There are no jobs out there?

Dumb luck. Sometimes I stumble into it and sometimes it stumbles into me. That's sort of the story of my life. Take driving a truck: I never, ever, ONCE contemplated climbing into something over 70 feet long and pulling 14K miles a month, AND actually enjoying it. But that's where I ended up. From "would you like more coffee" and "May I take your order?" to "Oh, look, I have 7 stops on this load" and "I wonder what my back-haul will be?"

This change took seconds to happen, not weeks of researching, months of training, studying for a test, applying at multiple companies, the job simply dropped into my lap somewhere between "More coffee?" and "Would you like your check now?".

I stayed with that career (not the same company, though) for almost a quarter of a century. In that time I've been moved into supervisor, dispatcher, trainer, customer service, all with no formal training or even a chase on my part. These opportunities just came to me. And I took them and ran with them, as is my way.

A few jobs I've been tossed into, not against my will, mind you, but with a little protest, like the cat spreading himself wide to avoid being stuffed into the crate. But I persevere, and learn new things anyway.

As a tax preparer, I signed up to be a volunteer, so I thought I knew what I was getting into, but, alas, like the wind blows, I found myself blown into a paid position as a site coordinator. Never saw that coming! But I've enjoyed it, and rose to the challenge. It's been fun, but April 15th looms large, and I've been wondering just what will I do next?

I set out this morning intending to spend money I didn't want to spend. The ignition thingy in my truck gets stuck, and, after a few short cuts trying to get it to work, (graphite, spray), I decided to go to the chevy dealer and pay some over-charging mechanic to replace the dumb thing. After all, I'm pretty impatient, when I want to start the truck and go somewhere, I want to do just that, I DON'T want to sit there in a 90 degree truck and play jiggle jiggy with the switch! Next Monday I'll be about 125.00 buckaroos poorer, but at least I can go-go-go at my smallest whim!

On the way back from making some mechanic really happy with the promise of some bucks next week, I decided to console myself with a cup of joe and a newspaper at my favorite mini-market-gas station-deli. I know the lady that runs the place, she's seen my ugly mug in there before.

So: I'm sitting at a booth, slurping coffee and getting my daily chuckle with the funny page when my friend the store manager saunters over to me, saying something about a job babysitting an old lady once a week for 100 bucks. Well, I've done the babysitting-an-old-lady thing before, and 100 bucks is a 100 bucks, so I said yes, I'll do it. She walked all the way to the front of the store, did a U-turn and came back to my table. "Yes?" I said, interrupting Charlie Brown for a moment, upon which she said, "Forget the job watching the old lady, I need someone to close the store, it's 38 to 40 hours a week, are you interested?"

Once again, a job drops into my lap. I didn't ask for it, had no idea she was hiring, and, best of all, I don't have to wonder what I'm going to do for a paycheck after April 15th.

She has to talk to the big boss and will call me in a few days. There, problem solved for the moment! Maybe she'll move to Timbucktoo and I'll get to manage the place? Ok, don't get ahead of yourself!!