Work Locations (Would you travel for work?)

In all my 20 years as a contractor I have spent most of that traveling to and from a job from one location to another with one or more cities.  So I am asking you how far would you travel or are willing to travel for a job?

So what prompt me to write this piece was one I was on the last bus for home and there was this lady young who was still young in her mind. There was also a third person in this conversation and she was able the same age as I am.  Anyway, somehow our conversation went to where do you work at? So the young explained that she worked at Walmart, not in our neighborhood but somewhere else. She ask asked the other older woman where she was calling from her job and the other woman responded with that she was traveling from Addison, Texas for her job.  And when the young lady ask me where job was, I explained that I worked in Fort Worth (that is 42 miles in distance). Then the young lady responsed to both of us “There is no way in hell I would travel for any job regardless of the pay”. (Please keep in mind that she was 21 yrs old, she is still young.)

When it come to work, most of us know that you have to go where the money is. Or for other reason we choose to accept a job, and it may not be about the money but the job opportunity or status in which it holds.  We get to that job by any means whether it is by car, bus, train, or plane like what Tom Joyner did when he traveled from Atlanta to Chicago to do his show in the late 1990's or like today with Mr. Steve Harvey. (But some us don’t have Tom Joyner’s or Steve Harvey’s money.)

If you have been to Chicago t hen you know they have a huge transportation system in place that runs 24 hours with the exception of the Metra which starts running around 4 a.m. to about 1 a.m. depending on which line you are riding at the time.  In Milwaukee, their first bus run is around 5 something in the morning with the last bus running in the 1 a.m. and Dallas has the same time system as Milwuakee however Dallas DART system can be compared to that of Chicago.

Why did I add that part in about the cities? Because I don’t have car and I have never brought a car, and I did not let that be my excuse as to why I could not get around for work.  Those with a car, some of them will not be willing to even travel a distance for a job. But they will to go shopping. People keep asking if I am ever going to get around to buying a car. Mostly not however I will get faster than getting a specific other in live.

I would say that I have spent most of my 20 years as a contractor traveling to from point to point for work.  While living in Chicago, most on my assignments were within the downtown area. I would get one or two jobs that would call for going to one of nearest suburbs like Naperville or Joliet.  I once had several positions for Pearson Education which was located in Glenview, IL. I had to literally travel through the Chicagoland and past several small towns to get to Glenview by Metra. That was some 30 miles at one point that I had traveled for work. My last assignment at Pearson Education, I was traveling from Milwaukee, WI to Glenview, Il and to go from Glenview to Chicago from school and ended my day by traveling from Chicago to Milwaukee.

Was I tired during that last assignment at Pearson? Yes, I was.

While temping at my last assignment, I met a co worker who lived in Waxahachie, Texas and came to work in Fort Worth, Texas, that is some 38 miles between the two cities. There was another worker who lived in Forney, Texas which is about 50 - 53 miles depending on which way, East or West, you are traveling at the time. Besides them, I have meet others who were traveling at an even greater distance to come to work. But here is what I learned about all of them when it came to this company. They are not just working at this company to be working here but they all have worked for this company for more than 20 plus years.  So throughout the years they have transferred from one position to another which mean that they also had to transfer from one facility to another regardless of where that facility was located.

Now I have living in the Dallas area for 2 years and I have learned of areas that some of my family members who have been here for 19 -20 years have not known or knew nothing about.  With the help of DART, Uber and Lyft I have learned how to get around Dallas not only for work but also for entertainment.

Isn’t that just sad?  So not my fault that they don’t get out much. Or is it the fact that I can not keep my ass at home. (Who cares?)

Well, in my days of riding the TRE to and from Fort Worth, oi read a few books to pass the time and one of them was from my Twitter friend, Rajiv Bakshi is the author of the book “Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara”.  The book is about his journey to work and the things he encountered at work, and also about some of journeys of his life. I enjoyed it some much that I brought two copies.

But was something to think about when looking for that next job.  How far are you willing to travel for it?

And on that note Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy!!

My Dearest Greg,

Often I think that instead of using today’s technology to break up with my so call boyfriend that perhaps I would need to go back to the basic of writing him a break up letter.  You know the art of writing a letter is so lost in the technology that we are using today and not mention that we are forever changing the vocabulary that we have been using for years.  What would I put in the letter and what reasons would I give to end this so called imaginating relationship that we had.

This would be my letter:

My Dearest Greg,

I am writing this letter to you to explain to you with a not so heavy heart. In this letter it contain all the things that I have been wanting to say to you for some time but did not have the heart to write them on Skype. Since that was our main communication.

Let me first say and I believe that I have told you that I appreciate the fact that you always look out for me when I am on my way home. Through when I get off of the TRE across the street from your house your punk ass, when you are home, won’t invite a girl. So wrong!  Sometimes I love the fact that you tease me is such way that I truly want to snack the fuck out of you for not following thru with these teases. So hate a man who can not or do not know how to follow through on a tease. I had to buy batteries.

I do appreciate the fact that you have given me a year of good communication but that is all your ass has given me. Yeah, you did see me a few times however what I need is something your ass was not willing to give to me and that was time for companionship.  Your physique is nice and strong however the rest of you was small enough to fix in my bed.

I would not like to think of you as a male chauvinist pig who has on many occasion has left me feeling lonely.  There is a saying ‘What one man won’t do, another will.” I don’t know what it was that you would not do and at this point I do not care because you did not do it with me, and there were plenty who took your place.  Thank God for batteries.

I say “let’s go to this event or that event’, it was always no with you. So there came a point where I stop asking you became that guy that I kept in the hood while I went and played others.  I had plenty of lunch and dinner dates that did not involved you. What a shame that you choose for your unknown reasons not to hang out with an intelligent woman like me.

I know that I can be bold and direct with my words however I can also be soft with them as well. I am a given person.  Okay that is to a certain extend, let me not lie about that. I have great conversation, there is not a topic that I can not talk about or play dumb in knowing anything about it (and that is a damn shame that sometime I have to play dumb to accommodate some men’s ego.) Yours came to mind.  And speaking of damn shame since when does a man became scared of a woman. Upon being told that I was a scary woman (first let me get oven that and come to understanding that I am a scary woman). I so wanted to take off my shoes and beat his ass with it. Then he and you would understand just how scary I can be.  And that would have given me a new excuse to buy a new pair of shoes.

There are somethings that I am cable of and you will never know what they are.  You will not know how much of an amazing woman I am. You will not know what I can bring to the table to enhance your life. (I said your life and not mine because I already have do plenty in mine.) And I said bring to the table and not poison you . . . .though that would have been nice.  There are somethings that I will not mention because I do not need additional training but you do in area. Thank you God for batteries.

Look here Greg, I am a full figure woman with a brain and plenty of talent. If you did not know what to do me than you need more practice than I thought.  And again thank you God for there are batteries. And social media. . . . yes a girl can get off on social media.

So bye boy and improve your life. This girl has got to keep it moving.

**If we can only write exactly what we, and some of you do, really want to say.  Well, in a roundabout way I just did! (Smiley face with a martini!!)

Now as some of you are reading this mean break up letter, you are probably wondering why I did not use the names Tom, Dick or Harry? Well that is simple, they are always busy just like Greg.