Blessing in Disguise?

Week #1 at the new job is now history, and I believe I made one hell of an impression on these people. Because I have advanced electrical, electronics, mechanical, fabrication, and all manner of shop skills there is not much they have to teach me about the basics. Unlike previous employees I was told about that had to be shown the minute details of how to do EVERYTHING! I only need to learn specific procedures particular to the machinery I am working on. But show me once and I got it as evidenced by my activities late last week when the guy I was shadowing was tied up on Thursday and off on Friday. Earlier in the week, I did get to see and help with resealing a leaking hydraulic cylinder, which I had never done before. I also got to have a couple of one-on-one conversations with my new boss as we get to know each other personally. As always, I show up 15 minutes early; put my lunch in the refrigerator, and otherwise get ready to start work. I punch in promptly at 8:00 AM and get busy and finish my morning coffee while working. Unlike the FD, I get a regular undisturbed 1/2 hour off the clock lunch break and before I know it, it's lunch time. Afterwards, I punch back in, go right back to work and the afternoon goes by fast. At 4:30 PM I punch out and don't have to be concerned with work until the next morning. My co-workers and boss have said several times how appreciative they are for what I am able to do for them, and my boss has big plans for me to be an integral part of the operation. Getting canned from the FD is turning out to be a great thing and I only needed 3 weeks unemployment so I have not depleted my potential (hopefully never needed) future benefits by running them out. I did have a good chuckle to myself, too. According to the schedule, I was supposed to be on duty yesterday at the FD with the big Nor'Easter that is hitting New England this weekend. That would have meant being held over for the storm continuing into today. I had the scanner on yesterday and was listening to them get the shit kicked out of them with tons of tree & wires down as well as the normal 911 responses in between. As I said in the previous post; FUCK `EM!! They made a decision and they are gonna live with it. The schadenfreude is absolutely delicious, although it will be short lived.

Part of my job requires me to be proficient with operating the different models of our machines. This is so that after we get it ready for delivery, it can be fully tested and any last minute adjustments, calibrations, or operating issues can be addressed. When I get to a pause in work for whatever reason, I am encouraged to go grab the keys and controller for a ready machine and operate it. Folks... trust me when I tell you... this is total play time! These machines are the most awesome (and expensive) R/C toys you could imagine. They are built so that they cannot "hurt themselves" relative to the machine itself. They will not operate on steep angles or in an order/manner that cause damage. Sensors and software are preset to limits and will stop the operation at that limit. That said, the machines do not know about the powerline or obstruction an idiot operator is about to contact or crash into. Overloading the personnel weight limits will also prevent the machine from operating. I had previously operated the machines outside in the open yard, but Friday I operated one inside the shop in the high bay, simulating the type of work I used to do in telecom/IT that required using these machines. I had to maneuver it up and over and around obstructions safely, and then bring it back to ground level. Believe me that was both a challenge and fun.

I have a 30 day waiting period for health insurance and a 90 day waiting period to get into the 401K. When my new 401K is opened, I will immediately CONFISCATE and rollover all the money in the FD 401K for "seed money" in the new account. My new employer actually offers a small match, but I will gladly take it! I withdrew some money already because of the delay in getting unemployment but since it all came through the money is just sitting in the bank. I have started allocating some of it to buy tools and a new roll-away tool cabinet. I went shopping yesterday just to look, but came across a deal I could not pass up. A Husky 42" wide roll-away and chest for $598. It was the floor model (so a bit dusty) from a special promotion (no longer available at that price) and in a special color of Army OD Green with black trim. The regular price of $798 is what now shows at Home Depot online. With my military discount it came to $538. Sweet!! The guys at the Pro-Desk disconnected the section joiners and helped me load it in my Highlander in two pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tools lying on the right of the top shelf are a couple of electrical tools I was getting as well. I was sick of carrying them around at that point and did buy them. This thing has lots of great features for that price, too. Hydraulic cylinders to lift the top cover, a built in powerstrip and USB/USB-C chargers, separate locks for top and bottom, and ball bearing rail soft close drawers.

