The Grinch Stole My Christmas

It's been over a year since I was terminated from my last job - I was never laid off - it was a contract employee type position and when the townhouses (for which I was contracted to maintain and repair) were sold, the new owner kept me on for a while but ultimately decided that His own people could do it cheaper (but not better) than I. He never told me that he no longer needed my services, he just stopped calling me to provide.

So I renewed my contractor's license and went back to doing contract work, business-to-business. I had let my home improvement license lapse several years before when I had a full time position with a local millwork company. I would have renewed it but after 10 or 12 years with no bond, the Home Improvement Commission decided that I should put up a cash bond of $20,000 to secure my license.

Needless to say, it's been a slow year. I only performed six or seven contracts and three of those still owe me money! It's no reflection on me (except for my bill collection capability); it's the economy, stupid!

Meanwhile, I've been studying the Internet Cash Cow trying to figure out how to make her give milk. It's a long learning curve and I've got four domains, six blog sites and, at last count, a dozen or so subdomain sites all interlinked in hopes of getting the search engines' attention. It's what I call my network funnel because ultimately they lead to my internet shopping mall.

My search for gainful employment has accelerated the past few months. And it has virtually turned my resume on its ear.

The first real disappointment was when a warranty company interviewed me, and then neglected to return my phone calls after the fact, for a condo/townhouse inspection job that was closely related to the QA/Project Management position I held at cabinetry manufacturer until the owner re-hired a friend of his and gave him my job. At another insurance-related job interview a few years ago I was told that I was not qualified to inspect boilers even though I was a certified boiler inspector for the Navy's 1200# steam plants.

Next I was told by one major hospital and two hotels that the maintenance/repair work I had been doing off-and-on for the last 8 or 10 years did not qualify me to do maintenance for them.

Most recently, a major bath remodeling company for whom I interviewed locally, and then was asked to drive up to meet the Regional VP (for which they offered no compensation for the travel, not even a free lunch!) said they had given the job to the other candidate who apparently was either more qualified (hard to believe given my experience in kitchen and bath remodeling) or younger (presumably so they could get they're moneys-worth for the training program because anything else would have been age-discrimination).

I've been to various kitchen and bath remodelers, lumber yards, hardware stores and even "WallyWorld" to no avail. Although, at least the last one did say that they felt I was over-qualified for the job! Now what's up with that? I would have thought that would be a benefit - they should have welcomed the chance to have a college-educated man greeting their customers at the door!

I can hardly wait to hear what the shipbuilding firm says in response to my application there - - - I used to work for a major shipyard building multimillion-dollar weapons platforms (called destroyers) for the Navy.

Do you realize that pretty much turns my resume inside out and upside down? The interviewers I've met in the last six months have told me I was not qualified for nearly every job I've had in the past three decades (since I the Navy and the shipyard in my wake)!

And don't tell me to retire 'cause that's a moving target: the older I get, the higher the government sets the age at which I can tap my social security benefits.

Well, Mr Grinch, you've stolen my job so you may as well steal Christmas, too.

Bah, humbug!