An Unemployed Bum!

[Moondoggie]

This week my wife and I decided to pull the plug on our trucking biz.

Expenses and hassels just made it not such a good deal, and not enjoyable anymore.  Don't get me started on the taxes...gag!  I've been trucking for 8 yrs now since I retired from the service, and to tell the truth, I'm tired of being away from home even if it's only for 3 days a week as I've been doing for the past 40 months or so.  The 3 yrs that my wife teamed with me were the best.

We have enough left in the business to pay ourselves the usual salary for 6 months or so, plus the value of the tractor & trailer when we sell them (they're debt free).  I'm going to pull the 5.5kw diesel genset and keep it.  Since we're an S Corp, we've been paying into state/fed unemployment.  I may have to get some of that back, depending upon what the in's and out's of that system are.

In the meantime, I'm in the job market.  Our town has an opening on the 10 man PD at $12.50/hr.  I'm going to submit an app.          

Our locally owned supermarket is looking for a bakery dept mgr.  I'm going in to talk with the owner tomorrow.  Upsides are that it's 6 blocks from the house, and I love to cook and worked as a baker in my HS days.  I have a BA in BusAdmin.   Downside is that the store owner is known as something as a difficult personality.  We'll see.

At this stage in life and finances, as long as I make $24K (in addition to my retirement) we're doing just fine.  All of my debt (zero interest car loan) will be gone next year, so I'm pretty sure we're not going to face starvation or privation.

Last resort is going back to truck driving.  I can work for any outfit for 6 months, and bank enough to take 12 months off.

Something will turn up.....it always has.  I haven't been out of work a day in my life in the last 40 yrs.

[Paddy]

Good on you!  I like it when people take control of their own lives.   

[Ron]

Good luck!!

Me too! I left my job in March and am taking the summer off.

I might get a part time job just for pin money (as gramma used to say).

Do some side jobs as they come up, whatever. I am starting to get a little stir crazy though.

[charby]

If you like driving, see if they are hiring school bus drivers at the school or at the autoparts store.

-C

[Fly320s]

Good job on having your head/finances together.

But, sheesh!!  $12.50 for being a cop?  That's terrible

[Perd Hapley]

I thought he meant Al Gore. 

[Bogie]

Campers, being "out of work" can be liberating...
 
I got laid off the week my girlfriend had some gnarsty surgical complications. That was back last August. We're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm guessing August before it starts doing anything concrete.
 
Starting my own business, and I think it'll be fun. And interesting. That's the hard part.
 
This past year, even with the learning how to do things like injections, tube changes, etc., etc., has been very therapeutic... I was in a downward spiral of corporate hell...
 
I've been self-employed before. Can't bitch at the boss, but hey...
 

[bedlamite]

http://www.oddtodd.com/

[Moondoggie]

Well, OddTodd was...um, interesting.

I went to speak with the owner of the grocery store today.  He filled the bakery dept mgr position 2 hours before I showed up.  I think he would have hired me, and we could have negotiated a salary that would have worked.  He would have been willing to pay me more in exchange for not signing up for his benefit pkg that costs him $900/mo per employee.

It was a good experience.  He asked if he could keep my resume and pass it around to other business owners.  He seemed very impressed with me.  Asked if I would consider a mgt position in his other store, but at 35 miles away I told him that the commute would be a killer.

During our conversation he asked me if I'd considered applying for a position as asst mgr at a new fast food place opening in our town.  It is owned by two of the other larger business owners in our town, as well as our mayor (who also owns one of the 4 banks in town).  The GM for this new enterprise is the wife of one of the owners, who closed her own business to attend a training course to run the fast food joint.  The grocer thought that my military background and civilian mgt experience would make me an ideal choice.  He intimated that the owners were really worried about finding someone suitable from the field of available candidates in the local area.  (You really can't imagine how sad many/most of the available "talent" is in this town.  This place had to be the prototype for "Hooterville"...it's not even up to the standards of "Mayberry".)  Fast food is definitely a step down, but there aren't a lot of choices in this town.  A lot will depend upon the money and what the politics look like.  It's a possibility.

I'm still focusing primarily on the cop job, but the application process doesn't close until next week so I'm checking out anything else that's available in the meantime.  Turning over every rock, just in case there's a diamond hidden underneath.

I'm scurrying about smartly looking for a job, when I just decided to close my own biz 2 days ago....can you tell I have a smidgen of work ethic?

[Jamisjockey]

  If your wife gets bored I know a great business....

[Moondoggie]

Problem with selling stuff in this neck of the woods is that almost nobody has any money.  The median FAMILY income hereabouts is $28K.

Our next door neighbor sells Longaberger Baskets (what a scam!).  The UPS/FedExmobile used to show up at her house every day, now, not so much.

