Charlene's place as I did.....Today I would not do so and anyone living the bar life I would politely steer clear of.  I've learned better what does and does not work for me.  And that life over at Charlene's today would not work for me.  At least I know this and understand this now.  Rob