On The Road (Again)

Keith has been working yard jobs ever since he completed his training and became a real employee. He hasn't been out on the road since he went out a few times early in his training, but got bumped from his yard job and decided to get out onto the road where the job isn't quite as hard (you get to sit in a locomotive) and there aren't as many eyes watching you for mistakes you might make. Of course he couldn't remember how to mark up for the road and was having some trouble with the railroad's computer system, so he called Joe for some help, Joe who just happened to be in the neighborhood shopping at Walmart yesterday afternoon. How handy for us!

They went through the computer system and how to use it again. I watched and asked the questions Keith forgot to ask. The whole system of seniority and how you bid on jobs or put yourself on an extra board really is quite confusing and even more so for someone like Keith who has never worked on a computer other than to check his email before. When he marked up for a road job it put him in the training board where he is allowed a familiarization trip or two so he can get his bearings. How and why that happened we are not sure, but the training coordinator must have flagged the computer to do that, so Joe contacted the guy and arranged it so that Keith could ride with him on his next trip, so off they went at 2am today. They'll get into Barstow about 12 hours later and then sleep at the motel and then get called for another trip back. So, right about now he is somewhere out in the Mojave desert riding along the rails. Clickety Clack.

And I have the house to myself until sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Joe did kind of suggest that Keith get on the road where you make more money just in case things slow down after the holidays and there isn't much work available. Make the money now and put some aside for that rainy day, so to speak. 

Can I Breathe A Sigh Of Relief Yet?

Keith almost quit his job this morning. He had a really bad couple of days working with an engineer who we now know is very difficult to work with and not understanding at all about new employees still learning the job and was so discouraged and stressed out that he was ready to give it all up. I do not want him to give it all up because he would have a very hard time finding another job, especially when a prospective employer saw that he had 2 jobs within the last 6 months and quit both of them. We have had a difficult few days with me trying to get it through his depressed head that he needs to let his meds start working and give it some more time.

I had emailed Joe and he was kind enough to come over this morning and help motivate Keith with a tutorial on how to navigate the company website and how to sign up for jobs and some war stories about how hard it is to learn this job but how easy it gets once you learn it. He also said that the engineer that's been giving Keith such grief does that to everyone he works with and most of the guys on the job can't stand him. Fortunately, tonight that engineer, whose name is Richard but is not so affectionately know as Dick, because he is a total DICK, has been assigned to a different job. So Keith gets to work with a much more understanding engineer tonight and hopefully will have a much better day at work. Joe said that Dick is really not a very good engineer but he seems to think he is and everyone else around him can't do their jobs.

Anyway, I am hoping that Joe's pep talk will help Keith get over the hump and get his head together and the sailing will be a little smoother from here on out. I've been rather stressed out too, dealing with all of this and doing some worrying myself, but feel much better now and much more hopeful.

Joe showed us some pictures of his new kittens, an orange one that looks like Buddy because basically all orange tabbies look the same, and a calico one. He and his girlfriend found them out at a park by the river that is notorious for having stray cats because people dump them off there all the time, and the kittens were following them around and they were just too cute and pitiful looking and so of course they couldn't resist bringing them home. The poor things were all covered in fleas and dirt and had worms and were very skinny, but they are now looking much better and putting on weight and got de-wormed, de-flead, and all cleaned up in the bath. They seem to be adjusting well from what he said, and are happy lets run around the house kittens now.