| Biographical Non-Fiction posted July 1, 2020 | Chapters: |
...45 46 -47- 48... 
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My Job problems seem to be on a repeating cycle.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
Here We Go Again
by BethShelby
| Background I have a strange experience that seems to have significance, Some of the fortune tellers words ring true as well. My jobs are often short-lived. |
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I had worked at my new job for about eight months. Everything seemed to be going along well. The work was easy, and I was making more than I had ever made before without having to work overtime. It was Friday afternoon. I had just returned from the grocery store. When I got home, I put the groceries away and went upstairs. I felt unusually tired, so I went into our bedroom and fell across the bed. I thought I would rest a few minutes before trying to decide what to make for the evening meal.
I closed my eyes for just a second, and suddenly, it seemed I was standing by an assembly-line with a group of people packing some heavy equipment into boxes. A young man wearing a suit walked in and says, "I need everyone's attention." He seemed upset and proceeded to chew everyone out. "If you people want to keep your jobs, you are going to have to speed up production. You're falling behind, and there have been too many errors lately. Some of the boxes are incorrectly packed.”
My eyes flew open and I sat up. You were in the room with me changing out of your dress clothes into something more comfortable.
“I just had the weirdest thing happen,” I told you. “I wasn’t even asleep. I closed my eyes for just a second, and this little dude--who I’ve never seen before--was chewing me out. It was like I was on an assemble line. What on earth was that all about? I would never work at a job like that. Am I losing my mind? It was so real. I thought I was actually there. However, it only lasted a few seconds.”
You gave me a strange look and shrugged your shoulders. “Are you sure you didn’t fall asleep?”
“No, I was still wide awake. I can’t go to sleep that fast. We were just talking a minute ago, and I told you how tired I was.”
I decided it had to be one of those unexplained things that just happen sometimes. There is never a satisfactory explanation, so it's best to just let it go. I succeeded in putting it out of my mind for the weekend.
**********
On Monday, when I went in to work, there were some men I’d never seen before going around to all the office furniture and putting stickers with numbers on everything.
“What the heck is going on?” I asked Stan.
“It’s not good,” he said. “This company’s not going to make it. We’ll be closing in a couple of weeks. They’re going to be auctioning off all the equipment. I’m sorry you’re finding out this way. We’re going to have a meeting later this morning.”
Just as I thought things were starting to go smoothly, and now I would be unemployed again. I hadn’t even been with this company long enough to get a week's vacation. I worked out the two weeks and said goodbye to my friends. The fortune teller had struck again. My two girlfriends and I were all about to have some changes in our lives. Loraine had found a job in Memphis and would be leaving the state. Maggie's husband was a salesman, and she thought they would be moving nearer his home office.
***********
You had some vacation time coming, and it seemed like a good time for us to do something as a family. I didn’t have a job, and the kids had another couple of weeks before school started. We had recently received a brochure in the mail offering a free three nights, four days family vacation to Hot Spring, AR. We’d never been there, and they would even pay for our gasoline to drive there. We’d have to look at some property, but we figured we could handle that. We sure didn’t need any more property, but the brochure said there was no obligation to buy. I called the number and made reservations.
Hot Springs was much prettier than I had expected. We both love the mountains, but after having seen the Smoky Mountains and the Rockies, I didn’t expect much from the smaller Ozarks. However. the countryside around Hot Springs had a different kind of beauty. It was a vibrant green and there were lakes and mountain streams everywhere. The motel we were assigned was new and had a large pool outside which delighted our kids. You weren't interested in swimming, but I was, so I went with them while you watched television in our room.
The second day, we had to go look at the property, and it was very impressive presentation. They showed us maps and brochures of what the area would look like when it was developed. They were selling large lots in what looked like the making of a beautiful upscale community. There was lakefront property which was more expensive, but we looked at some excellent building sites on a mountainside covered with large trees. The roads were just starting to be built, and many were still unpaved. Our salesman was extremely persuasive and used very high pressure tactics, so much so, that we came away with a contract in spite of our intention to resist.