I had a short term job in aviation back in 2017, and right before getting laid off (long & shitty story) I bought a smaller, less featured roll-away and chest at Harbor Freight for almost the same amount of money I paid yesterday. I never unboxed it because I was getting a bad vibe from the job. It was returned for a full refund after my fears came true. The price is I why I jumped on this deal yesterday. I will leave it in my Highlander and talk to my boss about putting in the shop empty for now, then discuss whether I fill on company time or come back after hours. He is there until 7 or 8 every night and I don't mind coming back after running home to take care of the dogs, doing it on my time if I have to. I still need to buy more all metric tools (my wife does not understand the concept of multiple sets of tools for different purposes) because these will stay at the shop locked up. She reminded me I have all this stuff in the garage roll-away why do I need duplicates? Can't you just bring the garage roll-away to work and then bring home the tools you need when you work on the cars? Ugh.😒 I will just do what I need to do and not explain it to her any further.

The hourly rate range for the posting on Indeed.com was listed at $20 to $35 per hour. They asked me what I wanted to start at. I told them I would like to get what I was getting per hour at the FD, to which they agreed. I now have the potential to make so much more way faster than I ever would at the FD. If I keep up at the level I am at now I see a pay raise coming sooner than later. 

A New Chapter of Life Has Begun

At 06:00 on Tuesday August 25th, I was handed my walking papers and told to clean out my locker at the FD and go. The underlying reason isn't important (yes, I fucked up, but IMHO it DID NOT warrant summary termination) but I was terminated anyway because without any union representation the usual contractual steps of verbal warning, written warning, suspension, THEN termination were not in existence. But I have a feeling after my booting it won't be long before the remainder of the work force thinks "there but for the Grace of God go I" and has the IAFF in there. Then the FD corporation will get their just due in forced labor rates, shift assignments, raises, REAL benefits, and all the other stuff unions force upon companies. Fuckers will get what they deserve for sure. I have purged my phone of all FD contacts which means the call blocking app I use will send everyone that might call directly to VM. I will not step foot on any FD property for any reason. I was supposed to run a training session in October and did several maintenance items that no one had yet been cross-trained on. Not my problem. The corporation made decisions that they are going to have to live with forever. 

On the other hand; I no longer have to work 24 hour shifts, I sleep in my own bed every night, no packing 3 meals for every shift, get awakened in the middle of the night, getting my ass physically kicked on structure fires, working shitty/sloppy brush fires, or have to deal with morons and dead people. My firefighting credentials belong to me and are good for life if I were to decide to use them again. My current EMT certification is still good for over a year. My CDL was recently renewed and my DOT Medical Card is good until March. 

I had already updated my resume' and profile on Indeed.com and had been casually looking for something better. I logged right on and started filling applications for jobs that I could put my non-FD skillset to good use. On Monday August 31st I got a phone call inviting me to an interview for an application I filled out on Friday the 28th. The appointment was set up for 3PM on Tuesday September 1st. The interview lasted 2+ hours and went really well. He asked me when I would be able to start and I told him the 21st since I had a couple of scheduled obligations. They told me there was one other applicant they did want to interview that had rescheduled twice before, but I was a really strong candidate. The shop manager told me he would be in touch in a couple of days.

Apparently the other candidate blew them off a third time, because on the afternoon of Wednesday September 2nd I received a phone call from the shop manager I interviewed with giving me a verbal offer that the job was mine if I still wanted it. Of course I told him yes. He told me the HR person would be in touch with the next steps and then to get together to fill out the normal employment paperwork. The woman from HR contacted me on Thursday September 3rd by email to introduce herself and that more would be forthcoming.

On Thursday September 10th I received an email from HR with a scanned copy of my offer letter to sign and scan to send back, and a few tasks to do like filling out an online application for a criminal background check and driving record inquiry. I also sent her scanned copies of my ID and I-9 documentation. She responded back with appreciation for the fact we are ahead of the game.

