I'd like to kick you where the sun don't shine

Taking time out of my work day to rant.

Sam texted me right after lunch, not sure when the recruiter called him today but he's not going to get hired with the City. Sucks.

They rejected him because his chief told them not to. It goes back to this deal the chiefs of the two city departments struck up because they were losing officers left and right. This would be the second time he's been rejected for that reason.

Of course Sam is pissed and you can't blame him. What's worse is that the chief has told the department that they shouldn't feel trapped or pressured into staying, and if they want to leave the department they are more than welcome - of something to that affect.

I met him a few weekends ago at an award and recognition ceremony that Sam was a part of and right away I didn't like the guy. He seemed fake, at least that was the vibe I got from him.

Doesn't look like there is anything Sam can do except continue to put up with his department. I'm sure I'm never going to hear the end of it when he gets home tonight.

Maybe he can try putting in for the County. I don't think they had any kind of stipulations with his department about hiring.

His mind is made up

Sam told me this morning as we're getting ready for work that he's made a monumental decision. He's going to be putting in his application to the County. "Go Green!" And he's also putting it in for the other City department again ..."Go Blue."

I mean it's nice that his department is putting him through all the special classes and certification courses, but he was a little fed up with the last one in that he had to use his own vacation/sick time in order to attend the class during his work schedule. And the fact they haven't approved the step plan on getting him a raise. His whole department has gone without one for about 8years I think he said. And with the cost of their insurance and benefits going up, it's hard to keep up.

Fingers crossed everybody!!! Let's hope he gets in.

Job newsies

Still no word on Sam's application, but he isn't getting too trodden down by that fact. His department though has an opening within their detective bureau and he's putting in for that. Fingers crossed yet again. I know he'll catch his break.

Good news on the job front for myself as well. At this morning's weekly warehouse meeting, I was officially announced (after finding out yesterday afternoon) the Lead of Shipping and Receiving. Finally some sort of authority with dealing with the other company's Supply Chain Manager (he's a MAJOR micro manager!).

Short post, sorry, worked a few 10-12hr days. Not fun so I'm exhausted...and the house is a mess.

Negative ions in the air

Just got finished watching Bill Engvall's stand up "15 Degrees Off Cool".

I hate being a "Negative Nancy" but it's looking like Sam may not get the job at the other department. BUT I hope that isn't the case.

This morning he got home late, 6:30am after going into work 3:30pm yesterday, and he's dealing with a cold = no fun for anyone in our house. Apparently it was a shit crazy night with shootings, they arrested over 15 people (7 of which were his arrests). He ended up getting into a few scuffles and got some scratches on his arm and hand. He said they had to call in County to come in and take half their calls because they were overrun and short-handed.

Any who, the reason I say he may not get the job is because his department just got him his own personalized business/case cards. Sounds like they're attempting to keep him. He and his dad were talking today while over for football that both departments are going through some turmoil and rank assignments. They didn't go into too much detail about it, which is a shame because I would've like to have known more.

I need to be a "Positive Peppermint Patty"! She also seemed like a positive-minded go-getter kind of girl.

Out of the woods

We survived the storm! It actually wasn't all that bad for us, though I felt I was developing a good case of cabin fever over the weekend. It rained nonstop! We were able to go out for a bit last night to let the dogs out and the night air felt wonderful; windy and very cool made it feel like we were in the middle of fall. And then it poured and we had to run back inside.

 Still no good news on Sam getting hired on with the other agency. There might be bad news as he put the other morning. The agency is thinking about stopping the hiring process. I hope that's not the case. Fingers crossed everyone!

I saw a sign

When Sam came home this morning I was in a deep sleep, not even the dogs barked at him coming in the door like they used to. Strange too because I went to bed fairly early last night. After he finally got me up, he started telling me about his day. From what I can remember doesn't sound like much happened...which is a good thing.

