Sunday, March 14, 2010

Husband for hire or rent, you pick.

There's a man living in my house. He's good-looking, tall, and strong, and multi-talented. But apparently none of the two hundred or so jobs he's applied for are seeking the qualifications he has. This is frustrating to him and to me on the level of a gnat stuck in our ears constantly buzzing - we're broke, we're broke, we're broke! He's looked for jobs in Georgia, and while we were there, Maryland. He's found one temp job, due to a referral by a family member, but it lasted 8 weeks and paid a meager $7.75 an hour. In Maryland, he had a part time dispatcher position at the college I worked for, and I'm sure he got that because I knew all the folks there and they knew he was close and easy. Not that I'm taking credit for that at all - it just seems that the trick to finding a job these days is being incredibly lucky and knowing somebody. Sadly, despite Hal's many talents and his wealth of knowledge, let alone his years of work experience - he's gone virtually unnoticed in the sea of resumes and applications collected in response to each job opening. For instance, he worked 19 years for Proctor and Gamble on a rotating 12 hour shift and never, ever missed a day of work. Not one sick day. He can fix just about anything that moves, he has owned and operated his own screen printing business, and he's even very good at accounting and tax preparation (a skill he gained by default while he owned his business and got so interested in that he pursued further study with some graduate courses and an IRS tax prep class). He can make things with wood too, like the two solid work benches we had to sell when we moved to Maryland, and the swing set for Sarah's second birthday. I see all of his skills because I live with him. He's my man around the house. If something breaks, he repairs it. If something needs to be put together or installed, he does that too. He paints, sands, wires, fuses, saws, hammers, and he even kills bugs! He's also the man when it comes to rocking our little girl to sleep...and boy oh boy did he change some diapers and make some bottles a few years back! He's got a strange sense of humor, can beat just about anyone in movie trivia, and has never once smoked pot. How's that for an accomplishment? He doesn't drink or smoke but he does have three black belts: one in tae kwon do, akido, and judo. You can see why I'm dumbfounded about why this man hasn't been able to get a job. I see all of his talent, inside and out. I guess I'm rooting for him - hoping someone in the business world can see the man that I see one day.

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