Admitting defeat...again

Life has thrown us another curveball. The job transfer that we were so excited about and thought would be our ticket to finally settling down has turned out to be another dead end.

Starting a week or two before the move, things started to look not quite as solid as we had been led to believe. John found out that one of the Murdock brothers didn't even know John was being transferred to St. George. In short, this brother is a control freak and was NOT happy. He obviously feels that St. George is too far away for him to exert his control. He tried to halt the move, but relented when he found out we already had a deposit on the house. It's gone downhill from there. He has tried to thwart John at every turn. We have had to buy close to $1000 in tools because they refused to outfit the repair shop; they want him to do sales (yet the manager here likes to swoop in at the last minute to get the commission); they refuse to send him very many instruments so he has nothing to do (and gets sent home early); they have him cleaning the bathrooms; they won't let him do any marketing, including visiting the local schools to let them know he's here; and they've recently made him start doing instrument reposessions. Last week they sent him out in the company van that has no air conditioning. It was 100 degrees outside and 130 inside the van. John started to hallucinate and ran a red light. He got a ticket that of course the Murdock's will not take responsibility for. John has now put his foot down and refused to drive the van. We're waiting for their reaction. Either they will fire him, or try to force him and he will be calling OSHA.

The list goes on and on. We have realized that this job is going nowhere. There is no end in sight to the $8 an hour. They have cancelled all health benefits for their employees. We have agonized over our choices of what to do and have come back to John going to school to finish his degree. I am, of course, hesitant, but we can find no alternative. It seems to be the only way for John to get a stable job with reasonable pay in a field that he's interested in. So back we go to Warrenton. Mom and Dad are opening their doors once again for Benjamin (and the rest of us and our crap). John will be taking online classes while we save on rent, utilities, etc. Who knows where we'll end up when he finishes. They're also taking over our Optima since the Neon has finally given up the ghost.

We don't know yet when we'll be doing the move. The timing is mostly dependent on Dad's ability to take off the time to help us. John has pledged to survive his job as long as is needed, but we're hoping sooner rather than later.

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Benjamin has no idea how much love, kisses, and hugs he's going to be smothered with. He'll be sure to impress everyone with his numbers, letters, signing, and growing vocabulary.