Happiness & Total Crew Defection

I realize that I have been slacking off somewhat on my resolutions for both the Happiness Project and the Pay It Forward. In my defense I'll say it's because I am not used to "thinking" happy in these last couple years with always being worried about money and finding more work. And since we had not been doing so well I have had to taper down on my form of "pay it forward" which has always been finding things people need and can use for pennies on the dollar. Bill always calls that my "fishing" as emotionally for me it is the equivalent of him getting a musky. So I am going to try and be more conscious of the things that are going well and not get so frustrated by the ones that aren't.

So Bill had been down to a crew of 3 now that they were trained and it went much faster as everyone knew what they were doing. Early this week they told him that they had to go back to Georgia from the 5th of May but they would be back the 10th as one, or maybe all, of them had to see their probation or parole officer, Bill wasn't quite sure which. Well, Bill's boss Roger did not take to that too well and told Bill to let them go after Friday night. He said to tell them that they would call them when they needed them. Bill was not too happy about that as he believes that all payroll and firing should come from the top. Well, yesterday was payday and in the early afternoon Bill gets a call from one of the three saying that they didn't have any money put on their paycard and that if they didn't get some that day they weren't coming in that night. So we call the office and come to find out that they had been advanced $2400 from the company to cover their expenses until they started getting paid. That comes out to $800 per guy. Their pay should have been $1050 for the 6 days and they wanted it all! They could not understand why the company got their money back first and only sent each one $250 for the week. After back and forth and Bill getting hung up on, they called back and said they were headed back to Georgia that afternoon. So Bill had to work last night with 4 temps who of course had to be directed all the way. Instead of getting done about 4am or so like he had been on the first night of the two night set, he didn't get in this morning until after 7am. He is supposed to have a new permanent crew starting Sunday night in Benton Harbor but who knows? Granted this is somewhat expensive as you have to pay hotel and food, and the previous crew was also paying for a rental car, but you are making $175 a day to cover all that and if you are frugal, which I guess most people aren't, you can make really good money. Bill was even letting them talk on their cell phones at night as long as they kept working. They got to leave to take breaks and all that. I'm not quite sure what they expected out of this job but I guess working wasn't part of it.
Unfortunately the oil rig disaster off of Louisiana was not just a disaster in the loss of human life but it is looking to be a loss for wildlife and the environment as well. If anything, it is another reason we need to reduce our use of oil to avert another tragedy such as this one. The Audobon Society is monitoring the situation and is planning on recruiting volunteers to assist in bird clean up and other tasks. I am seriously thinking about lending a hand although we are quite a ways away.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/oil.spill.wildlife/index.html?hpt=T1