Class Is Out

Things have been a little off this week. Two guys in the class I’m in wanted to beam in on me and start arguments. They like to talk and that’s their business. I don’t know why they wanted to involve me in their chatter. I’m just in the class to see if it has any information I can use.

Last night the guy in the top bunk got kicked out of the dorm. He probably got drunk and thought it was his house too many times. He started yelling at the staff, then half-an-hour later they were rolling up his belongings and putting them in plastic bags.

I don’t think a lot of these guys realize they have ninety days to get their own program together. Then if they aren’t working in some kind of temp –to –hire job or work-study program at a local community college, they’re out the door.

There are guys who don’t even try to get housing! They sit around all day acting like they run the place and stay up all night watching television. Meanwhile days are turning into weeks, then before they know it there time is up and they can’t go back.

They haven’t used the resources available to them and haven’t done anything! Maybe they just want a warm place to stay and wait out the winter. They might figure the dorm is better than jail. I wonder if they realize once they leave, they can’t go back.

I talked to an employment specialist yesterday. She told me about a couple of training programs. She also talked about how an internship works and gave me some job leads. It’s good to have options.

The class was cancelled yesterday. The teacher was out sick. She wasn’t feeling good the day before. I hope she’s feeling better.

My employment counselor told me the airport is hiring and since I don’t have a criminal record, it would be a good place to check out. I applied there once and didn’t get hired.

When I went there I was still in their system after more than ten years! All I had to do was take ten minutes to update my information. There was a lady complaining she’d been filling out information for two hours.

When I was done they gave me a list of companies that were hiring.

After the fifth week of my class at Work Source was finished someone talked to me about a job training program. I also talked to her about going to college and getting an internship. It’s always good to have options.

Class was out for a week. The lady who teaches it had some kind of work week where she got extra training and caught up on paperwork. I was busy typing my class notes and talking to people at a local community college.

Since I’ve done a lot of labor jobs and have worked on fishing boats there’s not too much customer service in my background. Every now and then I sell some of my art. Maybe that counts for something.

When I hurt my back I realized I don’t know that much. Since I don’t know what will be important going into a new field I’m writing things down and typing up my class notes. With any luck I’ll remember most of the information the class covers and be able to use it if I need it later.

I was going to the community college to figure out what a good field would be to go into. I decided on accounting because I’m good at math. There’s some good opportunities to retrain because I’m on SSI. The prerequisites for the classes I wanted to take were full. They had a computer business management class I could take that had a focus on accounting. So I went for that course.

I had to register for FAFSA the same week. It was also the last week of my Work Source class. I had to get the paperwork from the campus office that’s helping me get funding a second time. What a rookie move!!

The last week of my six week course at Work Source came and went. After the FAFSA paperwork was finished up I looked into seeing what other funding was there to pay for college. Between typing up my class notes and filling out paperwork, it’s been a busy week.

I’ve done labor jobs since High School. I’m fifty years old and have old injuries that are catching up with me. In order to keep working I have to learn how to work in an office and push papers. I’m going to be one of the guys I used to make fun of on construction sites and wonder why they couldn’t fix things in their own houses!

I think that’s nuts!!

t was Valentine’s Day this month, people say it was invented by Hallmark. I don’t know if that’s true, but the women in the coffee shop were dressed up nicer than usual. That’s something I can appreciate!

It was also my last week at my class at Work Source. Since then I’ve been doing the leg work to get all the paperwork at the college squared away. That’s why there haven’t been any posts in my blog. But I make the effort to write in my notebook during the week so maybe I can post something on the weekend.

Hope everyone who reads my blog takes the time to do something they like, and remember,

You’re More Than What You Do At Work

Written by Mark Blevins

Thank You For Reading

About Me:

I was a Construction Worker and Commercial Fisherman. An injury on a fishing boat in Alaska forced me into early retirement. Now I’m a Writer and Blogger. Having to start over forced me to realize people are more than their job title.

Contact me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Bllevins  

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