He asked me if I had run into much traffic on our street when I got home. I said I didn't get home until late since I visited with my parents after work but noticed the flashing sign across the street from our drive about the lights being out. A few feet down our street is a small but relatively busy intersection with the 4-way-stop-flashing lights. Well there was an accident just before he was leaving for work. An elderly woman's car got totalled. And of course I can't find anything about it in the news online! Any way, Sam must have been coming down the driveway to go to work when a kid along the sidewalk stopped him saying there was a accident down the street. He got in his car and checked out the scene.

He thinks its a sign that he should be working for our city. I hope so! He's already heard from a few people that have switched over that they've put in multiple good words about him. Should be another couple weeks before we know anything for certain.

I've been around

We've been back in town since the 25th and busy trying to play catch up it feels like. I still haven't unpacked everything nor have I finished the vacation laundry - just the beach towels and a few shirts. We had a great time with my family. I don't know why but I was worried he wouldn't like it out in the wilderness but he loved it. In fact, as we were arriving home and the horrible realization he would have to go back to work he told me that he wanted to go back. Actually, he's talking about moving there. My plan has been set in motion!

Certain things seem to also be set in motion for the better. It was the beginning of June when he had applied to work at the neighboring city within the county's police department. We didn't think he was going to get the larger application packet since he and another officer has sent their preliminary applications a tad later than everyone else. But that Friday, and of course it was after he left for work, I checked the mail and saw the large manila envelope in the box. I don't know which one of us is more excited about it. He finally finished and dropped off the completed paperwork yesterday afternoon.

It's kind of sad though for the department he's at now. It's falling apart. He was telling my parents yesterday that there is a list of nearly 22 officers waiting to leave the department. They've also hired like 15 new officers. Sam goes from being one of the newer officers to being the veteran at only 3 years of service. The only thing he doesn't like about it is that he's not a hundred percent safe with the rookies; he says they're pretty timid on calls and where he's working up in the hood, timid makes you look weak and the residents have the upper hand. He knows the rookies will have his back, but I think he's just worried they might make a stupid mistake and someone gets injured because of it.

So we'll see. Everybody, keep your fingers crossed, knock on wood and rub those lucky charms that Sam gets hired with the department!

PS - I almost forgot. Tonight is his last night of summer school. All he needs to do is apply for graduation and he'll have his AS. Congrats babe!

A sign of good things to come?

It's only the start of July but already things are going very well for us. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary together on the 29th. I just can't believe it's only been 2 years; it seems like we've been together for a little longer than that. It was nice too having a night together. Even though we don't have children (aside from our 2 dogs and 1 cat or "our monsters") with our job hours, his extra details and now his classes, it doesn't leave much time for us to spend much time together and when it does, we're both exhausted. I think in the past few weeks we've only seen each other maybe 3 or 4 days - very much a "passing ships in the night" sort of syndrome. We're hoping that if he's able to get picked up by the new department that he won't have to do crazy details for extra money and we'll get to see one another more. Of course if he stays where he is now, in another year he'll be switching to the day shift and then we'll both be together during the evenings.

Yesterday after getting home from his parents we were putsing around the house. He has to stay up late on Saturday night so he can sleep longer during the day on Sunday before leaving for work in the afternoon. I guess I had dozed off on the couch around 10pm waiting for him to get done on the computer. He woke me around 11pm saying that he was putting me to bed and proceeded to pick me up and carry me into the bedroom with me nagging him to put me down. I was worried about his shoulder since it was still sore from tackling a guy at work like a month ago. But nope, he refused to until he dropped me in the bed with a very proud look on his face. So I asked him, "What are doing, carrying me across the threshold?"

"Not yet."

"Does that mean you will?"

"Some day."

Needless to say I slept very well last night.

Sitting on fences

Again. Sam is back on the fence again with work. He's only been with the department two and a half years and I think he's gone back and forth too many times to count. He loves his job. He hates his job. He likes his job and is thinking of making detective. He despises work and can't wait to get out of policing all together. They give him a shotgun and work is okay again.

