May 13, 2012 – food or meds

by Robert G Parent

It's 2am and I'm worried. I don't have enough money for food and meds. But, I supposed the deeper question is “What do you do when the company you work for fails you?” I used to think that all you have to do is work hard for the company and you'll be all set, no need to worry. You're a good worker. You'll have enough money to live well, right.

It's hard for me to be the optimist, especially since all I see is darkness.

I work for Health Care Service Group ( HCSG ). They're a company that cleans Nursing Homes and, they don't care about their employees. The only way to get a raise at that company is to get into management. I was there once. I worked hard. I never did management before. I trained for roughly 6 months and worked as a manager for 7 months. My boss trained me and he said he'd help me succeed. He lied. Now I'm back at the first place I trained and served as manager, where they treat me like if I never had the position of management.

I thought that I did well. I worked hard and long hours ( I was on salary ). I solved the problems that came up using instinct and creativity. I thought that I was really doing a good job, even though the boss didn't support me. The day I lost that position was the day my life ended. I didn't know it then but all is clear in hindsight.

I do what anyone would do – try and get another job. But with little skill because of bad decisions I made in the past, I find myself trapped. Is this where I start losing stuff again like my cable and internet, my phone, my car to the point of deciding whether to spend the money that I have on buying food or medications. I never thought this could happen to me in this country that is free and abundant. Where do I go from here???