We stayed until after Thanksgiving at my sons' house, but my husband became more and more aggitated with the teenagers. Just before Christmas I got a call from my other son- his sister was moving out and he would lose his place. My husband and I decided to move into his trailer to help him out.
So, once again we moved- it was getting easier as all we had that was not in storage fit into our van easily. I began to understand how a gypsy might feel! I didn't have much of a Christmas spirit by then- but that is a holiday I refuse to forget. We bought a cheap fake tree and some decorations at the dollar store and forced ourselves to get in the mood!
The trailer was old and drafty but it was at least a roof over our heads for the winter. We made it through the holidays and almost to spring when the landlady told us we would have to move. She had lost her home to forclosure and needed to move back into her trailer! So once again house hunting we went! The scary part was that our TRA benefits(Fancy unemployment) were just about done.
We managed to find a small 2 bedroom duplex- nothing fancy but it was a month to month rental so we at least had a place while we continued looking for something better. We moved in there in March of 2008. Our TRA would run out in April- hopefully we would be able to find a job before then!
We went to the temp services in town and registered again with them. My husband got a pretty good one running a cnc machine like he had at our old shop. A week later I got a job in a plastic factory. It was hard work and we only got one fifteen minute break during our shift. Many nights I would come home with blistered and bleeding hands.
I lasted about three weeks there- then got laid off again. My husband made it five weeks before he got laid off from the shop he worked at. His shop was going to close its doors too! Since he had turned 62 he decided to apply for early social security- at least we would have some kind of income that was steady!
We couldn't pay our rent that was due on June first- he hadn't gotten his social security yet and I had just started a housekeeping job at a resort- so we moved back to my sons' house again! I wasn't sure at the time how much more I could take of this. Would we ever be a normal family again? Would we ever find decent employment?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Moving To A New Home With No Money
As I said in my last post - the landlord decided to up the rent so we decided to move. Let me tell you something, as soon as you call a place for rent around this area and mention being on unemployment you are turned down. I can understand the concern but it doesn't make it any easier for the poor soul trying to keep a roof over their head.
What actually happened was rather weird but it worked. I have a son who was renting a 3 bedroom trailer in the country and at the time was having a hard time paying his rent because of slow work at his job. So, the plan was tht we would put all our stuff in storage and move in with him. Now, remember we also had my daughter,her husband and two of their kids to figure out what to do with also! The original plan went like this: my son and grandson would share a room, my daughter and her husband would have a room and the granddaughter would have a room. We were going to figure how to divide the living room off for a space big enough for my husband and I to put our bed! It would have been very cramped indeed!
As it turns out my oldest son, who has 3 teen agers and a bigger home called and wanted to know if my husband and I would like to spend the summer with them and kind of keep an eye on things at the house while they were both at work. He would not charge us anything to stay there! Hey, not a bad plan I must admit.
Moving day was a bit tricky, my husband still had stitches in his leg from his last hospital ordeal so he could not do any lifting- he became the truck driver. I do not have any idea where all the stuff we moved ever came from but there was a lot of it! My husband and I stayed the last night there to finish the cleaning and make sure everything was taken care of. The next day we went to my son's house to begin a new life.
All the family loves my husbands cooking and that was what the grandkids looked forward to the most- that and hanging out with their "cool grandma" as they put it! Since my husband could not go up and down stairs we took over the oldest boy's room at first and he went to the basement. As soon as the stitches were out we moved down there and gave him his room back!
It was hard for my husband to put up with 3 teenagers and their wild music but he was a pretty good sport about it. My son and his wife both enjoyed the fact that dinner was done when they came home from work and usually the housework was done too. As the summer went on and we looked for non -existing jobs reality started to set in. We were actually homeless- we had never had to stay with one of our kids before and although it was nice of them it was depressing to know that we were unable to be on our own.