When we got back to the motel, we had second thoughts and agonized over allowing ourselves to be talked into something we didn’t need. When we read the fine print, we learned we had three days to change our minds before the contract would be legally binding. Thankfully, we were able to get out of it and were allowed to go on and enjoy the rest of the vacation.
We had free tickets for riding the ducks, which were amphibious boats that ran on land as well as cruised the lakes. We all enjoyed the boat ride. We also visited a park and promenade overlooking the city. We spent a lot of time riding up in the mountains enjoying the little streams and waterfalls that followed the road up the side of the mountain. I was impressed with all the huge rock formations.
The city had several auction houses, so we went in and watched them auction off paintings and antiques. Before we left we bought a concrete bird bath with a statue of some leaping dolphins in the middle. It would have been perfect in the center of the rock garden I'd wanted to build. All of the children got souvenirs. Carol became interested in some of the small colored rocks, and we bought her a little rock tumbler and some stones that she could take home to polish in the tumbler. All in all, it was an enjoyable vacation.
***********
When we got back home, I perused the want ads, but didn’t see anything in my field, so on Monday I went to a couple of temp agencies and signed up for work. The first job assignment I went on was to a large auto parts mail order place. I thought I would be doing office work, but instead I was assigned to work on an assembly line packing auto parts. My vision, or whatever it was I had in my bedroom a short time ago, hadn’t crossed my mind, but it all came flooding back when the young man in the business suit approached our line and began yelling about production being down.
.
It was the same man I had seen so clearly, and his words were the same. I know this has to be hard to believe, and I’m not sure I would believe it if it hadn’t happened to me. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before nor has it happened since. I wondered if I was supposed to learn something from this experience. The only thing I came up with was that maybe I have too much pride, and I thought I was too good to do blue-collar work. I have to admit, it was a humbling thought.
**********
I went on several more temp assignments, but not too long after that, I got a call from the graphic arts place I had worked when I first got out of college. Mr. Hayes was the man who hired me, but only kept me a short time, because his artist and receptionist wanted her job back. He told me he’d heard I was out of work, and he was in need of someone to operate his graphic arts camera. I resented the fact that he'd let me go without giving me a chance before, and I didn’t really want to work for him again. But the job paid better than the temporary jobs, so I took it hoping something better would come along soon. I knew I could do the camera work with no problem, and this time he seemed very satisfied with my work. Neither of us mentioned that it wasn't the first time I had worked there.
I closed my eyes for just a second, and suddenly, it seemed I was standing by an assembly-line with a group of people packing some heavy equipment into boxes. A young man wearing a suit walked in and says, "I need everyone's attention." He seemed upset and proceeded to chew everyone out. "If you people want to keep your jobs, you are going to have to speed up production. You're falling behind, and there have been too many errors lately. Some of the boxes are incorrectly packed.”
My eyes flew open and I sat up. You were in the room with me changing out of your dress clothes into something more comfortable.
“I just had the weirdest thing happen,” I told you. “I wasn’t even asleep. I closed my eyes for just a second, and this little dude--who I’ve never seen before--was chewing me out. It was like I was on an assemble line. What on earth was that all about? I would never work at a job like that. Am I losing my mind? It was so real. I thought I was actually there. However, it only lasted a few seconds.”
You gave me a strange look and shrugged your shoulders. “Are you sure you didn’t fall asleep?”
“No, I was still wide awake. I can’t go to sleep that fast. We were just talking a minute ago, and I told you how tired I was.”
I decided it had to be one of those unexplained things that just happen sometimes. There is never a satisfactory explanation, so it's best to just let it go. I succeeded in putting it out of my mind for the weekend.
**********
On Monday, when I went in to work, there were some men I’d never seen before going around to all the office furniture and putting stickers with numbers on everything.
“What the heck is going on?” I asked Stan.
“It’s not good,” he said. “This company’s not going to make it. We’ll be closing in a couple of weeks. They’re going to be auctioning off all the equipment. I’m sorry you’re finding out this way. We’re going to have a meeting later this morning.”
