Springing into Change!

 I am going in to work late today because I have a job interview at 10.  It started as a bit of a whim.  I saw an ad while I was on vacation in December.  I sent my resume and received a prompt call.  I had a phone interview and then a zoom interview a week or so  later.  It was planned that I would have an in person visit at the site in January but the interviewer became ill with Covid and things have been in hiatus until now.

I really want to be a property manager and i don't see my company promoting me to that position. It would mean finding someone to handle a very complex compliance aspect and that is somewhat harder to do.  The site I work at is a blended site with a number of subsidy programs so there are constant audits and interfacing with a variety of regulatory agencies.

I was a sort of defacto interim property manager for over a year for the site.  I did very well and my regional manager did tell me that she wanted me to become the manager. However our company CEO found someone else and she took the position.  She is very nice.  I like her a lot.  I had to help train her which was kind of weird. I also got a very nice bonus for all the extra work that I did in the dual capacities.  But, as i said, I don't see them promoting me because it is in the company's interest to keep a highly qualified person in a compliance role.

I am also somewhat limited by my own personal medical condition. I have migraines.  The number of them vary according to weather patterns, allergies, and a number of other factors.  I manage well but one thing that I try to do is limit the amount of driving I do because that has a strong correlation with the number of migraines. (particularly night driving with headlights coming at me) I also worry that in a long commute I would be unable to drive safely home if I had a migraine come on at work.

My present job is 3 miles from my house.  I could literally walk there if I had to. I have biked there when there was road construction because it was faster than waiting in traffic. The job I am applying for is only about another 4 miles down the road. 

There is much that is unknown but there is always much to be learned from the interview process.  So here's to challenges, potential opportunities and advancement!

More renovations

Early on in the pandemic we made a "to do" list for the house. My thought was that if we had something tangible to focus on it would keep our minds off the crazy.  It would help me think less about the fact that I have camped zero times this summer, hung out with friends zero times this summer been to the beach zero times this summer, seem my mother zero times this summer. . . You get the idea.

The biggest project we decided to tackle was our front porch.  I binge watched youtube vids and shared them to my wife, pumping up her enthusiasm (while she pretty much enjoys this journey now she was a lot less confident than I was that we could do these things.)  And initially, our project pretty much mirrored the helpful videos that we saw.  I got myself an orbital hand sander and got the beams sanded and we painted to a fair thee well.  I ripped up old flooring and sanded the floor.  We inspected said floor for damages.  And just like the videos there was a small section that needed repair.  

Armed with my boundless enthusiasm and said videos we pulled up the punky boards and discovered!  A missing joist.  Hmmm. Odd but this is an OLD porch on a 200 year old house.  Stranger things have been found working on this house.  We put in a new joist where there was not one, we married a new sturdy 2 x 4a to a less sturdy one and framed it in nicely.  Doesn't it look lovely?

Then we removed the last punky board and discovered that the support post to our porch was disintegrated.  As in, 40 years of hard living had turned it to dust.  I called a good friend in a panic.  He came over and looked and said well Sh### !  There was talk of jacking the house and contractors and all I could see were dollar signs.  And lets face it, while working on my home in the pandemic is fun--I am still very mindful of our money right now.  My wife is only recently back to most of her work. My middle son is not back yet.  And unemployment tanks next week unless there is a miracle. But back to the porch.

We called another friend.  He loves old housing and works for  a contractor.  One of my big worries was losing the fancy gingerbread trim if the whole post had to be replaced.  Yes, he agreed, nodding sagely, that would be horrible and very expensive to save.  However it was not clear if we would have to replace the whole post.  It was possible that this damage was caused by faulty gutters and moisture and that it only went part way up.

A glimmer of hope!  Back to youtube I went.  The next week armed with a 4 x 4 fence post that we got free from a job site my wife worked at, some 2 x 4s and a lot of prayers we went to town on the porch. We dug out all the punky wood.  We discovered good and bad things.  Bad.  There was no real footing for the porch post.  Good. The post was not a single entity.  At some point my grandfather had replaced the bottom half of the post with a couple of 2 x 4s joined together.  

We debated trying to make a nice footing for our post.  But as you can tell from the picture there was not a lot of room to dig.  I would have to use a hand trowel and I would likely still be there. LOL

In this picture you can see that I braced the porch with a 2 x 4 and inset my fence post.  We set the post on bricks which was the "footing" my grandfather had used. Why mess with what worked for 40 plus years?  We also had to take off that weird green stuff which was a thin, sort of papery backing board that he used before putting the finish boards over it.  My guess is it was all they could afford and it most definately was not rated for exterior work.  We took it off (but only in that section, I am not up for redoing the whole porch!) and put up exterior rated backing board.

Here's the exterior backing board we installed and you can also see that we had repaired the floor at this point as well.  It was starting to look like we would finish and that it was going to come out ok!

And it did!  Here is the repair with the new finish boards, ready for painting. (they have since been primed and I will paint this weekend.)  I will also paint that small area beside our repair where my paint was damaged by having to open the wall up. All in all it was about 8 hours of work and 5 trips to hardware stores as our efforts revealed new and different issues to address.  I should also mention that we don't own a power saw.  This stuff was hand cut, though we do have a drill and a few other small power tools.  I am beginning to dream about a small table saw set up!

