A little back story...

Greetings.

I've only just decided to start blogging. I resisted it for a long time. My wife has a blog, but I have always felt my time was better spent doing something more relaxing. I think the reason I'm starting now is because I feel like I have something to say on more than one subject. So, before I get into too much of the current events...

I'm looking for a new job. I'm going back to college in September. Why you may ask?

In September of 2007, I found myself in the job market. I got a job with a very large global company that had the contract for quite a few ranges here in Alaska. To avoid any possible legal issues, I will refer to them as "Company R." I started at about $24 per hour. Six weeks later, I moved to another range with a promotion and a new wage of $32 an hour. (Those numbers are base pay. Because the jobs are under the Service Contract Agreement Act, I got $3.16 more for every hour worked. That money was to go to health insurance.) Everything seemed to be going well. Until...

Fast forward to May 2008. The current contract that I was working under lapsed. A new one goes into effect. Under the new contract, my site has been sub-contracted to a native-owned corporation (Referred to here as "Company A.") The problem is that they changed the job allocations. No longer are there to be six technicians on the site. I am notified that I'm to fill the slot of Computer Operator for an insulting $17 an hour.

This is the first sign that this company is not one I'm going to be happy with. I have a background in electronics, audio/video, and computers. I have military experience, where I also did electronic work. Yet I was not awarded a job as an Electronic Technician. They will not give me an answer why. I'm pretty sure why, but to confirm my theory would mean I could site where they violate their own policy.

Unfortunately, this happened inn the mist of an economic downturn. I have applied for quite a few jobs, but to no avail. Most of them are GS grade federal jobs, that I got beat out on because a 10 point veterans preference candidate applied (I have 5 point veteran preference.) I have a resume in on three jobs now.

The reason this blog is called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" is because in many facets of my life, I really am in a grey area between success and failure. Right now, we are getting by because of some assistance. The biggest help is a program called Denali Kid Care. Long story short, free health care for my children. If a get a twenty-something an hour job, we lose that but then have to pay for insurance on the boys. Doing the math on that means that I'd actually have less net pay! So, either I stay at the $17 per hour and get assistance, or I have to get a $30 per hour or better job to get us comfortable and all insured.

Here's the kicker... Company A has major issues in their HR department. The owe me a lot of money that is supposed to be in my 401k right now. They are in violation of labor laws. They lose official paperwork with my SSN on it. They take 4-6 weeks to process things that are supposed to happen by the next paycheck. They refuse to give me info that I request, like what deductions are pre-tax and which are post-tax... something else I suspect they are screwing up.

So, despite this long post, that is the very abbreviated version of my job situation. Stay tuned for background in other areas of my life, and hopefully some humorous anecdotes here and there!