Good day / Bad yesterday

Yesterday I finally got comfirmation that my co-worker George, actually he does all the work, is quitting. I can't be mad at him, I drove him to his interview, and then pushed for the company to hire him. I just didn't think that they would offer him enough to leave, but they did. So, he put in his notice, he will be history on the 15th. I can't even conplain that he won't be giviing me two weeks because he is going to work for my biggest customer. I have really enjoyed working with George. This made the second time that I hired him, because I hired him at Adkins Supply too. Obviously, I like the guy, but he is leaving. I did tell him that he can't leave until he finds his own replacement, and he may have. I will interview a guy tommorrow that may actually be better than he is, and cheaper. He has experience in the chemical industry, and that will help alot. Well, enough of the bad, on to the good.

Today, I didn't get to fire the other salesman that we hired at the first of August. I told them not to, because I did some research on the guy, and all I found was bad things. Fired twice for failed drug tests, then for stealing from the company he worked for. Yeah, I need that kind of help. But, I did get to go watch my boss fire him. They actually asked that I be there for security reasons, just in case he reacted violently. He is quite a bit bigger than my boss, Shawn, but not bigger than me, not that I can fight. Alas, nothing interesting happened, he just handed over his shit and left. Boring! He was charging all of his cigarettes, booze, food, and gasoline to the company credit card. Did I mention that he drives a diesel? OOPS, now that is a mistake that anyone could avoid, if they weren't on DRUGS! I do feel vindicated because for the last month and 8 days I have been being told to be nice to him, he can teach you something. What, how to shoot up? I don't need that shit!

So today, Shawn said, "Alright, let me have it." I said, "Let you have what?" "You know, I told you so." I said, "Man, you got that up front, I have no opinion, nothing to say, or anything else about it, except that I missed his fire date by 8 days when I told George that I will give him a month before they fire his ass." Shawn said, "Really, nothing, that's not like you." I said, "Hell, I gave up on it weeks ago, I just didn't let it bother me, we had too many other things going on, he was a non-factor. But I would like to be consulted, and I think I should be, if you ever decide to hire another salesman in MY area again. By the way, maybe I should be who he reports to also. I know how easy it is to get away with stuff when you report to someone in Midland instead of someone locally." Shawn says, "Why, what have you done?" To which I said, "Nothing, I wouldn't still be here if I had, but maybe you should fire George." Yeah, he got the joke, get it, George is quitting.

I was the #2 salesman in the company this month, and a few months back set a company sales record, so he knows that I do my job, even if the last few months have been slow. Also, all of the business that the #1 salesman did was handed to him, I went out and got everything that I have by myself, with George's help, of course. So if we go home early every once in a while, I feel we have earned it. I will miss George's help, but I will continue to see him often. The company he is going to work for accounts for about 60-70% of my monthly business, but that will be reducing soon, because I closed an account today that will be huge too. They will probably be about 40% of what I do soon. Couldn't be happier about that, but now I will be doing most of it by myself, until the new guy has his feet firmly on the ground. Oh well, it takes effort to make it in anything that you do.

That's about it for work, I still get to come home to the three greatest kids in the world, in my opinion. Picked Nat up from art school today at 5 pm. Guess what, I have seen the fish that Angie is waiting to see. It is not finished yet, but it is impressive. She is very talented. By the way, how many of us wanted to take a class AFTER school when we were in the 5th grade. Hell no, not me, I wanted to fish, or play baseball, or football. She is voracious in her appetite to learn, and I am very impressed.

Matthew continues to have good days at school, behavior wise. He got a 100 on his last spelling test, and there were 20 words, I think. I may be getting his and Natalie's lists confused, but a 100 is a 100 no matter what. I am very happy with his performance this year, I hope it continues, but I have that feeling............ Yeah, you know the one, all the sudden he decides to beat the shit out of one of his buddies. The boy is taller than almost anyone in his class, and is terribly strong. I do think that most of the times he has hurt someone he was just playing, but he is used to playing with me. Kiddos hurt a little easier. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but I feel sorry for whoever gets it when he does. Maybe it will be his sister's first boyfriend, hey, that's a thought. OK, maybe it's a wish.

And, as Angie says in her blog, Brayden is saying da-da a lot. Yes, that is very nice to come home to. He pulls up on me alot when I am playing video games with Matt also. The first time just shocked me, I wasn't ready for that. To me, I guess he is still a newborn, but he is soon to be very, very mobile, and that is when things actually get fun. We have all of the sockets in the house covered, but I bet he gets into someting, the other two did. He makes fart noises with his mouth, I couldn't be happier. My favorite sound, if I go too long without hearing it, I just go ahead and make one myself. Sometimes, even, they are fake!!

I guess I should go to bed now. Have a big friday tommorrow, I gotta work George's ass into the ground. Just for old times sake. But we will probably be done by 3, for my sake.

See ya then,

Jim