Now he's talking about transferring to the other city department in our county. Not sure how long he's been juggling the idea but I was informed this morning when he got in after shift. If he transfers, he said it'll be a $10,000 raise with the opportunity for advancement, he'll be dealing with white people, and he could go all shift and not get a call. Probably not the best thing to hear but its better than getting paid next to nothing, dealing with people who live in Section 8 housing areas (I think that's what he refers to it) and constantly getting shot at.

So I guess we'll see what decision he'll make. I'm sure I'll be posting in another week or so about how he's changed plans again. What ever keeps him happy and safe.

Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody

(quote by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Big changes are coming for Sam and I. I may have touched on this earlier in the blog but if I haven't, Sam has chosen to leave the force for good. I believe its a choice for the better. The department he works for isn't the fairest, in fact I think he mentioned that over 30 officers have left the department in the two years he's been there and another ten or eleven officers are set to leave this year. I love that he's my officer but I'll be happy when he leaves for good.

He gets treated like shit to put it simply. Overworked, under appreciated and under paid. I just became a full-time employee at my job making $12.50 an hour, so a little under $1000 every two weeks after taxes. My last paycheck with twelve hours over time I came in over $1000. He saw and actually took a picture of my paycheck and sent it to Dan (who just left the department last week) stating that even though I make less than him hourly ($16.90 an hour), at the end of two weeks I in fact make more. I'm currently the breadwinner in the household....which I think upsets him. He shouldn't have to live paycheck to paycheck, which is his current financial situation. We didn't go to the movies this weekend because there is no money in his bank account. My offering to pay doesn't seem to help his position.

I think he's leaning toward nursing. He was talking with a nurse down in the ER when he was there during shift. The nurse said they made $40 an hour. I would like to think a person who has the chance to be shot at every day at work should be making the $40 an hour. He hasn't started applying yet; I think he wants to talk to someone at the community college about classes before hand. Maybe he'll start looking into that soon.

As for me. I've gotten two job offers for the company my company is contracted by. I don't have full details yet, so I'm not about to make my decisions but it seems that both do make more money. Hopefully this week I'll have more of an idea what the positions are and what they entail.

Update: Where to next?

So Sam is pretty serious about switching over to corrections. His argument was good. He wouldn't have a gun inside the facility. His benefits would be better than what his department is giving him right now. His pay check would be a little bigger. He said he was tired of the road. Tired of the criticism of his judgements. That working in corrections is safer than the roads. He argued that I worked in a jail, only I was in a room all day with files and I had no contact with prisoners. He would have direct contact with inmates under totally different circumstances.

He won't be applying just yet since they're under a hiring freeze but with his CIT certification he'll be more marketable when it does come to hiring. And he's not going out for swat because his knee that he injured in November has started bothering him when he runs. It also means he probably won't go for detective either.

It looks like it'll still be a while until he'll be putting in his application.

That's about it for now, I've got to start getting serious about a job change here within the next few weeks. I'm getting a little fed up with their incompetence.

Where to next?

Sam is bored with CIT class. The binder of material they're learning in a week's 40hr course is choc-full of information and it doesn't seem to me that a week is enough to learn it and retain it all. Paging through some of the first sections got me nostalgic about the psychology classes I had taken throughout college. 4years and I can't retain all of it. It is pretty obvious he doesn't want to sit through any more of the class but he really does want that pin to wear on his uniform at the end. Ah the simple things that make him happy.

He didn't delve into it much, but I'll drag it out of him more on Thursday, but he commented on making a career change. He's thinking about becoming a corrections officer, because they get paid more and he won't be shot at. I had a horrible thought. It doesn't matter if he's working in a jail or prison or on the street, he could still be shot at. I shouldn't think those kinds of things but isn't it just reality? Any inmate could turn on him and take his gun. If not shot he could be stabbed with a shiv or pencil. Ugh, I don't want to think of these things but in truth I would rather him be on the road instead of the jails. I don't know why. Is this a rational way to think about this?

Regardless, I want him to have my support because I love him and I know he loves what he does as a police officer. In the same breath, I want him to know my concerns, my fears, my worries. I want him to be happy but safe overall.

I can only wait and see what Thursday will bring.