Today was my face to face meeting with the woman from HR. I filled out all the standard employment paperwork; I-9, W-4, CT W-4, bank direct deposit info, receipt of the company handbook, etc. I am scheduled to start on Monday the 21st at 8AM but I will be there early as usual. Also, on nice days I will get to ride "The Beast" to and from work because all I need to carry is a small cooler with my lunch, not all the crap I needed to carry for a 24 hour duty tour. The commute is about 10 miles one way.

From this whole situation came some frank discussions with my wife about our future in reference to retirement. It comes down to this; we are not selling the house and leaving the state to retire together. SHE WILL NOT GO, PERIOD. Retirement will mean collecting full SSI and continuing to work until I call it quits. Unlike firefighting, I will be able to do this particular job for a long time. However, as she already knew and I re-stated, if something happens to her, in the middle of her funeral arrangements I will hold a giant moving sale, list the house as-is, and be out of here so fast no one in town will realize it until after I am gone and no one has seen me for a while.

 

 

I blog and shit poast on X from behind a VPN using a nom de guerre. For the obvious reasons of SafeSECS I will not divulge the new company name, location, what I will be doing, or the FD I just left. The current political climate has fully half of the people that are immature little babies, total freaks, or the mentally ill that are triggered all the way to violence and murder because they don't agree with me or my views.

Kommiecticut Governor's Race

The state of Kommiecticut is a commie socialist shithole, no two ways about it. Decades of single party rule has absolutely destroyed any semblance of what could be considered normal life. While we have had Republican governor's they resigned from office and did prison time for corruption or were squishy RINO's. Believe it or not, IMHO the last best governor we had was Ella Grasso, an old school Democrat. Certainly not the lefty loon commie Demon-Craps of today!

Ryan Fazio is the Republican candidate running against that blooming idiot Jolly Ned Lamont up for re-election to a third term! In his latest video campaign ad, Fazio says he loves CT, but it's gotten terrible after the last 8 years under Lamont. Oh, how wrong he is!

This state has been a shithole for at least the last 35 YEARS! Let me list the negatives for you:

• Implementation of a state income tax in 1991 that was supposed to go away in two years after fixing the budget. 35 years and still going strong and they spend EVERY MOTHER FUCKING PENNY - PLUS!!
•  Gun control starting with the state's own AWB in 1994 that mirrored the federal one but without a sunset clause.
• New fees (because if they call it a fee they don't consider it a tax) and expanded fees on occupational licenses and permits.
• Every year more and more onerous regulations too numerous to list.
•  Starting with the city of New Haven under the De Stefano administration, the declaration of "Sanctuary City" which expanded to more and more cities, and finally expanded to a sanctuary state, though not really officially declared as such, but the policies make it one.
• Which lead to allowing ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS to vote in local elections only. (But if you have a voter registration, just who would bother checking your immigration status? NO ONE FFS!!)
• Then there is the full adoption of Obongocare, making health insurance totally unaffordable if you work and your employer doesn't offer benefits. Those that can't be bothered to work or the ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS get it for free of course. 
•  More gun control post Sandy Hook with an expansion of the state AWB and a magazine ban/restriction
• Removal of the property tax credit and then skyrocketing property taxes
• More gun control requiring a state pistol permit/long gun permit/ammunition card to just buy ammo. Because we know the local street punk buys quality ammo at Cabela's or Hoffman's. Also included is no more private firearm transfers without state authorization and registration.
• A program that allows family members to be state paid caregivers to the infirm and elderly. BUT.... you become a pseudo state union worker and must pay dues to SEIU.
• More fees added: an "ALL ACCESS" $15 fee added to your vehicle registration renewal to allow state residents to use the state parks for free. There was only a parking fee on the weekend for everyone. Now the state parks are overflowing and closed early filled with out of state residents and you get turned away. If an out of state resident gets turned away, they keep their money in their pocket and go some place else. I get turned away and there is NO REFUND, I am simply fucked out of my money. We always only go on weekdays anyway when there is never a parking fee so just free money for the state. The other biggie is the "PUBLIC BENEFIT" charge on my electric bill. During COVID, if you didn't pay your bill, the state made it illegal to shut you off. Well, many people took advantage of that and simply didn't pay their bill. The state paid the bills, and now they are using the power company as tax collector to refill state coffers. It is a percentage of your usage electric bill.
• The state now dictates how many and what type of houses are built in every town, overruling local building ordinances and zoning boards. They are forcing small rural towns like mine to become shitholes like their cities with "affordable housing" which is their racist code words for low income/subsidized housing or simply expansion of their GHETTO!
• Yet more gun control with the implementation of the so-called "Glock Ban" because we all know THAT IS THE LAW that will stop the feral street thugs from putting giggle switches on their pieces, huh? As us gun people know, such a law bans way more than just Glocks, it bans every single handgun with a cruciform trigger bar, which is most semi-autos on the market today.