Aside from painting the repair our next part of the project is making screens.  Another new skill to learn.  And yesterday the gutters were replaced so hopefully the water issue will also be a thing of the past.

Sitting With Myself

I am an extrovert by nature.  I love people. I love being in community.  I am highly social in every sense of the word.  Being with people feeds my spirit and gives me energy.  I am respecting the social distance protocols. I am finding new ways to accomplish my work for a marginalized population in times of social distancing. I am using all reasonable care.

I am grateful during this time for technology.  I am not really tech savvy myself.  (writing a blog is about as high tech as this gal gets!)  i am however blessed with a very tech savvy company and church community.  So work meetings continue via our computers and phones.  And today, we had a church service that was highly attended virtually.  (funny aside:  my work laptop does not have a camera, my home computer does.  Boy was I glad I had combed my hair this a.m. when I realized that everyone  at virtual church could see me!)

However it was sitting in service that i realized that i had not taken time to think of how I feel during this time of pandemic.  I have been very busy at work.  I have been busy at home helping my wife to handle her anxiety and stay calm.  I have been finding things to occupy the kids who are used to such a busy life.  i have been trying to calm a teen who may not have a recital the first year he landed a lead role. I have been checking in with my sister in law who is receiving chemo and has a highly compromised immune system.  I have been trying to reassure my mother who is very anxious and flashing back to WW2 and depression era memories due to the lack of resources available.  I have been working at planning creative meals around the things we have been able to purchase during the shortages.  And somehow in there, I lost sight of looking more deeply into my own feelings.  A week or so ago I told my kids all about how this time would be our "Walden" our chance to be more fully present with ourselves.  And I haven't been.

Today was a chance to do that.  It wasn't exactly comfortable. These are scary times and I was forced to admit that I am scared.  I am an older parent (even though I would like to believe I don't look it!) While I have no underlying health conditions, that does put a certain level of risk in the equation.

I am a planner.  I am feeling at sixes and sevens because I can't really plan right now.  I don't know what the world will look like in July so I have not made reservations for camping as I intended to.  If our state locks down and I need to use all my vacation time to keep paychecks coming into the house, we may not be able to take that time.

I also realized when we were virtually in community at church today just how much I emotionally need others.  I need to see faces, hear voices, and share stories.  This morning's service went a long way toward filling a void I did not really know I had.

And yet, thus far I am really blessed.  My immediate family is all healthy.  My mother and my FIL and SIL remain healthy.  I have heard that my sister who lives across the country has the virus but is recovering at home and has not required hospitalization.  We will get through this and though the world will be changed irrevocably by this experience, I have to believe that the resiliance of our human spirit will see us through.

Review Day

Today was our annual review meeting at work.  We set goals a few months back and then our managers reviewed our progress and achievements over the past year and gave us our "report cards."  I scored extremely well; the comments will be of great help as I work toward securing  a full managerial position elsewhere in the coming year or two.  I received a great deal of recognition for the improvements I made at the site during the year that we were without a property manager.  It was slightly awkward as my senior portfolio manager wanted me to have a chance at the job.  And I of course very much wanted a chance at the job.  Our new manager is a very nice person and I have spent the past few weeks teaching her the duties that I did as interim for the past year.  It is a good thing that I have an odd sense of humor because it strikes me funny that I am "not qualified" to be the manager but I can teach the new manager.  LOL

But, in the review I was also promised that my company will pay for education for the certifications that are recognized in our industry for property managers. That is a great thing and an expensive investment on their part.  I doubt very much that I will ever be a property manager for my present employer, but I'll get the certification and be in a better position to move elsewhere.  I feel that I have abundantly shown my abilities and they appreciate them but do not see me as a manager at this site. So, it will be time to move on when the classes I need to take are done.  I also got a raise and a bonus which are also very nice.  But it isn't all about them money and while that will help with bills, I have my eyes set on a goal that does not involve staying in this position till I totter off to the old folks home. LOL

I have begun to research other management companies. There are so many tools out there to help get a read on the culture of companies and since I am not in a crisis situation I am taking time to be thoughtful about this and when I make a move, it will be one that will benefit my career and my family.

A hairy Matter

So this is my KC.  He is 14, well, nearly 15 now.  A sweeter, kinder and more hardworking kid you would be hard pressed to find. Yes, I am his mom, but it is truly not blind parental love here.  He has been working at a local grocery store since the fall.  The store is the only employer in the area who will employ 14 year olds.  Everything else is pretty much 16 or older, or only seasonal.  At the store, he has consistantly worked 9 to 10 hours weekly. 

See the hair?   KC loves his hair.  It is part of who he is.  It is also against the dress code of the store.  The handbook states that males can not have dyed hair.  It is hard to see in the picture but KC's hair is tipped blond.  Because of  his "non traditional" hair color he has to wear a store ball cap when he works.  He despises the ball cap.

Last week he decided to have the blond trimmed out of his hair.  I was happy as it was  kind of damaged from the bleaching and it is healthier for the hair to trim it out.  But his impetus was so that he did not have to wear the ball cap when at work. Off he went to work, sans cap.

