a quiet home again

Lisa's eldest daughter Annie spent the past week with us, along with her young son Elijah. This caused relentless stress for Lisa, what with the noise of the child and Annie's constant remonstrations to him to be quiet and play.

While Annie was consistently polite to me, her treatment of her own mother was quite different: disrespectful, demanding and critical. On the other hand, she did provide some food using her WIC benefits, saying that we were welcome to help ourselves to some of it. And then she read Lisa the riot act for eating a couple of Twinkies. As I previously noted, stress was a common theme.

When Annie and son arrived last week, Lisa told her in no uncertain terms that her time here was limited. Annie was to be out on Saturday, November 22. To her credit, she honored this ultimatum by borrowing money from her usually worthless boyfriend in Missouri for plane tickets home.

On Thursday she sold her cellphone for $40 to an unknown individual, but nevertheless came looking to borrow another $15 from Lisa on Friday. I told her that Lisa was asleep and did not have $15 to spare in any case. "What about on her bank card?" she asked. I again replied that there was no money to be had, and turned my back to her as a signal that the conversation was over. She remained in the doorway for a minute or so before finally departing.

Our cash situation is dire. Lisa is three months behind on her water bill (the mortgage, electricity and telephone being more important) and is resigned to allowing her car insurance to lapse at the end of this month. Her son and daughter-in-law lived here for over six months without paying rent or contributing toward the utility bills. When they moved in, Lisa had what she called a "cushion" of well over one thousand dollars. By the time they left, the cushion was gone and she was already behind on several bills. Since moving in, I have bought all of our food using my food stamp benefits and have therefore been able to contribute at least something.

My job search is looking up. More jobs in my field (drafting and electronic design) are becoming available in our area; my resume has been posted with several job-search agencies and I have applied directly for a number of relevant positions harvested by said agencies. Attempts to find a stop-gap solution, i.e. entry level positions at convenience stores, restaurants and markets have thus far come to naught. The unemployment rate in our county currently stands at 7%.

I was invited to a job interview this past Thursday that was allegedly based upon my resume. (The "allegedly" reference will be explained below.) Unfortunately, Lisa and her grandson were both quite ill that day and thus Annie was unable to provide the 30-mile ride to the interview.

I called to cancel and followed up with an email, wherein I politely questioned how a resume that details 15 years of drafting and design could make me seem "eminently qualified" (their phrase) for a sales and marketing job with a major corporation that is involved in neither drafting nor design. I pointed out my extensive design experience and emphasized that "I have never sold or marketed anything to anyone," and asked for clarification of their reasoning behind offering me such a job. I then stated that I would not want to waste their valuable time interviewing for a position that I consider myself quite unsuited for, when there are certainly many individuals who would fit their needs nicely.

Besides, the job was located a full 30 miles from our house and the invitation clearly stated that "business attire is expected," which I interpret to mean a suit and tie (neither of which I have ever owned or needed). The closest to "business attire" that I own are khaki trousers and golf shirts, both of which are fully suitable for design work - where interaction with the general public ranges from rare to nonexistent.

Still, it is not all bad news here. Lisa and I will be visiting my folks for Thanksgiving and shall spend the night. We received a surprise phone call last night informing us that my father has, as an early Christmas present, scheduled an appointment for Friday morning to have the brakes repaired on Lisa's car.