Onward

Life goes on, as life does.

The past few weeks in general have been quiet and (mostly) uneventful. Work has been steady; we'll have our busy days as well as our really quiet ones, and some in-between. The good news for the past week or so is that it's been really unseasonably warm in Omaha -- yesterday the temperature reached 58, and right now it's 50.

The bad news? Well, I'm not sure it can really be classified as bad, but more of the unknown at this point -- our company is being sold to another company, who bought out our contract with our real employer (and not just the building who we work as contractors for -- yeah, it's complicated).

What does this mean for us and our jobs? Well, at the moment, not a whole lot that we can tell. Seniority and pay will roll over into the new company. Our hours will remain the same, our schedules and reporting managers/directors will remain the same, and the job itself that we do every day will remain exactly the same as it is now. As for paid time off and insurance plans/benefits? Yeah, we don't know that yet, but as the company who paid for us won't want to lose a large number of its new employees out of the gate, I'm guessing that it'll remain the same or better. So, really, when the entire process is completed by the end of March, it looks like the only noticeable change we may have to endure is getting new keycards/name badges with our new company name on them.

Personally, I'm in the camp of folks who aren't really worried at all about this transition. I'm also in the camp of folks who would like to see the current dress code disappear (as it's not like we physically see any of the customers we work with, ever). I hate having to actually dress professionally every day for no good reason, and want to be able to wear my normal wardrobe to work. I'd also like to get more holidays off per year -- for example, I want everyone to have Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Black Friday, MLK Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, etc, off. Currently, those are all days we work. We've already been told that since our benefits package is basically the federally-mandated minimum, those can't get any worse (yeah, I know, right?), but past that there's not a whole lot of further information coming down the pipe.

There are, of course, people who are nervous and are using this interim time to either jump ship or move to a different part of the company. One of our second shift coworkers worked his last day with us yesterday, and another put in his two-week notice as he's accepted another position someplace else. A third will more than likely be switching shifts, a fourth and fifth will be leaving soon as well, and a sixth already switched to another shift. My six months at the job is a month from tomorrow, and it's only after that point when I can apply for, and move around freely within, the company itself -- getting promotions, applying for different positions, etc. Most people there, the ones who care about the job and don't mind the work (even on the stressful days) stay the course, and they are the backbone of our office. Daisy's shift on overnights tends to keep people longer than second shift does, as well, so they're an even stronger backbone and deserve more credit than they get for what they do.

Anyway, so there's that. I will, of course, keep you updated as much as I can on anything that happens within the job, but again, we're really not that concerned. Well, I'm not, anyway.

In other news, no, I do not have a new car yet. I more than likely won't for a while. Daisy and I are saving our money for the time being, and we're attempting to pay down our credit cards as much as possible over the next few months. On the plus side I will be able to pay off one of my cards (my Citi Card) completely by this time next month, and the others are following suit slowly but surely. Daisy is doing the same as much as she can afford to as well, and we're keeping a close eye on our finances since we're obviously trying not to put anything more on those cards than necessary when we're trying to pay them off. Meanwhile, I haven't even cashed the check yet for the Monte Carlo, and won't be able to this weekend when I'm off as banks are closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday. I'm also hoping that as a lot of places are closed on Monday, today at work will be quiet.

But no, no car for me yet. I don't exactly know what I want anyway, and to get something reliable that's relatively new-ish, it will be way out of our price range for a while. Daisy's car is reliable, but even with it being six years old, it would still be about $8k or so used. I don't want to pay even half that for a car. I'd like to pay about a quarter of that, max, for something that will run and has locking doors, a working radio, and heat. That's really all that matters. And an automatic transmission, of course, as I'm not driving stick in this town. Anything we'll be able to afford for me will be at least ten years old unless I get some crazy deal from someone.

On that note, I do have to go wake the wife now, as I start work soon. Cheers, folks.