Sunday, February 5, 2012

What the hell happened?

Note- I actually wrote this over the summer. I have since been back to Cincinnati to work at the Halloween place again (Hello ladies) and have since found a job... but more about that later. This was supposed to be the beginning of a book, but I find writing in blog form less daunting and scary. Stranded in Hazard is about me (of course) living here in the Hazard, KY area. The ups and downs--things I like and the things that confuse me. That said... my intro to how I got here.


I’ve been more or less unemployed for the last 2 years. It’s the classic scenario that sometimes happens… I had a great boss; she was one of the best women I’ve ever worked with. Management wanted her someplace else, and even though she didn’t want it-she was forced to move.
Let me back up a little. Hi, my name is Alita (pronounced uh, lee, tah) and I’m a librarian. I love working with the public, there are so many interesting people with amazing questions. I was a teen librarian for just over five years. I’m a pretty affable person, I can accept/work with anybody. I don’t have to like someone to work with them. This is part of being an adult. That said, I did not like the new manager (for the sake of anonymity, I’m going to call her Stephanie.) I gave Stephanie a good three months before deciding I didn’t like her. She decided right away that she didn’t like us; she wasn’t there to get to know us, she hated if we got too loud and God forbid if we laughed.
Not long after Stephanie got there, she made it very clear that there were a few of us that she disliked even more than the rest and that we had to go. So there I am, with a target on my back trying to fix everything she decided was wrong, so I wouldn’t get fired. Let me say right now, that I am not perfect. I’m a fat, occasionally bitchy smart-ass with a strange sense of humor and little tolerance for people who are mean or ignorant on purpose. But, I’m also very patient, empathetic and give great customer service. Oh and have a hard time being on time, but I’m working on that.
Then Stephanie found the one thing I couldn’t fix. I can’t fix teenagers. I cannot make teenagers come to the library; especially those that get more allowance than I make in a year, who don’t need to come to the library because they can buy whatever book, movie or video game they want, who don’t need to come to the library because they can drive the car they got for their birthday to the local mall and hang out with their friends. No matter how often I visit their school and tell them about the fun stuff we do at the library—I cannot make teens come to the library.
So with the job market the worst it had been in a very long time, I got fired. I applied for unemployment and cursed Stephanie a lot. I cried a lot. I slept a lot. I have applied for so many jobs; I don’t remember most of them. I applied at those places that will hire anyone (or so it seems when I’m a customer)—grocery stores, big box stores, Wal-mart, Target, Starbucks. Nobody wanted to hire me. I spent time volunteering to fill some of my time and put anything on my resume.
I ended up working some temporary seasonal stuff, like the Census and a Halloween store then I got a part time job at a library. It was actually the library where I had my first librarian position, and I was so grateful when they hired me back that I cried (granted I’d been crying a lot, but this was because I was happy.)
So I spent my 20 hours per week at the library, the rest of the time, I looked for another part-time job, or a full-time job and worried about money. The money thing had caught up with me, mortgage, credit cards, home owner’s insurance, electric bills, phone bills, you name it, I was behind.
That was about five months ago, then I got the Notice of Intent to Foreclose. Holy Shit, they are going to take my house! I knew it would happen, but it is a punch to the gut when you get that letter. I knew what I was going to have to do… so I let my boss and the Human Resources Department know, and then I started packing.
…And now I am living with my mom and one of my brothers (also unemployed, but a little less educated than me) in Eastern Kentucky.
We went to the grocery store yesterday, we decided to drive the truck (it’s mom’s truck because she paid for it, but it’s still in my brother-in-law’s name and Joe uses it to get around till he fixes his car) it’s older, but not old enough to be cool, faded red with one grey door and loud. I asked for the keys, to which I’m told, there aren’t any. Turns out, the door key is hidden in the truck “In case we need to lock it” and the ignition key broke off in the ignition (I’m hoping this has been fixed by now so no one will steal the truck.) So we just start it and go. I suggested taking my car, because “what if someone steals the truck?” “Look at it, who is going to steal that truck?” “I just don’t want to get stranded in Hazard, oh wait I already am. And wouldn’t that be a good name for a book?”

1 comment:

  1. Hi Alita-Thank you for sharing your journey and there are many things that we can relate to here. And I wish that was not true-for both of us. Stranded in Hazard could be worse...so keep us posted on your journey and I'll keep hoping for you.

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