There's a local forum for our town.  Last year the gossip was buzzin about some lady who figured out how to scam her way to fame and fortune through Mary Kay.  There was identity theft and credit card fraud involved, yet nothing was done about it except for Mary Kay kicking her to the curb.

I just did some figuring on the calculator.  My military pension comes within $500 a month of covering all of our expenses.  Next fall when my zero interest loan on my pickup is paid off, we could survive on the pension alone.  All I need to work for is descretionary spending and adding to savings.

Something will turn up.

[Jamisjockey]

Nah I was just poking at ya'll. 
 
Wife'll kick me for saying it, because I'm suppossed to be professional enough to not point fingers  , but Mary Kay is the most corrupt direct sales company I know of.  They know what thier advisors are doing, and do nothing to stop it.  Thier setup encourages dishonesty.  It's a sham. 
Never heard of Longaberger.

With a low median income in your area I'd imagine the cost of living isn't too bad, ya'll will figure out a way I'm sure.

[charby]

Meth manufacturing usually pays well in low income areas.

Getting caught or blown up is the downside

-C

[El Tejon]

Good luck with the job search!

[Laurent du Var]

  "ACHTUNG!
Schnitt Ihren Rasen!  Jetzt! "

It is :
  Schneiden Sie Ihren Rasen!

I've learnt some German, just in case they come back...

Oh, Moondoggie, good luck on the job thing.
Was it you who stopped smoking some while ago ?

[El Tejon]

I should really try to focus on the difference between verbs and nouns.  Geez, thanks for the correction, Laur.

Language police=>

I'm off to write it 100 times on the blackboard.

[El Tejon]

I was looking for a reason for getting back into German.  I think this is it.

Now, what is a imperative verb again?

[Moondoggie]

Nope, Laurent, not me who quit smoking.  I haven't smoked in 35 yrs or so.

Think of all of that money I've saved!   

[Laurent du Var]

"Now, what is a imperative verb again?"

I think you'd call it subjunctive mood ?
Like :

Don't park your pick up on the front lawn !
Get off you porch !
etc..




 

[Bogie]

Nein! Izt alles zgefucht!
 

[Tallpine]

Now, what is a imperative verb again?

Na coisich orm!   

[HaulingGas]

MoonDoggie,have you ever though about
hauling fuel? Pay is decent,here it's 1,000
to 1,300 per week before taxes depending
on who you work for.It's not hard work
hooing up a hose from the truck to a in
ground fitting and opening up a few valves.

[Moondoggie]

Never really thought about pulling a tanker...I have the endorsement on my license.

Problem is, we moved to this podunk town (pop 4,600 and falling) to look after my 83 yr old MIL.  We would never have been here otherwise.

It's 17 miles to the next town of any size.

Really trying to avoid a commute.  I'm pretty sure the tanker outfits are either in Omaha or KC...100 miles each way to either one.

I'm going to check out an ad for a local shuttle driver (moving trailers from plant to plant), but it's 22 miles away.  It would have to pay pretty good, and I don't imagine it will.  They'll think $8/hr is high dollar.  $3/gal gas is a factor to keep in mind.  I'm going to give them a call this morning and check it out.

Unemployment pays $285/wk, which works out to $7.12/hr.  The state/feds required our S-corp with 2 employees (me & wife) to pay into unemployment for years and I'd kinda like to get some of it back.

[charby]

Never really thought about pulling a tanker...I have the endorsement on my license.

Problem is, we moved to this podunk town (pop 4,600 and falling) to look after my 83 yr old MIL.  We would never have been here otherwise.

It's 17 miles to the next town of any size.

Really trying to avoid a commute.  I'm pretty sure the tanker outfits are either in Omaha or KC...100 miles each way to either one.

Are you on the Iowa/Missouri Border? 

I have seen a lot of tanker drivers who take their trucks home with them each night, probably do it to save time in deliveries. Fuel terminals are only open so many hours a day. All the fuel tanker drivers I have met hustle their butts off, but they are home every night.

-C

[LadySmith]

Good luck on the job search Moondoggie, although it looks like your work ethic wont let you be an unemployed bum for too long. 
Im getting kind of twitchy for a job search myself. Im used to working 2 full-time jobs, but I quit my 2nd job at the end of March. Id been there about 2 years. In came a new manager with a brash attitude. A bunch of people quit, so I was working a lot of overtime there. The manager decided she wanted me to supervise grave shift. Problem is, my #1 job is grave shift, so I politely turned her down. A few weeks later, she asked me again, a bit more forcefully. I firmly turned her down, letting her know that I love my 1st job, plus it paid better. Third time she didnt really ask. She said it would be in my best interests to accept their position, told me I needed to quit my other job and demanded that I make a decision. Well&
I told myself Id wait until the fall before I started looking for more work, but I find myself peeking at Hot Jobs and stuff more often now.