We did take our two granddaughters on a weeks vacation that August to Mackinaw Island and Sault Ste. Marie. It was a fun time and the girls still talk about it. I could tell that by October my husband was getting extremely irratable with all the teens hanging around all the time so we decided to go to a motel in town that had townhouses to rent by the week. It would cost us 300.00 a week to stay there but at least it would be a little quieter for him. We lasted three weeks and realized that we had a choice- he would have to go without his monthly medications or we would have to move back to my sons house. Without his medications he could die so back we went! For the first time in years I sat down and cried- I had always been able to keep it together but now I had no plan for the future and nowhere to turn to get one.
What actually happened was rather weird but it worked. I have a son who was renting a 3 bedroom trailer in the country and at the time was having a hard time paying his rent because of slow work at his job. So, the plan was tht we would put all our stuff in storage and move in with him. Now, remember we also had my daughter,her husband and two of their kids to figure out what to do with also! The original plan went like this: my son and grandson would share a room, my daughter and her husband would have a room and the granddaughter would have a room. We were going to figure how to divide the living room off for a space big enough for my husband and I to put our bed! It would have been very cramped indeed!
As it turns out my oldest son, who has 3 teen agers and a bigger home called and wanted to know if my husband and I would like to spend the summer with them and kind of keep an eye on things at the house while they were both at work. He would not charge us anything to stay there! Hey, not a bad plan I must admit.
Moving day was a bit tricky, my husband still had stitches in his leg from his last hospital ordeal so he could not do any lifting- he became the truck driver. I do not have any idea where all the stuff we moved ever came from but there was a lot of it! My husband and I stayed the last night there to finish the cleaning and make sure everything was taken care of. The next day we went to my son's house to begin a new life.
All the family loves my husbands cooking and that was what the grandkids looked forward to the most- that and hanging out with their "cool grandma" as they put it! Since my husband could not go up and down stairs we took over the oldest boy's room at first and he went to the basement. As soon as the stitches were out we moved down there and gave him his room back!
It was hard for my husband to put up with 3 teenagers and their wild music but he was a pretty good sport about it. My son and his wife both enjoyed the fact that dinner was done when they came home from work and usually the housework was done too. As the summer went on and we looked for non -existing jobs reality started to set in. We were actually homeless- we had never had to stay with one of our kids before and although it was nice of them it was depressing to know that we were unable to be on our own.
We did take our two granddaughters on a weeks vacation that August to Mackinaw Island and Sault Ste. Marie. It was a fun time and the girls still talk about it. I could tell that by October my husband was getting extremely irratable with all the teens hanging around all the time so we decided to go to a motel in town that had townhouses to rent by the week. It would cost us 300.00 a week to stay there but at least it would be a little quieter for him. We lasted three weeks and realized that we had a choice- he would have to go without his monthly medications or we would have to move back to my sons house. Without his medications he could die so back we went! For the first time in years I sat down and cried- I had always been able to keep it together but now I had no plan for the future and nowhere to turn to get one.
Sorry I Haven't Posted In A While-Got Lost In Space!
I am going to give this one more try! It seems I get started and then something comes up to distract me and I'm not able to post for awhile- I am determined to not let this happen anymore.
Anyway, I finally got my lay off in April. I was so happy about it at the time(if I had only known what the future held!) I could finally be home with my husband and we could spend some quality time together. We had already sent a deposit for our weekly fishing trip and planned on going in July. In the meantime I filed for unemployment and went to all the meetings that I needed to go to. For the first month I remember sleeping evry chance I could get. I guess I was trying to make up for all those years when we had been working 60-80 hours a week!
One morning I remember my husband waking me up saying his leg was burning. I thought somehow he had burned himself so I told him to put a cold washcloth on it and fell back to sleep! A short time later he was back waking me up saying it still felt like it was on fire. This time I could see both the pain and fear in his face and I knew something was not right.
I went downstairs and began to examine his leg from the knee down. When I got to his foot I knew we had a serious problem-it was icy cold and gray! I told him we needed to go to the walk in clinic right away and have them check it out. He was concerned because we had no insurance but I told him I didn't care we would find a way to pay for whatever treatment he needed.