 

It goes on and on with obnoxious minutiae that adds up to so much in the background you just can't imagine. I am only still here because my wife will not leave, and if I left her to go that would leave me with a much different financial picture. My wife has been told that if anything happens to her, in the midst of her funeral arrangements I will hold a giant in-house moving sale and list the house. I will net close to $1M in cash and leave this fucking shithole so fast no one will realize I am gone until it's too late.

 

I only list modern history back to 1991 when I really started paying attention as an adult. But it could be said this state went off the rails going back to the War of 1812, and the rest of New England even discussed the idea of secession. The history of fucking idiots here is indeed long.

Better Working Conditions

I have been absolutely miserable at work for more than a year. I dreaded going in for every shift because of the rampant nepotism and toxic work atmosphere. I felt as though I had a target on my back and stayed out of sight at the station with very little interaction with the leadership. Add to that the difficult calls I have had recently and I was angry and dour in and out of work. It didn't take much to set me off.

That has all changed with the change in leadership. I have been given additional responsibilities and tasks and actually thanked and praised for just doing my job and for doing extra stuff. The nepotism is gone and the progeny's "authority" is now been reigned in. The schedule is going to change from a topsy-turvy clusterfuck to a work week with regularly scheduled duty days, and as senior FF/EMT I get first choice of days. There are also plans in the works to get rid of the age-out bylaw that has currently short-circuited my retirement plan. A couple of my co-workers (Millenials) aren't too happy but they just need to adjust and buck up. I talked about it with my wife last night and she agreed I have been an angry prick lately but things are getting better simply because of my work environment. I will be on shift this coming Friday and while it is still a work day I would rather be off, I am not dreading it. 

Update On My Vehicle Nightmare

An update on this post from July 14th.

 

After having "Black Betty" for a few weeks my wife has decided that a Toyota Highlander will be her replacement vehicle as well. The cargo space and seating arrangement is really to her liking. Progressive gave us $15,525 for her wrecked RAV-4 so that will make for a decent down payment. She found a nice 2023 Highlander XLE with 46,XXX miles on it at a local dealer we have dealt with for years. Mine is an LE Plus package but the XLE is a higher level of options to include the sunroof she loves. It has a graphite gray interior with heated leather seats. It has the balance of the factory warranty and is in beautiful condition for $38,XXX. The vehicle was leased at the dealership and brought back when the lessee turned it in to lease a new one. We made sure she got a better vehicle than I did because of her commute and use compared to mine. Her commute one way is about 28 miles where mine is 1.9. She also travels the region and sometimes further for dog events. 4WD or at the least AWD is a necessity where we live in the hill country especially in the winter time.

This will be the first time we have both had the same make and model of vehicle and the first time we have had two auto loans at once. Her auto loan will be paid by monthly withdrawals from our retirement investments. We will use mine for towing the utility trailer and putting our kayaks on the roof racks. Hers will have the dog cage assembly she already owns installed as soon as we take delivery. We are still waiting for the check to clear before we move forward to finalize the purchase. We gave the dealership a $500 deposit to hold it and they needed to service it as well. The brakes need work for pulsating and the tires are iffy. The whole vehicle needs to be detailed inside and out.