Two Birthdays and a Demotion

Two Birthdays and a Demotion

On Tuesday July 4th I spent most of the day changing my post on Blogger in my Journal I rewrote about being trapped or tricked into getting expelled from a group designed to discuss tough issues. So I strove to accommodate the wishes of the Beliefnet staff. My membership to beliefnet and Blogger was threatened by people that complained about my sharing their words with the world and how they hurt me. Their thoughts and comments are well recorded. At the end of the day I took my family to the fireworks. I am trying to reach out to my wife, does she know and feel my efforts and accept me?

On Wednesday July 5th we celebrated my wife’s birthday, after work I took her and the children to a special restaurant where the waitress was just a doll. She had this jubilant personality, she was very chatty and talked about the great admiration she had for her sister being cast on a program on MTV. She talked of her sister and the documentary that was done, I honestly believe they got the wrong sister, this waitress has such a great personality and pours her self into her job, and she loves children and would be great catering children’s parties. Our waitress would be great performing on Children’s shows. Some people are just so naturally extroverted. I made my mind up that after the Birthday dinner for my wife this is where we would go for my son’s Birthday.

On Sunday July 9th I went with the family swimming and then we went to the movies to see ‘Cars’ my treat. To finish off the night I took them to Applebee’s for dinner.

On Tue. July 11th we went back to that Restaurant with the waitress for my son’s Birthday. The waitress was there and took our table with out much of a thought she wanted this even if she had to stay later than expected, and what a job she did, once again, she made our special day extra special.

Then on the 12th everything started to take a turn for the worst. At work I noted a problem with the equipment that I am using, the problem that existed before and manifested once again. The problem with the scissors and a broken pin a stationary pin that was never fixed right the first time and I got to see that it once again could cause severe damage and there was a way to fix the problem, a problem that even I could fix. I reported the problem to my dispatcher and the mechanics. When I got back to the yard I tried to explain what I thought would fix the problem. That night my wife made a comment and it made me feel real insecure, I’ve been trying to get her to move back into our house, she likes her arrangement and accused me of not making her feel secure that I could replace her. She said how the house was my house. She walked away after making that comment, there was no room to reach out and assure her of my faithfulness. I felt humiliated and kicked in the stomach. I spend a lot of time writing and sharing but I’m not out cat-ting around as she accused me of. I see a green eyed monster called jealousy that doesn’t know my true heart. My love is deep and wide and I just got done doing some nice things and spending some real quality time with them my family. In the process of all of this going on besides work there is also the maintenance of the house that I want us to come back to. I also maintained my participation posting on the internet. Slow or fast, you have to admit that I am prolific.

Getting Demoted

On Thursday 13th I got into work to help in the yard until the broken part was repaired. I was told that the repairs were completed. I fired up the truck and staged it into the yard to be loaded. Then I went to retrieve the forklift and inspect the repairs made to the scissors. I noticed that the pin on the left side of the scissors remained un-repaired. The mechanic was going to leave the machine broken. I was going to pick up something heavy to show the mechanic the problem that remains if the scissors are broken. I was told not to use the scissors. I questioned the safety in not using the scissors. He told me what he wanted me to do. He was exasperated with me not being trained in the proper use of the equipment and dismissed any further comments I was to make. I was never able to ask how the weight of the mast and assembly compared to the light weight of the forks, safety rack and scissors assembly. It seemed to me that it was more dangerous to work using the mast forward instead of the scissors. I wanted to ask about how drilling and chamfering the hole then tapping the pin and inserting a bolt to weld the shaft of the bolt and grind the whole repair smooth would not make a permanent and safe repair of the broken part. As I wrote I was dismissed and never allowed to communicate my concerns or how the broken part could be repaired.

Upon the mechanic turning his back and getting mad at me because I wanted to question and communicate my concerns I took my problem to the President of the company. I tried to describe the problems that I saw with the lift and how the part was broken and the mechanics at one time tried to weld the pin but they didn’t think that they could get the right penetration of weld onto the pin and that the repair might not hold. They were right the weld was not good and didn’t hold. They welded the hole closed when their half-fast repair didn’t hold. They didn’t try to catch the pin that time. So I had been running around with broken scissors on the forklift for a long time. Finally on July 12th I went to pick something really heavy up and I saw that I needed to use a different strategy to do my job, that is when I reported that I knew of a way to make a more permanent repair, any good mechanic with good tools could do this, even I could do it with my backyard tools. The problem is I’ve been working around a broken part for a long time and before we do some real serious damage that might cause us to have to replace the entire $3,000.00 part; I would try to fix it. I think my repair would keep us in business with this machine for a long, long time. I figured I only needed to communicate what needed to be done. Instead while talking to the President of the company, he started talking to me about driving around with the fork scissors extended and how that was hard on the equipment. I didn’t know where he got the idea that I was driving around with the forks extended like that, I know not to do that and I told him so.

Later in the day when I returned from my last delivery my dispatcher handed me an envelope inside was an Employee Warning Report. I was accused of violations on various job sites for substandard work and improper use of equipment. Specifically I was accused of refusing to operate the truck’s fork lift in the manner as instructed by the Head Mecahnic. This may have contributed to unnecessary wear of certain parts of his fork lift equipment. Even though this is his third written warning, (remember the incident {violation #2} with the police officer that accused me of needing anger management?) he will not be terminated as a result of this infraction but he will be assigned to a boom truck.

My dispatcher had to ask me to read to the end because when I saw the part about using the equipment as instructed I started to protest, and then I read about the demotion, and I was so hurt. I worked so hard for the opportunity to operate this style of truck. I had gone through so much. It was broken before I started using it and never fixed correctly that first time, or (the second or third time (the two times that I tried to get this lift fixed))… Now it is time to fix or replace the damaged part before it becomes too dangerous to operate. I took the report and parked the truck, I filled out my part. I told one of the co-workers what was going on he was right there.

Once again I disagreed with the company statement and wrote.

Specifically the scissors of this forklift were broken at the time that I originally started operating the lift. The problem was reported and the broken part did not get repaired properly. I suggested the Stationary pin be Drilled, Chamfered, Tapped, Bolted, Welded and Grinded. I signed the report.

Then I went and shared with my best friend about the injustice of this. I took the report back to the office to give to my dispatcher and the Boss was there, I asked him to read the warning report, he did and asked me if I really wanted him to get in the middle of this? I told him it was about a broken part and safety not about how I use the equipment.

I went home to my house, with the stress that I felt and again the problems on the home front it was just better to be where I am. I made several phone calls, to try to reach out so that others would understand. No computer, and very upset.

July 14th Friday morning Mary trying to be restorative invited herself into what was once our house. She felt that she could come in and fix me coffee and breakfast, something we haven’t shared in a long time; I don’t know what she planned on cooking as I emptied out the refrigerator of all perishables. I haven’t been here why try to keep food that will only go bad? I had the report on the table down stairs and asked her to read it. She retrieved it but she didn’t read it. That is when I really got mad; every time I say something it is not done. She was asking questions and she didn’t know in her hand was so many answers if only she would take the time to read. It was not pretty getting up that morning, I got ready and went to work, that night I stopped at her house to get all of my stuff, computer and clothing. The children were taken to the club to swim that afternoon and she and I got to talk a little. Mary and I talked about how money is not what I am after, and how if she ever read anything I wrote I’m not leaving a woman that would stay by my side and allow me to be free to secure my name… A name and reputation are very important things. I don’t like being falsely accused, of things that I didn’t do.

So I went home and fired up my computer for a little while knowing that I had all of this to write up.

And finally here I am today at this moment, what is next?