Today, I received some good news. My position at the refinery will continue through the ownership transition and start-up of the facility. After a long six months, I have a certain job. I was at work today when I received the job offer. Just one problem – the remaining work force will be cut in half at the end of the month. Most of the folks that I work with every day will end up out of work – at least temporarily. Many of them will eventually be recalled for the startup in a few months..or six months… The new owners are planning on a restart next spring, but our focus in the near term will be on maintenance – operations folks won’t be needed in full force for a while.
No celebrating today – the end of next week will mean the end of employment for many good people that I share a special bond with. We’ve all been through the uncertainty and the disturbance of the recent shutdown and closing of our refinery. We thought that we all might survive the closing together. We were wrong. There are a lot of folks that (perhaps correctly) argue that the shutdown and sale have been totally unnecessary and that the people in charge failed us. Sour grapes don’t change anything, though. Today, the long faces of the about-to-be-unemployed tempered my enthusiasm at keeping my position.
I have a drug test next week for my new employer. With all of the talk about the possible legalization of cannabis, has anyone thought that employers attitudes won’t change? Would you want your child’s surgeon doing bongs? How about his school bus driver? How about if he just smokes on his day off? Didn’t think so. Even if the wacky weed is decriminalized, you can’t be a stoner and have a responsible job.
Thursday night the Senate passed another huge bill that will ultimately carve up government booty and favors in the name of “financial reform”. The Senate has used the financial crisis (arguably encouraged if not caused by government meddling) as an excuse to pass a 1400+ page stinker of a bill. It will now be reconciled with the House version. That means that the bill will be larded up with more booty and favors for friends-of-the-government. We’ll create a few huge new bureaucracies, make sure that the benevolent government winds its tendrils around even more of our private lives. I read somewhere that Obama plans on campaigning on this stinker-of-a-bill. Does that mean that he thinks that we like this sort of thing? In a few short months, we have put the government in control of our health and our money.
Campaign all you want. Americans don’t want this huge bill, we didn’t want the last one, either.
November can’t get here soon enough.
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