Geostaff & Tree Logistics
Friday, September 16th, 2022 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioTurns out the freight engineer strike's been averted... for the moment. The issue could come back up after the holidays... or not. We'll see. But for now, the trains will continue to roll.
--<>--
I went to my job orientation yesterday, and watched a bunch of videos. Found out I'm being assigned to an elementrary school about 20 minutes east of here. And my first day will be Monday, at 3PM.
My employer has a strict social media policy, which means I'm gonna invent a fake name for them right now... and that fake name is, Geostaff.
Geostaff is unionized... as I've mentioned before, but they still use this awkwardly outdated system of sick days, personal days, PTO days, and paid holidays.
Like... the last place I worked for 13 years it was all just PTO. But with Geostaff it's like... you get so many sick days, but... you get in trouble for taking them?
Like, by definition a sick day cannot be planned. But if you call in without any notice then that's a strike against you... but you get paid?
Unless you're really sick, for several days, in which case, that first day was not a strike against you?
And personal days must be planned ahead of time, but they're NOT vacation days... because they should only be like... single days to do stuff like go to the dentist!
And PTO days must also be planned ahead of time but... as a vacation! But vacation dates should be sumbitted at the start of the year, and are granted according to seniority... until a certain deadline, after which it's first come first serve.
But paid holidays are not vacations, they are just paid holidays... unless you had seniority and submitted vacation days to coincide with those holidays.
Also, you have to earn sick days, personal days, and PTO days... but you do not have to earn paid holidays... you just get them off, and are paid automatically.
HOWEVER!.. you ONLY get paid for your holidays IF you work the day before the holiday, and the day after the holiday! UNLNESS... you planned ahead and got a personal or a PTO day granted to you on the days before or after paid holidays.
So... if you use a sick day on the day before a holiday?... you will get paid for your sick day, but it's a strike against you. And you will NOT get paid for your holiday... that you still get off by default!
It's quite ridiculous, but for me, it won't matter, because I won't have earned any kind of time off paid before the next national holiday, which is Thanksgiving.
But the union managed to negotiate Thanksgiving into a five day weekend!
We have to work on Columbus day, which is a day off for the schools, so in exchange, we get to take the day before Thanksgiving off... paid! Then we get paid for Thanksgiving. And we ALSO get the day AFTER Thanksgiving paid! Then we're just off for Saturday and Sunday unpaid as usual.
It's... EXTREMELY convoluted!
But I don't care, because right now, I just need a steady paycheck getting direct deposited into my bank account, so I can keep the kitties in food and cat litter, and myself with beer and express mac.
And come December, my free healthcare, optical, and dental will kick in!
--<>--
Thanks to the employment shortage*, Geostaff is not up to 100%... which means there's not anybody handy to sub in if I do take a day off. But it also means that they're plugging me, part-time, into a full-time postition.
And that, in turn means, I can go full-time at the moment of my choosing, whenever part-time stops being enough to survive on.
But I DO plan to stick to the plan and ease back into the workforce, after 20 months of freedom, as a part timer, at least until next spring.
It's not just me, but Dad, his dog, and my cats, that will have to adjust to me not being around 24/7 over those months.
But equally importanly, I need to cut up this fallen Mulberry tree over that time, and... get the downstairs back room flipped into a guest room, so that relatives have a place to stay, free of charge... should there be some new emergency with Dad (which there will be) in the future... when I'm full time again.
------------{=0=}------------
I did break down the last of the branches cut from the tree back on Tuesday, tonight. So I'm ready to hit it with the chain saw again tomorrow (Saturday).
I know now that I can buy a 20" blade (or bar) and chain, for my existing Dewalt 20V battery chain saw, for only $40.00, and with that, I should be able to get through the thickest parts of the trunk... with a little patience, and a lot of chain oil.
For another forty or fifty bucks, I can buy some big pulleys and long lengths of rope, with which to create a rigging that can rotate the mulberry off the property line and fully into our yard.
Both expenses will have to wait until I'm getting some money into my checking account, but that's fine.
Nooobody's rushing me, because nooobody want's to get themselves on the hook to help!
--<>--
A TikTok I made about the tree situation has gotten attention. Not viral, by any stretch, but 1500 views and 100 comments. Some people are now invested in the story.
Many have said I should just put an add on Facebook for free firewood... if you cut it up!.. like that's the silver bullet solution for getting rid of this tree for free.
But...
I'm sorry, but I'm not going to trust some rando from, Facebook, of all places, to come into my back yard and cut up an entire tree, responsibly, and haul it all away, responsibly, for free.
This tree has some extremely heavy limbs, still high up in the air, that, if they fell wrong, could, at best... obstruct my neighbor's entire back yard and damage the fence of the neighbor next to him...
