Well, my husband's career with the new Class One Road was very short-lived. He went out of town for three weeks of classroom training and then started on the job training at one of the most complex freight yard in the country. He was studying the GCOR when he wasn't working, and scrounging around at work for better yard maps than he had been given. It seems to be a tradition on the railroad that good yard maps aren't just handed out. Apparantly, you must procure your own by whatever means possible. Hmmm. Anyway, he discovered pretty quickly that he really doesn't like yard work all that much, but at least was money, which is something we pretty much needed. He got along pretty well with just about all of the crews he worked with. At the end of every day, they filled out evaluations of my husband's work. He always got excellent scores, which he showed to me. Then one particular person decided he just didn't like my husband. He started making remarks about how he had gotten other people fired in the past, so we saw it coming a couple of weeks ago. Then last week it happened. My husband broke no FRA regulations, no GCOR rules, no internal procedures. He made no safety violations. As a matter of fact, the crew members that were there the day it happened were dumbfounded. They couldn't believe it. This is about the most unfair thing that has ever happened to us, and it feels like a kick in the teeth. It's almost enough to drive a Christian wife to cuss. It's really stupid that on this particular road there seem to be no checks and balances. If the supervisor doesn't like the color of your hat, he can fire you before your 90 days are up.
All I can say, is that that particular railroad does not deserve my husband. We will shake the dust from our sandals and move on to bigger and better things.
Meanwhile, we got a call last night from the first railroad that hired my husband. The occupational health nurse is going to start following his health. My husband is in outstanding physical condition- so we think that (hopefully) this might be part of the process of getting furloughed employees ready to go back to work. Hopefully, this is part of the procedure aimed at making sure that (furloughed employees) are fit enough to return to work.
If you read this, remember us in your prayers. Resources are getting thin. Patience is getting weak. Morale is failing. We're all sick of driving a car with no air conditioning, and almost no muffler. My son's best friend's mother called today from out East to say she has cancer, and her son is missing my son, and I wish I had the money to just drive my son out to visit them. But we can't. My husband is applying for a job with our local city in the maintenance department. If I didn't have chronic severe migraine headaches, I would take a night job. Fingers crossed. Maybe he'll get called back this year.
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