As soon as the doctor at the clinic took a look at his foot we were told to go immediately to the emergency room at the hospital. Of course my husband argued all the way across town about not being able to pay for all this. I didn't care-I wanted him to get better. The ER techs called in his specialist who admitted him. The doctor told him he didn't care about insurance- he needed to fix his leg.We have never recieved a bill from him either by the way!
After he was settled in his room I went home to let my daughter and evryone else know what was going on. At the same time, my ex-son-in-law was admitted to the intensive care unit because of complications from a surgery for his Chrons disease and they didn't know if he would live or not! That night I went back to visit my husband and found he had also been moved to intensive care- it was a blood clot and they needed to get it dissolved which required thinning his blod to a very dangerous point. Talk about a crazy time!
He spent 10 days up there, at one point he had 7 different IV bottles dangling from his bed! Three rooms down my ex-son-in-law continued to fight for his life too. His wife and I helped each other out by keeping and eye out for each other. When she needed a break I would stay and keep a look out on him and vice versa! They both finally made it through all of this and were released. We are still trying to pay off the 71,000.00 hospital bill!
We had to cancel our fishing trip that year and to make things worse when our lease came up for renewal the landlord raised our rent by 50.00 so we had to find a new place to live. I will tell that story in my next post!
Anyway, I finally got my lay off in April. I was so happy about it at the time(if I had only known what the future held!) I could finally be home with my husband and we could spend some quality time together. We had already sent a deposit for our weekly fishing trip and planned on going in July. In the meantime I filed for unemployment and went to all the meetings that I needed to go to. For the first month I remember sleeping evry chance I could get. I guess I was trying to make up for all those years when we had been working 60-80 hours a week!
One morning I remember my husband waking me up saying his leg was burning. I thought somehow he had burned himself so I told him to put a cold washcloth on it and fell back to sleep! A short time later he was back waking me up saying it still felt like it was on fire. This time I could see both the pain and fear in his face and I knew something was not right.
I went downstairs and began to examine his leg from the knee down. When I got to his foot I knew we had a serious problem-it was icy cold and gray! I told him we needed to go to the walk in clinic right away and have them check it out. He was concerned because we had no insurance but I told him I didn't care we would find a way to pay for whatever treatment he needed.
As soon as the doctor at the clinic took a look at his foot we were told to go immediately to the emergency room at the hospital. Of course my husband argued all the way across town about not being able to pay for all this. I didn't care-I wanted him to get better. The ER techs called in his specialist who admitted him. The doctor told him he didn't care about insurance- he needed to fix his leg.We have never recieved a bill from him either by the way!
After he was settled in his room I went home to let my daughter and evryone else know what was going on. At the same time, my ex-son-in-law was admitted to the intensive care unit because of complications from a surgery for his Chrons disease and they didn't know if he would live or not! That night I went back to visit my husband and found he had also been moved to intensive care- it was a blood clot and they needed to get it dissolved which required thinning his blod to a very dangerous point. Talk about a crazy time!
He spent 10 days up there, at one point he had 7 different IV bottles dangling from his bed! Three rooms down my ex-son-in-law continued to fight for his life too. His wife and I helped each other out by keeping and eye out for each other. When she needed a break I would stay and keep a look out on him and vice versa! They both finally made it through all of this and were released. We are still trying to pay off the 71,000.00 hospital bill!
We had to cancel our fishing trip that year and to make things worse when our lease came up for renewal the landlord raised our rent by 50.00 so we had to find a new place to live. I will tell that story in my next post!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Getting Prepared for Being Unemployed
In a way we were lucky- a lot of employees never know in advance that their shop is going to close. We also had a fantastic human resource woman who got all the things rolling to ensure we would all get the help we would need. She set up meetings with the insurance company for the option of the Cobra plan(too expensive) and the people at the unemployment office.