And, at worst, could break a person's neck!
I'm not about to be on the hook for some rando's hospital and rehab bills, because he broke his neck in my yard, trying to remove my tree for free!
Same for a lawsuit from my neighbors, if they down half the tree into their back yard, smashing fences, then just give up and go home.
Same also for some rando trying to roll in a wood chipper, and smashing my locust seedlings, or just... rutting up the yard with tire marks and leaving behind a huge fucking mess!
--<>--
This isn't a couch on the curb, or a free trampoline for the taking.
This is a three ton Jenga puzzle, with limbs the size of whole trees still standing precariously, waiting to unleash chaos if the whole operation is not carefully orchestrated.
If I could afford a professional team to deal with it... with their own liability insurance... I would!
If I had a trusted neighbor... who I knew was good at this kinda stuff, and gave a shit about all the properties involved... I would work with them.
But a Facebook rando?...
I'm sorry, but front row tickets to Hell are also free, okay?.. I'm not a complete idiot.
--<>--
I'm committed to doing this myself, at this point, and... knowing I have a few TikTok followers for the journey is good enough, at this point.
------------{=0=}------------
As for Snoozefest, I still have six hours in the can that I haven't listened to yet.
This coming week's gonna be about adjusting to the new work routine, but... September's got a lot of recording potential left.
Not to overplay the nostalgia card, but...
Way back in 1994, I had been unemmployed for over a year, here at home, and started a part time job in the fall, while working on the first field recordings I'd ever done.
So... I am looking forward to reliving that experience in 2022, and producing more tracks for the playlist... as I forge a new start, and embrace a new winter.
Won't be so nostalgic for you on the short term... but I will get that playlist produced this year, and upload more content for phonobook and maybe even Sono... as I continue to TikTok the tree project, and blog here.
And eventually... you'll be nostalgic about this time too.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
*A lot of people out there say the employment shortage is just being faked by corporations, who list jobs, but never hire anybody... to get government subsidies for being understaffed, while simultaneously saving money by making existing employees do the jobs of three people for the pay of one.
This is a kind of confirmation bias, among young people who only look for jobs in retail or business. Yes, retail and business treat you like shit, because they know you won't go anywhere else.
I landed at Geostaff by specifically searching only for janitor gigs, and was snapped up in a DAY, because this is critical work that nobody wants to do, that old people are retiring out of, in droves right now.
For Geostaff, the shortage is real, and they're willing to give a part-timer full benefits and PTO to PLEASE stay loyal until retirement!
I went to my job orientation yesterday, and watched a bunch of videos. Found out I'm being assigned to an elementrary school about 20 minutes east of here. And my first day will be Monday, at 3PM.
My employer has a strict social media policy, which means I'm gonna invent a fake name for them right now... and that fake name is, Geostaff.
Geostaff is unionized... as I've mentioned before, but they still use this awkwardly outdated system of sick days, personal days, PTO days, and paid holidays.
Like... the last place I worked for 13 years it was all just PTO. But with Geostaff it's like... you get so many sick days, but... you get in trouble for taking them?
Like, by definition a sick day cannot be planned. But if you call in without any notice then that's a strike against you... but you get paid?
Unless you're really sick, for several days, in which case, that first day was not a strike against you?
And personal days must be planned ahead of time, but they're NOT vacation days... because they should only be like... single days to do stuff like go to the dentist!
And PTO days must also be planned ahead of time but... as a vacation! But vacation dates should be sumbitted at the start of the year, and are granted according to seniority... until a certain deadline, after which it's first come first serve.
But paid holidays are not vacations, they are just paid holidays... unless you had seniority and submitted vacation days to coincide with those holidays.
Also, you have to earn sick days, personal days, and PTO days... but you do not have to earn paid holidays... you just get them off, and are paid automatically.
HOWEVER!.. you ONLY get paid for your holidays IF you work the day before the holiday, and the day after the holiday! UNLNESS... you planned ahead and got a personal or a PTO day granted to you on the days before or after paid holidays.
So... if you use a sick day on the day before a holiday?... you will get paid for your sick day, but it's a strike against you. And you will NOT get paid for your holiday... that you still get off by default!
It's quite ridiculous, but for me, it won't matter, because I won't have earned any kind of time off paid before the next national holiday, which is Thanksgiving.
But the union managed to negotiate Thanksgiving into a five day weekend!
We have to work on Columbus day, which is a day off for the schools, so in exchange, we get to take the day before Thanksgiving off... paid! Then we get paid for Thanksgiving. And we ALSO get the day AFTER Thanksgiving paid! Then we're just off for Saturday and Sunday unpaid as usual.
It's... EXTREMELY convoluted!