Just as I thought things were starting to go smoothly, and now I would be unemployed again. I hadn’t even been with this company long enough to get a week's vacation. I worked out the two weeks and said goodbye to my friends. The fortune teller had struck again. My two girlfriends and I were all about to have some changes in our lives. Loraine had found a job in Memphis and would be leaving the state. Maggie's husband was a salesman, and she thought they would be moving nearer his home office.
***********
You had some vacation time coming, and it seemed like a good time for us to do something as a family. I didn’t have a job, and the kids had another couple of weeks before school started. We had recently received a brochure in the mail offering a free three nights, four days family vacation to Hot Spring, AR. We’d never been there, and they would even pay for our gasoline to drive there. We’d have to look at some property, but we figured we could handle that. We sure didn’t need any more property, but the brochure said there was no obligation to buy. I called the number and made reservations.
Hot Springs was much prettier than I had expected. We both love the mountains, but after having seen the Smoky Mountains and the Rockies, I didn’t expect much from the smaller Ozarks. However. the countryside around Hot Springs had a different kind of beauty. It was a vibrant green and there were lakes and mountain streams everywhere. The motel we were assigned was new and had a large pool outside which delighted our kids. You weren't interested in swimming, but I was, so I went with them while you watched television in our room.
The second day, we had to go look at the property, and it was very impressive presentation. They showed us maps and brochures of what the area would look like when it was developed. They were selling large lots in what looked like the making of a beautiful upscale community. There was lakefront property which was more expensive, but we looked at some excellent building sites on a mountainside covered with large trees. The roads were just starting to be built, and many were still unpaved. Our salesman was extremely persuasive and used very high pressure tactics, so much so, that we came away with a contract in spite of our intention to resist.
When we got back to the motel, we had second thoughts and agonized over allowing ourselves to be talked into something we didn’t need. When we read the fine print, we learned we had three days to change our minds before the contract would be legally binding. Thankfully, we were able to get out of it and were allowed to go on and enjoy the rest of the vacation.
We had free tickets for riding the ducks, which were amphibious boats that ran on land as well as cruised the lakes. We all enjoyed the boat ride. We also visited a park and promenade overlooking the city. We spent a lot of time riding up in the mountains enjoying the little streams and waterfalls that followed the road up the side of the mountain. I was impressed with all the huge rock formations.
The city had several auction houses, so we went in and watched them auction off paintings and antiques. Before we left we bought a concrete bird bath with a statue of some leaping dolphins in the middle. It would have been perfect in the center of the rock garden I'd wanted to build. All of the children got souvenirs. Carol became interested in some of the small colored rocks, and we bought her a little rock tumbler and some stones that she could take home to polish in the tumbler. All in all, it was an enjoyable vacation.
***********
When we got back home, I perused the want ads, but didn’t see anything in my field, so on Monday I went to a couple of temp agencies and signed up for work. The first job assignment I went on was to a large auto parts mail order place. I thought I would be doing office work, but instead I was assigned to work on an assembly line packing auto parts. My vision, or whatever it was I had in my bedroom a short time ago, hadn’t crossed my mind, but it all came flooding back when the young man in the business suit approached our line and began yelling about production being down.
.
It was the same man I had seen so clearly, and his words were the same. I know this has to be hard to believe, and I’m not sure I would believe it if it hadn’t happened to me. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before nor has it happened since. I wondered if I was supposed to learn something from this experience. The only thing I came up with was that maybe I have too much pride, and I thought I was too good to do blue-collar work. I have to admit, it was a humbling thought.
**********
I went on several more temp assignments, but not too long after that, I got a call from the graphic arts place I had worked when I first got out of college. Mr. Hayes was the man who hired me, but only kept me a short time, because his artist and receptionist wanted her job back. He told me he’d heard I was out of work, and he was in need of someone to operate his graphic arts camera. I resented the fact that he'd let me go without giving me a chance before, and I didn’t really want to work for him again. But the job paid better than the temporary jobs, so I took it hoping something better would come along soon. I knew I could do the camera work with no problem, and this time he seemed very satisfied with my work. Neither of us mentioned that it wasn't the first time I had worked there.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents
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