Of course we were still working steady and getting in plenty of overtime. My husband decided to get the surgery done on his legs while he still had insurance so he had his first leg done just before Thanksgiving. He needed stints put in and some blockages opened up. He had three weeks vacation time and used that up during the healing process. I took the day of his surgery off but continued to work while he was laid up. My daughter was living with us at the time and she took care of him while I was gone.
He made it back to work just before Christmas but still needed to get the other leg done. We scheduled that for February. I decided to work the night before his surgery as I had no time left to take off. I got out of work at three a.m. and stayed up to make sure he was at the hospital by 5 a.m. The surgery was over by one in the afternoon and I decided to go to work. I went home changed my clothes and was at the job ten minutes early. My supervisor sent me home at midnight when she realized I was sleeping standing up!
We were informed that the layoffs would be in groups not all at once. While my husband was still on medical leave the first group was laid off. It consisted of anyone that had restrictions on their work or were on medical leave- so my husband was one of them. It just wasn't the same going to work without him. He would call my cell phone at break and at lunch to see how things were going. I was to the point where I wanted to get laid off too.
When the next round came I still didn't make the list. By now I was working on lines I never had done before and doing jobs that were just ridiculous- I spent 10 hours washing out plastic parts bins and getting them ready to ship to Mexico. I so wanted to quit but we needed the income so I stuck it out. I started begging for a lay off but they kept me on the payroll.
Of course we were still working steady and getting in plenty of overtime. My husband decided to get the surgery done on his legs while he still had insurance so he had his first leg done just before Thanksgiving. He needed stints put in and some blockages opened up. He had three weeks vacation time and used that up during the healing process. I took the day of his surgery off but continued to work while he was laid up. My daughter was living with us at the time and she took care of him while I was gone.
He made it back to work just before Christmas but still needed to get the other leg done. We scheduled that for February. I decided to work the night before his surgery as I had no time left to take off. I got out of work at three a.m. and stayed up to make sure he was at the hospital by 5 a.m. The surgery was over by one in the afternoon and I decided to go to work. I went home changed my clothes and was at the job ten minutes early. My supervisor sent me home at midnight when she realized I was sleeping standing up!
We were informed that the layoffs would be in groups not all at once. While my husband was still on medical leave the first group was laid off. It consisted of anyone that had restrictions on their work or were on medical leave- so my husband was one of them. It just wasn't the same going to work without him. He would call my cell phone at break and at lunch to see how things were going. I was to the point where I wanted to get laid off too.
When the next round came I still didn't make the list. By now I was working on lines I never had done before and doing jobs that were just ridiculous- I spent 10 hours washing out plastic parts bins and getting them ready to ship to Mexico. I so wanted to quit but we needed the income so I stuck it out. I started begging for a lay off but they kept me on the payroll.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Decided to Start This One Again!
I had totally forgotten that I even started this blog! Well, the good times kept up as far as the good paychecks was concerned. Our Toyota lines were really working long hours and I guess that seemed t cause most of us to ignore the fact that the monthly meetings had stopped and there were no more employee of the month awards. The quarterly bonuses dwindled and soon were forgotten.
The first thing I noticed was men and women in business suits who would stand in the isle, talking in low voices and watching you work. We were told they were from Delphi and that they were deciding which lines to keep and which ones to replace with new ones. Sure enough, some went out and some new ones came in.
The second thing I noticed was that the owner was never around anymore. When I first started he was often seen talking to workers on one line or another. If there were any serious problems he was right there to make sure they were resolved. But slowly we saw less and less of him- and more and more of the strangers in business suits.
By the end of October 2006 it was evident that things were not what they seemed. We often didn't have the material we needed to put the parts together. A lot of the machines didn't run for weeks at a time. And then it happened... mid November we were all gathered together at the beginning of our shift and told the shop would be closing in May of 2007. I think he actually shed a tear or two when he broke the news to us. We were not surprised I think in the back of our minds we had known it was coming. Our lives would never be the same!
The first thing I noticed was men and women in business suits who would stand in the isle, talking in low voices and watching you work. We were told they were from Delphi and that they were deciding which lines to keep and which ones to replace with new ones. Sure enough, some went out and some new ones came in.