But I don't care, because right now, I just need a steady paycheck getting direct deposited into my bank account, so I can keep the kitties in food and cat litter, and myself with beer and express mac.
And come December, my free healthcare, optical, and dental will kick in!
Thanks to the employment shortage*, Geostaff is not up to 100%... which means there's not anybody handy to sub in if I do take a day off. But it also means that they're plugging me, part-time, into a full-time postition.
And that, in turn means, I can go full-time at the moment of my choosing, whenever part-time stops being enough to survive on.
But I DO plan to stick to the plan and ease back into the workforce, after 20 months of freedom, as a part timer, at least until next spring.
It's not just me, but Dad, his dog, and my cats, that will have to adjust to me not being around 24/7 over those months.
But equally importanly, I need to cut up this fallen Mulberry tree over that time, and... get the downstairs back room flipped into a guest room, so that relatives have a place to stay, free of charge... should there be some new emergency with Dad (which there will be) in the future... when I'm full time again.
I did break down the last of the branches cut from the tree back on Tuesday, tonight. So I'm ready to hit it with the chain saw again tomorrow (Saturday).
I know now that I can buy a 20" blade (or bar) and chain, for my existing Dewalt 20V battery chain saw, for only $40.00, and with that, I should be able to get through the thickest parts of the trunk... with a little patience, and a lot of chain oil.
For another forty or fifty bucks, I can buy some big pulleys and long lengths of rope, with which to create a rigging that can rotate the mulberry off the property line and fully into our yard.
Both expenses will have to wait until I'm getting some money into my checking account, but that's fine.
Nooobody's rushing me, because nooobody want's to get themselves on the hook to help!
A TikTok I made about the tree situation has gotten attention. Not viral, by any stretch, but 1500 views and 100 comments. Some people are now invested in the story.
Many have said I should just put an add on Facebook for free firewood... if you cut it up!.. like that's the silver bullet solution for getting rid of this tree for free.
But...
I'm sorry, but I'm not going to trust some rando from, Facebook, of all places, to come into my back yard and cut up an entire tree, responsibly, and haul it all away, responsibly, for free.
This tree has some extremely heavy limbs, still high up in the air, that, if they fell wrong, could, at best... obstruct my neighbor's entire back yard and damage the fence of the neighbor next to him...
And, at worst, could break a person's neck!
I'm not about to be on the hook for some rando's hospital and rehab bills, because he broke his neck in my yard, trying to remove my tree for free!
Same for a lawsuit from my neighbors, if they down half the tree into their back yard, smashing fences, then just give up and go home.
Same also for some rando trying to roll in a wood chipper, and smashing my locust seedlings, or just... rutting up the yard with tire marks and leaving behind a huge fucking mess!
This isn't a couch on the curb, or a free trampoline for the taking.
This is a three ton Jenga puzzle, with limbs the size of whole trees still standing precariously, waiting to unleash chaos if the whole operation is not carefully orchestrated.
If I could afford a professional team to deal with it... with their own liability insurance... I would!
If I had a trusted neighbor... who I knew was good at this kinda stuff, and gave a shit about all the properties involved... I would work with them.
But a Facebook rando?...
I'm sorry, but front row tickets to Hell are also free, okay?.. I'm not a complete idiot.
I'm committed to doing this myself, at this point, and... knowing I have a few TikTok followers for the journey is good enough, at this point.
As for Snoozefest, I still have six hours in the can that I haven't listened to yet.
This coming week's gonna be about adjusting to the new work routine, but... September's got a lot of recording potential left.
Not to overplay the nostalgia card, but...
Way back in 1994, I had been unemmployed for over a year, here at home, and started a part time job in the fall, while working on the first field recordings I'd ever done.
So... I am looking forward to reliving that experience in 2022, and producing more tracks for the playlist... as I forge a new start, and embrace a new winter.
Won't be so nostalgic for you on the short term... but I will get that playlist produced this year, and upload more content for phonobook and maybe even Sono... as I continue to TikTok the tree project, and blog here.
And eventually... you'll be nostalgic about this time too.
°¦}
*A lot of people out there say the employment shortage is just being faked by corporations, who list jobs, but never hire anybody... to get government subsidies for being understaffed, while simultaneously saving money by making existing employees do the jobs of three people for the pay of one.
This is a kind of confirmation bias, among young people who only look for jobs in retail or business. Yes, retail and business treat you like shit, because they know you won't go anywhere else.
I landed at Geostaff by specifically searching only for janitor gigs, and was snapped up in a DAY, because this is critical work that nobody wants to do, that old people are retiring out of, in droves right now.
For Geostaff, the shortage is real, and they're willing to give a part-timer full benefits and PTO to PLEASE stay loyal until retirement!
