Our neighbor texted me yesterday asking if I could give him a hand with a 30 minute project. I walked over and he showed me the dog door he wanted to seal. Very easy fix.
He had been concerned about his wife (who has dementia) getting out and wandering off. He explained that shortly after putting the dog door in, (28 years ago) his wife had attempted, successfully, to use it.
To me, “fired” means “for cause” as in, embezzlement, theft of time/property, harassment, showing up drunk, etc. Which isn’t the case here, so I dunno … how did your H.R. word it to you? They’re usually extremely careful about language.
I’d for sure apply for unemployment (PITA though that may be) and see if the packet you need to retrieve gives any useful information.
Out of sheer curiosity, what’d you do?
Look I get it, you’re trying to make a left out of your driveway, but it IS a busy street, there are no lights or stop signs for a mile in either direction. You don’t have to nearly get into 2 accidents to get where you’re going, just wait for it to open up.
Or… make the right out of your driveway and be willing to drive the extra 500 feet (I measured it) to the side street you’re trying to get to. Go around the block, it’s 10 seconds!
Well, he wanted it to be a reversible fix that would keep his wife inside. I split a 2x4 and used deck screws to attach them to the outside frame of the doggie door. I only screwed the long screws in 3/4 of their length.
No way to get out from inside the house. Three minutes to turn it back into a doggie door. Oh, and I had a couple of beers with him!
Okay, now I’m being annoying, but … how does one do this? Seems like a useful DIY step.
My neighbor has all sorts of power tools in his garage/workshop, but age has made it too dangerous for him to use many of the tools. I used his table saw to split a 2x4 that I’d already cut to the appropriate length. I could have just used the 2x4 intact, but I thought it would look better as two thinner boards than one fat one.
Without his table saw, I could have used a circular saw or even gone old school with a hand saw.
Thanks!
Yes, it’s February. Early February, to be precise. I had some shopping to do today and it looked nice out, so I just wore a light jacket. Jeebus! Didn’t need a jacket – it’s pretty much room temperature out, here in the Great White North where a roaring blizzard would be more typical at this time of year! It’s literally too warm in the garage for my giant carton of iced tea or Coke or Caesar mix, and using the garage as a fridge is one of the things I love about Canadian winter.
Fuck this global warming, and same for El fucking Nino. Needless to say, I haven’t seen my snowplow guy for quite a while, especially now that the grass is greening, birds are singing, and I’m pretty sure that fucking flowers are sprouting somewhere. In early fucking February. I hope he’s enjoying his ill-gotten windfall. I should demand a refund for this non-winter.
That’s if it comes up. I’ve now been on the other side multiple times, where I’ve been on the hiring side. I’ve had to directly hire someone at my agency, and I’ve now been on a number of panels where I participate in interviews and give my input in regard to evaluating job candidates.
I can’t think of a time in any interview, either as an applicant or as an interviewer, where we ever asked the circumstances for a person leaving a position. Now, that certainly will come up if that job is used as a reference. I’ll never forget when I was doing reference checks and called about a person I wanted to hire and one reference was open about the person having done an awful job, was fired for cause, and they cautioned about hiring. (Then they awkwardly realized they got people confused, and they weren’t talking about the person I was calling about, so glad that was cleared up.)
I’d say if it comes up though, just tell an employer what you told us. You were the project manager on a project that didn’t go well, and as a result you lost your job. What you have to be careful about is to not sound like you are making excuses or trying to be a martyr… I know that neither of those things are true here, you are being honest about what happened, but sometimes pure unfiltered honesty is unwise when you are applying for a job. Don’t say that you were a scapegoat or that things beyond your control caused a failure and you were a victim. Just say objectively what you did and why things went wrong, and allow them to draw their own conclusions. If they are able to see themselves that it was clearly not your fault and you were collateral damage, then that will make it so that this isn’t a black mark against you, but at the same time if you present yourself as not being a victim and that you are just moving on, it shows strength of character.
Just my advice. When I’m part of the hiring process, we typically look for someone who has the right skills and experience, seems to be a good communicator, looks to be a good fit specifically for the job and generally for the organization, and also determine both a person’s readiness to hit the ground running when starting the position and the ability to grow within the role and maybe beyond. Those are what are important.
I might just say that the project I was brought on for ended.
I heard that the company I used to work for wouldn’t say anything except verifying employment dates if used as a reference. Probably on advice of their lawyers to avoid issues.
I think that’s a wise stance. The place I was calling from my anecdote was a very small business from what I recall.
If a place is willing to actually divulge details, it would probably come up, I should say. Though how much detail is another story.
So, today I bought my wife chocolate for Valentines Day.
On Tuesday the 13th, I’ll be at a viewing for my BIL.
On Wednesday the 14th, I’ll be at a cemetery where they’ll be burying him.
Valentine’s Day, the Day of Love!
< insert a “You Miserable Lying Son-Of-A-Bitch” emoji >
You’re just going to have to deploy a different type of love.
What a bummer of a Valentine’s Day. I hope you find some comfort in your family (I know not everyone does.)
gift it to the driver? … those (here) are pretty poor guys that happily receive a decent meal
That, thank you, is a great idea. The drivers here are also similarly poor and probably not paid much.
Anytime someone has bothered to contact me about a prior employee, I’ve been totally honest. I had someone specifically ask “are they eligible for rehire?” and I replied, “if someone held a gun to my head, I guess”.
Miniest of minrants:
A lovely big mug of hot tea with milk and sugar tastes a lot better when you remember to put the tea bag in it 
Kid Cheesesteak is a big fan of AC/DC. I mean, a BIG FAN, like when he checks his spotify stats, he’s in the top 1% of all AC/DC listeners worldwide, and when he comes into some money, a piece of it inevitably winds up buying vintage AC/DC albums.
AC/DC just announced tour dates. European tour dates, nothing in the New World, and I’m dreading the “I have to see these guys once before they all die” conversation. I suppose I can swing a whirlwind 3 day tour of London or some other European city to see them live… if I don’t want to replace my 18 year old car that is starting to show its age… but I’d REALLY prefer a 30 minute drive to the Meadowlands instead.