01-31-11

01-31-11
329 Miles
On this date, 2008, I was let go from my contract with Farmer’s Insurance. That whole “At Will” employment bullshit - like being able to ask your date of birth on the job application or drug tests BEFORE an offer of employment is given. Pure Bullshit!!
My listed last day of employment was 01-31-11, but my last day of work was Thursday January 30th, 2008.
They paid me thru Friday because it was easier to calculate in advance.
And I had actually thought they were going to make me an official “Farmer’s” employee at that meeting.
I was too stunned to do more that say “Ok” and wait for my backpack and jacket to be brought down from my desk.
Forget about the other personal items I never got back from inside my desk drawers. Three department managers and an HR person and me. And there was and angry defensiveness about the way they let me go. They acted like they expected some violence from me the way they stood around me at the table while I received the news sitting down.
I’m a big guy and I have been know to be passionate in supporting my views and to “fight” verbally for what I believe in, but violence?
Over a job they didn’t want (or apparently appreciate) me for? To What Purpose?
When you’re not wanted (either in business or personal relationships), pleading your case is just a waste of time and emotion. Like Bonnie sang “I can’t make you love me if you don’t. I can’t make your heart feel something it won’t.”

Anyway, the day was another long drive - Mr. Toad’s wild drive event. About 136 miles from Page to Flagstaff stopping at Cameron along the way. As I approached Flagstaff I looked at Mischa and said Tolkien’s words “But none of them like the look of the Lonely Mountain”! The big snow covered mountains to the right of the freeway was I thought called “Grey Mountain”and made me worry that this third pass thru Flagstaff would again be slushy and treacherous driving.
Upon attaining Flagstaff I was relieved that I had indeed beat the forecasted storm. But I quickly discarded the idea of a side trip to Winslow/ Been there, done that. Didn’t even need to see the statue.
Side note - Interviews with two Navaho women selling jewelry on the side of a mountain. Just after leaving Page we came thru a narrow pass with a breath taking view of a looming valley below. I wish I’d taken a picture before I got through the narrows. But I did get several pictures from the “vista point” on the other side.
At that location two Navajo women were selling (or hoping to sell) jewelry fomr their tables.They told me of their presence there. They paid for their spots on the road side. They are part of a cooperative that pool resources to try to mitigate losses and increase profits. Lately it’s been more losses. I asked one of them if she thought things were getting better or worse. “Worse”.
Do you see it getting better soon? “It’s not going to get any better. It was predicted a long time ago. So we just need to learn to expect it and learn to live with it. The Rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer. Nothing we can do.”
“Right now, we would have been busy - but you can’t control the weather and gas prices.”:
“I live nearby, she lives about 40 miles down the road. We can’t really find jobs nearby, or else we have to leave town.