[This isn't a photo of my TLE, but as you undoubtedly know, they are all very similar. Perhaps I'll try to take a picture of my own before the next post.] TOP TEN BEST PARTS OF BEING ALIVE IN MY. . . . SHOES:
#10 WORK: WAL-MART TIRE & LUBE EXPRESS AND TEACHING, PART VII:
In the spring of 2004, my wife, Maria, resigned from her teaching position because our second daughter was about to be born. We’d discussed our various options and it turned out that two considerations overruled the rest: Maria really wanted to stay home with our children full-time, and the cost of childcare was prohibitive. Were Maria to continue working, the vast majority of her salary would be going to pay for childcare and the bit that was left simply wasn’t enough to make her efforts to work outside the home worth it especially since she didn’t want to.
For my part, I began to feel the weight of this decision almost immediately. Our income had been cut in half and as soon as our second child was born our responsibilities would double or triple or quadruple – who can measure that kind of thing? Thus I began to feel the fear. I was about to become the sole breadwinner and we didn’t have any real saving to speak of. What if something went wrong? I decided that I needed to find a second job and use my earning from it to create an emergency fund. I began looking for work that May. I’d worked construction before and figured that doing that again was probably the most efficient way to make some quick cash. Construction pays well for short term work and they are always looking for extra help in the summer. Everyone I talked to, however, while they were very interested, said that they could use me but not until July. I was thinking that I needed work right away. I was teaching at the time and I really only had a two month window in which to work. I couldn’t wait until July. Even if I made a few dollars less doing something other than construction, working two months rather than one would end up being more money overall.
I applied at Wal-Mart on a whim. I was at Wal-Mart and it occurred to me that I ought to just pick up an application. Wal-Mart doesn’t do things that way, however. They have little computer terminals set up where you have to apply and take a bunch of little application tests. I figure that as long as I was there, I may as well just do it. They called me the next day and a couple of days after that I was hired. When the human resources lady asked me to choose from a list of departments with openings, I asked which one paid the most. She told me that the Tire and Lube Express paid the most; I told he that’s the one I wanted.
In the spring of 2004, my wife, Maria, resigned from her teaching position because our second daughter was about to be born. We’d discussed our various options and it turned out that two considerations overruled the rest: Maria really wanted to stay home with our children full-time, and the cost of childcare was prohibitive. Were Maria to continue working, the vast majority of her salary would be going to pay for childcare and the bit that was left simply wasn’t enough to make her efforts to work outside the home worth it especially since she didn’t want to.
For my part, I began to feel the weight of this decision almost immediately. Our income had been cut in half and as soon as our second child was born our responsibilities would double or triple or quadruple – who can measure that kind of thing? Thus I began to feel the fear. I was about to become the sole breadwinner and we didn’t have any real saving to speak of. What if something went wrong? I decided that I needed to find a second job and use my earning from it to create an emergency fund. I began looking for work that May. I’d worked construction before and figured that doing that again was probably the most efficient way to make some quick cash. Construction pays well for short term work and they are always looking for extra help in the summer. Everyone I talked to, however, while they were very interested, said that they could use me but not until July. I was thinking that I needed work right away. I was teaching at the time and I really only had a two month window in which to work. I couldn’t wait until July. Even if I made a few dollars less doing something other than construction, working two months rather than one would end up being more money overall.
I applied at Wal-Mart on a whim. I was at Wal-Mart and it occurred to me that I ought to just pick up an application. Wal-Mart doesn’t do things that way, however. They have little computer terminals set up where you have to apply and take a bunch of little application tests. I figure that as long as I was there, I may as well just do it. They called me the next day and a couple of days after that I was hired. When the human resources lady asked me to choose from a list of departments with openings, I asked which one paid the most. She told me that the Tire and Lube Express paid the most; I told he that’s the one I wanted.