The second thing I noticed was that the owner was never around anymore. When I first started he was often seen talking to workers on one line or another. If there were any serious problems he was right there to make sure they were resolved. But slowly we saw less and less of him- and more and more of the strangers in business suits.
By the end of October 2006 it was evident that things were not what they seemed. We often didn't have the material we needed to put the parts together. A lot of the machines didn't run for weeks at a time. And then it happened... mid November we were all gathered together at the beginning of our shift and told the shop would be closing in May of 2007. I think he actually shed a tear or two when he broke the news to us. We were not surprised I think in the back of our minds we had known it was coming. Our lives would never be the same!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Life At a Small Shop
My Husband and I would get to work half an hour early to socialize with our co-workers and get the scoop on what lines were running that day. Although our shift was technically an 8 hour one we usually worked 10. The companies we made parts for always seemed to need more than we could produce. Since we were in production, that led us to believe that the car companies were doing great! Most of the lines produced very little scrap so obviously they were making a lot of cars- which meant car sales must be doing great too! Like I said, we all had a false sense of security in our lives. We never thought the shop would close, management kept telling us of new contracts coming in and the possible expansion of the company.
Then one day it happened, the owner called a meeting before our shift unexpextedly-Delphi had filed bankruptcy! The shop lost a lot of money, but we were going to still be working and that we had nothing to worry about. That was the reason he called the meeting- to assure us that our jobs were still secure and to stop any rumors about a possible lay off before they started.
True to his word, we kept working 50 to 60 hours a week. Those paychecks were great! We put on great Thanksgiving dinners for the whole family, spent more than we should have at Christmas and just continued our wonderful lifestyle.
When we first started work at the shop there were quarterly meetings and bonuses, shop picnics,pot luck dinners,perfect attendance awards- it was a place where the empoyees were recognized and called by their first name. We had water coolers all over the shop, free coffee- even the cups and lids were supplied. One summer we got so busy with orders that we had around 100 temp employees working with us just to try to meet production!
During this time the owner started another small business in the shop. We thought that was a great idea at first. This business had nothing to do with the automotive industry and seemed to be taking off on a fast pace. As long as the owner was expanding and making money we would still have our jobs. Since we were afternoon workers we missed seeing a lot of the things that went on during the day when management was there. So when the day shift workers would tell us of the strangers visiting the shop and the signs that the shop might be having some troubles we just laughed it off. After all the owner himself had assured us we had nothing to worry about. Surely, we could trust him to tel us the truth!
As I look back now the signs were there I just chose to ignore them. Things like no more water coolers, days when there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms or paper towels to dry your hands on. Days when there were no gloves for the workers to protect their hands. I worked with some very strong chemicals and finally decided to buy my own gloves- better to spend a little money of my own than take a chance on my health or my life! Still at our monthly meetings we were told of new contracts coming in and the expansion of the plant- possibly even to a bigger building. I have learned to look beyond what management says and listen more to the little people now. I even try to research a company before I fill out an application for a job. I don't want to go through this again!
Then one day it happened, the owner called a meeting before our shift unexpextedly-Delphi had filed bankruptcy! The shop lost a lot of money, but we were going to still be working and that we had nothing to worry about. That was the reason he called the meeting- to assure us that our jobs were still secure and to stop any rumors about a possible lay off before they started.
True to his word, we kept working 50 to 60 hours a week. Those paychecks were great! We put on great Thanksgiving dinners for the whole family, spent more than we should have at Christmas and just continued our wonderful lifestyle.
When we first started work at the shop there were quarterly meetings and bonuses, shop picnics,pot luck dinners,perfect attendance awards- it was a place where the empoyees were recognized and called by their first name. We had water coolers all over the shop, free coffee- even the cups and lids were supplied. One summer we got so busy with orders that we had around 100 temp employees working with us just to try to meet production!