When I picked him up after his shift I could tell something was wrong.  He said that his manager told him his hair was "too wild" and he still had to wear the ball cap.  Let's be clear, there is no definition of "wild" or "tame" hair in the employee handbook.   Let us also be clear that although I have seen a number of black employees in the store, they are typically  female cashiers, not 14 year old male baggers.

I have worked since I was 14 too.  I know companies have the right to decide how their brand is represented by their employees. My employer  only allows female employees to have one ear piercing.  I also believe that there is a significant level of inherant racial bias in the matter in question.  However at present, the law appears to side with the employer.  Witness this recent court ruling regarding dread locks.  KC's hair is tall but was clean and neatly picked and shaped. 

We talked all the way home about the situation.  I was clear that I do believe it is unfair and that it may have inherant racial bias in the policy>  He is justifiably hurt and angry, but also sees that in other aspects the company has been good to him and to other co-workers.(he gets hours consistantly, he is in other aspects treated politely, a co-worker friend who had an incident of sexual harrassment had it immediately and appropriately handled.)  We spoke of how he basically had two options, he could keep his hair style and continue to wear the ball cap, or he could look on line for some more traditional styles that he might like and show them to a supervisor for approval before he committed to a change.  He is deciding what course of action he wants to take.  He gave me a big hug when we got home and said "I just hope my kids don't have to go through this too someday."  Me too, son

Interim excitement

So I wrote a post back probably in the end of January, or perhaps early February about my boss leaving and how I applied for the job.  I was summarily told I was not particularly qualified for the position and sent back to my office.  Well, not exactly, but it was a very short conversation and the person in chage of hiring was very definate that he felt I was unqualified.

I spent about 24 hours wallowing in self pity and then moved on emotionally.  My plan was to continue building my skill set, taking classes that my company will pay for and then take those skills to another company (I actually have a company that said they would take my resume)  Meanwhile, no new manager was hired.  Many were apparently interviewed but no one fit the bill.  I took this as an opportunity to take on more tasks, learn more "managerial" tasks and reports, and to try to make things easier for the portfolio manager who was overseeing not only our site but at least 9 other properties.

On Friday she called me in to her office and said that she has been advocating on my behalf for the position. She said that she sees leadership potential in me and has been talking with folks at corporate.  She has told them about the tasks I have taken on and the things I have learned and apparently. . . I am to be an interim property manager with the possibility of things being permanent if I continue to show my worth.

I am so excited!

About that job. . .

A while ago I wrote that my present boss has been promoted and will be leaving our site.  I am an assistant property manager of compliance at our site.  I have worked here since Moses parted the Red Sea.  since 1978.  I have had a number of roles and most of that tenure I was employed by the former owner/agent. In 2011 we were sold to our present owners and I am employed by the managing agent.  Due to the complexity of the many subsidy programs we have, my role was restructured to deal almost exclusively with all the subsidy paperwork.

I do this well and have received awards, congratulatory emails, and excellent reviews.  However it has never been my goal to only do subsidy paperwork.  I have wanted to be a property manager almost ever since I started in this field.  With the first company I worked for I was the "heir apparent" and had been assured of the managership when my then boss retired.  Unfortunately we were sold before that happened so this was not realized.

He did leave under cloudy circumstances early into our time with our new company.  I was encouraged by my regional manager to apply for the position and I did.  I was told that I was not ready for this by the CEO of our management company.  I was devastated at the time but could see truth in what he said.  We had been with our new owners less than a year.  The things that we do in this company and the way they are done are very different.  I had also not had a lot of time to show my new company my strengths and what i could bring to the table.  So although I could understand what was said, I was devastated. It was probably a good couple of months before I shook it off and emotionally moved on with my life.

Six years rolled by and now the position is open again.  Being a glutton for punishment  firm believer that you keep striving, I again threw my hat in the ring.  This time the answer came in mere days and was again a no.  I am disappointed but refuse to let this get me down.  I think honestly that it is easier for the company not to have to train someone to do the job that I do (and there is not someone waiting in the wings who does it, so it would mean a new hire)  I think also that different companies have different cultures and that this company may not ever be able to see me as a manager.  While I am not sure the why of that, I have seen this with friends in other jobs as well. 

So luckily I had a plan B when I applied for the position.  I will spend the next couple of years getting a lot of additional schooling on my companies dime.  Education is never wasted and although I could in most cases just challenge the classes and obtain the management certification, I will take the classes.  Then, when KC and Lissa are a couple years older, I will apply for a managership in a different company.  I have friends in other management company's who have said I can send them my resume at any time.

Most importantly, I have not let this bother me emotionally.  I gave myself a full 24 hours to wallow in my unhappiness.  And wallow I did!  LOL  But I have a lot of great and wonderful things in my life and I can't let one no overshadow all of that.  I also know i really am a very capable person in the field I work in and that although this company does not see that outside of the realm of compliance work, I know it to be true.  With my first company my roles included staff management, budgets, capital needs assessments and more.  So I am moving forward into 2018 with a plan, with energy and with hope!