We don't have room! in Everyday Rants...

I would have typed some of this yesterday, but my cable was out when I got home yesterday, and I ended up having to have a technician out to fix it. I’ll get to this.

Tuesday didn’t go too bad, but things always have a way of being a shit show. I ran back to the shop to get something, and one of the shop guys says the owner told him to move it because he’s getting another old car that he’s going to keep at the shop “temporarily”. Our facility is already packed to the gills with new stuff, old stuff, and mixed age crap that was either left over, ordered wrong, or just stock on hand. And it seems like every time we make room for what we need room for (like staging parts for upcoming jobs) something happens, and we lose that space. We cleared out the front shop, installed industrial open racking to put doors on and have everything together, but that’s been taken over by old stock, wrong orders, etc, so we were limited to 2-1/2 bays to store what comes in that’s going out soon. That’s already not enough.

I went into the office, started to tell R about this, and S walks in. (Owner’s son) So I told S about it, and he calmly went ballistic. He told the shop guy to just kinda slow roll it until he could talk to his dad. As we walked back towards the office and my truck, we discussed that, he asked me questions about some lighting crap I’m working on at the shop (since I did the exterior security lights), then I took off to my next couple of jobs. When I got back, I saw things were still getting pulled out of that one bay and into the 1/2 bay we have, with some stuff being left outside - always a good thing. Not. So I asked S what happened. “We got into it. Bad.” That was unexpected and unintended. I felt bad about that.

I get it. I like cars. Owner doesn’t have a huge garage at home, and their home property isn’t conducive to building another garage without great expense. Seattle area is really hilly. Flat land is not very common around here. But he’s already got 3 parked at the shop, one of which runs. There’s also personal stuff stored at the shop, however it’s now been mostly consolidated to one loft, compared to all over the entire upstairs. On top of that, everything is money. We have ton of old hardware and panels that aren’t moving, and haven’t moved in years. A lot of this stuff has been around the shop longer than I have. And it’s only moved to be relocated elsewhere in the shop. There’s always talk of cataloging all the old stuff, getting a list of what we have, and selling it, but that always putters out fairly quickly. So it finds a place on a rack, and that’s where it stays. Some of this stuff is over 20 years old. Space is at a premium, and we emphatically do not have room for another car occupying space we need to put new product coming in. I know. It’s his business, he owns the place, but it’s so frustrating trying to put these 16 foot long panels in places where we can get to each individual door without having to unbury it. Then having to unbury it.

Then I came home to find I had no internet. I did the usual troubleshooting, power cycle the modem, then again with the router, then basically kill everything internet related for 10 minutes, reboot, and nothing. So I got on the ISP’s app and tried sending a restart command, but nothing. So I got on chat with a tech, tried this, that, and the other, no luck, so they scheduled to have a tech out day after tomorrow. I spent the rest of the night streaming Netflix, using my phone as a hotspot. Almost fell asleep on the couch before I finally went to bed.

Today just started off foul. I didn’t sleep well, or at least I didn’t wake up feeling like I did. I did the collection calls this morning, which wasn’t bad, except I got my ass chewed by a customer because one of the sales guys didn’t follow through, and I was calling because he’d not paid us for the work already done. Thankfully, he was the last call, and I called that sales guy immediately after I got off the phone with the customer. Got a lot of him-hawing and bellyaching from him which I ended with “well, at least give the guy a call and let him know you’ve not forgotten about him.” I can be a good leader when need be, but I spend so much time alone, I don’t get to prove I can do it.

I then had 2 jobs in Seattle. God help me. I’d rather go to Seattle, do one job, then get the hell out. Especially if I have to go into the really dense neighborhoods in the older part of the city, as in they’re parked on both side of the barely 2 lane street - and not well at that, and the space between is barely enough for a Miata to squeeze through, much less my van. Break out the KY. The first address was in of those areas where the directionals change, and the office had the wrong one on the ticket. Thankfully, the correct address was on the other side of the cross street. Got that done, and went to the next one. It was in a denser more active neighborhood with very limited parking. I had to round the block 3 times before I found a space open up where I could squeeze in that was in a reasonable walk to the house. No answer at the door, no answer on the phone, shady f!kers afoot, my skin started to crawl, so I made a B-line back to the van and got the hell out of there.

I got back up to our area and went to the last job, which ended up being quick. I got back and and turned in my tickets, was going to start another project when K came out saying the 2nd Seattle customer was on the phone, and she was trying to browbeat me into going BACK to Seattle. “A world of hell no.” Then she tells me I need to explain it to the customer. “There’s nothing I’m going to say that is going to make any difference at all.” There was an arguement about it, then she went back in, and I went back to what I was doing. Then H comes out and asks me to go back to Seattle, and I told her what happened and I really did not want to go back down to Seattle. She goes back in to tell K (It was obvious that K told H to ask me), then comes back out and tells me that since I’m not going back to Seattle, the electrical projects can wait until tomorrow. I like H, the owner’s wife. A lot. She’s always happy, always kind, always cares about others. I AM NOT going to get into an argument with her or disrespect her. I didn’t say anything, just came down the ladder, and waited till H was out of sight before I stated packing my ladder and tools. Once the tools were put up and the ladder locked to the roof rack, I clocked out and started to leave when H came back out. She thought I was mad at her, and that made her upset. As distanced as I try to be, and as much as I can be quite the asshole, somehow I’m still likeable. I reassured her that I knew she’d been put in the middle of it, and I wasn’t mad at her over it. Flashed a smile, and came home around 2:30p.

When I got home, I got a text from the ISP that I was going to get my waitlist appointment for this afternoon, and they’d text me when the tech was on their way. So I started cleaning the living room again. Gave the Roomba a break and pulled out the upright vacuum and got the carpets clean, then fixed the pet upholstery tool (air powered brush) and cleaned almost all the cat hair off the big couch (this fabric is a fur magnet, and I severely dislike it), and had just put the couch blankets in the washer when I got the text the tech was on his way. Shoved fat cat into the laundry room, and went out to have a smoke on the steps, as I was still kinda calming down after the BS at work. I was about half way through it when I heard a backup alarm. Peaked around the corner of the garage and the tech is backing down the driveway. Nothing big to report, did some testing, replaced the fittings on my new cable, added a ground clamp up where it connects to the house, powered up the modem, and it worked. Hopefully, that’s the end of the internet issues.

The reason I left work early wasn’t because I was mad. It was because I realized I just hit a point where if I stayed, I was gonna do or say something I was gonna regret, and I needed to get the hell out of there. And that scared the hell out of me. I’m glad I realised I was at that point before I did or said something, but the fact that I’m at that point is a really bad sign. I’m not sure if it’s me burning out on the job, or wanting to move back home more than I realised, or what, but it’s something that I need to deal with. Last year, I didn’t take any days off, just to prove to myself I could. Proving I could to the office was secondary. But that’s not something I am going to do to myself ever again. I paid a VERY heavy price for doing that, both mentally and physically. I AM going to treat myself better, even if no one else does. And I’m going to stop letting shit slide so easily. Selfish or not, I don’t care. I’m done putting myself last for anyone or anything.

Last updated May 20, 2021