During this time the owner started another small business in the shop. We thought that was a great idea at first. This business had nothing to do with the automotive industry and seemed to be taking off on a fast pace. As long as the owner was expanding and making money we would still have our jobs. Since we were afternoon workers we missed seeing a lot of the things that went on during the day when management was there. So when the day shift workers would tell us of the strangers visiting the shop and the signs that the shop might be having some troubles we just laughed it off. After all the owner himself had assured us we had nothing to worry about. Surely, we could trust him to tel us the truth!
As I look back now the signs were there I just chose to ignore them. Things like no more water coolers, days when there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms or paper towels to dry your hands on. Days when there were no gloves for the workers to protect their hands. I worked with some very strong chemicals and finally decided to buy my own gloves- better to spend a little money of my own than take a chance on my health or my life! Still at our monthly meetings we were told of new contracts coming in and the expansion of the plant- possibly even to a bigger building. I have learned to look beyond what management says and listen more to the little people now. I even try to research a company before I fill out an application for a job. I don't want to go through this again!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
My Life Before My Job Was Moved Out Of The Country
For almost five years my husband and I had it made. With an income of $60.000.00 a year we led a great lifestyle. We both worked in a small factory on the evening shift. We enjoyed working together- it gave us something in common. At home we could discuss our work and know what the other person was talking about. If the shift had been a bad one we could sympathize with each other. We took our breaks and our lunch together and often worked on the same lines together. The shop seemed to be growing and expanding on a regular basis and a false sense of security crept into our lives. We often joked about the fact that the parts we made were for "American made" cars, yet they were shipped to Mexico for further assembly and then shipped back to the United States for final assembly-we had no idea that someday the joke would be on us!
During the summer we would take a week long vacation and go fishing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was only a four hour drive from home but we usually made it last longer than that. We would stop to eat and then play at a casino for a bit- we had no special time limit- we had no time clock to punch for 7 whole days! This was our time to relax and enjoy no matter what the cost. After all our jobs were secure and the company was growing. My husband had a 401K so we figured we were set and would be ready by the time we retired.
Summer was also a time for camping and we started a family camping trip. The first year it was just my husband and I and my daughter, her husband and their kids. We went for a weekend and spent the entire Saturday at a theme park called Michigan Adventure. My husband and I paid for the whole thing- it was worth it believe me! The next year we had 17 members come along for the trip- again we paid for everything except the tickets for the theme park. We had so much fun and took tons of pictures so we could always remember it. The third year(and unfortunately the last year) we had 27 people attend. It was just too cool to believe! My husband and I got to the campgrounds a day earlier to get things ready for the group. The night they arrived he had cooked brats in a beer bath-80 of them! Everyone chipped in what they could and somehow my husband and I still spent close to $1000.00 on that trip! Like I said we had a great lifestyle- who would ever guess that our income would drop to a mere $750.00 a month?
During the summer we would take a week long vacation and go fishing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was only a four hour drive from home but we usually made it last longer than that. We would stop to eat and then play at a casino for a bit- we had no special time limit- we had no time clock to punch for 7 whole days! This was our time to relax and enjoy no matter what the cost. After all our jobs were secure and the company was growing. My husband had a 401K so we figured we were set and would be ready by the time we retired.
Summer was also a time for camping and we started a family camping trip. The first year it was just my husband and I and my daughter, her husband and their kids. We went for a weekend and spent the entire Saturday at a theme park called Michigan Adventure. My husband and I paid for the whole thing- it was worth it believe me! The next year we had 17 members come along for the trip- again we paid for everything except the tickets for the theme park. We had so much fun and took tons of pictures so we could always remember it. The third year(and unfortunately the last year) we had 27 people attend. It was just too cool to believe! My husband and I got to the campgrounds a day earlier to get things ready for the group. The night they arrived he had cooked brats in a beer bath-80 of them! Everyone chipped in what they could and somehow my husband and I still spent close to $1000.00 on that trip! Like I said we had a great lifestyle- who would ever guess that our income would drop to a mere $750.00 a month?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
