Counting My Blessings

I found something today that really put the last year or two into perspective for me.

Over the last year or two I have scrambled to pay my bills. I am unemployed and the unemployment checks ran out once and for all in April 2010. I have applied for literally hundreds of jobs and have gotten very few interviews

Since then, loans from friends, sales of anything that would sell (guns, antique furniture, jewelry, vintage toys, vintage evening bags, curios, etc), PTR earnings, survey earnings, and help from my mother have enabled me to pay my space rent through September 2010 as well as covering my bills for utilities, telephone, cell phone, Dish Network, cat food, cat litter, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, shampoo, tampons, etc.

My health went to pot in early August 2010.  I went to the emergency room thinking I had a pulled muscle or a broken rib.  Surprise, surprise, I had pulmonary emboli (blood clots in my lungs).  I was in the hospital on anti-coagulants (Warfarin drip and Heparin drip) for 3 days.

I also am anemic, diabetic, hypertensive (high blood pressure), depressed, and have high cholesterol.  Because of the pulmonary emboli I  was on oxygen for 6 weeks. I had no energy at all.

At the time all this was discovered I did NOT have any health insurance.

A week after I got out of the hospital I was placed into the Oregon Health Plan which has covered all my prescription medications, all my blood tests, any ultrasounds/cat scans, and all my doctor visits since that time.

St Charles Medical Center agreed to waive my entire bill for the 3 days I was in the hospital--over $12,000.00 that I couldn't begin to pay off.

A local charity helped with my electricity bill after I went on oxygen 24/7 for 6 weeks, and they also turned me on to a program administered by my utility company--if I am approved they will pay $150.00 towards my electricity bill.

I have lost at least 8 pounds since this all started and I have so much more energy. I am eating much healthier, even cooking some days which is a big change. I am so much more positive about my life now too.

So I am cleaning house and re-organizing thinking I might get a roommate.  I have stacks and stacks of Rubbermaid rough totes (and their ilk) that have needed to be gone through and/or moved.

In going through one of the totes, I found a document written several years ago about my various positions with Wells Fargo/First Interstate.

I am so happy that I no longer work for them, as this document was one of the most negative things I have ever read.  The sad thing about it is that it WAS and IS an accurate depiction of what was happening to me at that time.

What was wrong with these jobs?

1) Minimal, inadequate training.
2) Treated as though I was incompetent; spoken to like I was a dog that had defecated on their shoes.
3) Harassed and lied to by all levels of management in my department, visits to bathroom counted.
4) No supervisory support
5) Nobody to cover for my lunches and breaks so rarely got a lunch or break and was not paid for the time either
6) After I was injured at work, I was treated even worse by management and fellow employees. Department printer was put on my desk and most of my co-workers either bumped into my chair or 'accidentally' kicked it while retrieving their prints. I tried everything to get it to stop without going to HR department but was finally forced into contacting them, funny how the printer got moved within 3 days.
7) After over a year of the treatment mentioned in #1-#6 above I decided to leave.  I couldn't get a transfer out of my department that would pay me what I was making in my current position so I just left without another job waiting for me.

I said to a friend after I found this that my life might be kind of challenging right now, but there are worse things than being broke and ill.

I am HAPPY (pleased, ecstatic, overjoyed)  beyond words that I left Wells Fargo.  I'll take iffy finances and poor (but improving) health over sheer mistreatment and harassment any day.