It can always be worse. Brain asked René…

What is Jim doing while you work for Satan?

As René answered, I am fortunate enough to be self employed with a full time job of maintaining the online endeavors of Agreda Communications. You see, the Tripawds Blogs Community has grown to consume most of our time. But while we do this out of passion and support for the more than 1,000 members, it really doesn’t make us any money to speak of. Hence the focus on running the endeavors.

Between attempts to tame the beast and battle spam blog registrations, I spend my day moderating forums, processing harness orders, developing content for promotional blogs, troubleshooting technical difficulties, managing member blogs, and playing host in our live Tripawds chat room. Oh, and I do this while playing Mr. Mom by keeping house and preparing meals, and feeding the beast.

But don’t get me wrong, Wyatt has come a long way and is actually showing signs he might actually show us some respect someday. And it could be a lot worse.

Instead of taking three long walks a day and sitting on my butt for hours on end staring at my Mac, I could be busting my ass like René, or worse yet dancing on some street corner hawking the liquidated assets of yet another discount furniture warehouse. Which I would gladly do if it came to that.

Though if it ever did come to that, I think I’d rather head back to our house and focus a little harder on these endeavors of ours. Talk to me come tax time.

Overheard in the LiveWorkDream rig recently:

“I’ve always told myself I would do whatever it takes to stay out of debt. Now I know I can.”

Or something like that. Nevertheless, I concur.

Let’s get one thing straight; I am not afraid of hard work. In past lives I’ve been a waitress, a housekeeper, a barista, and even worked in a data-entry sweat shop. When I was a kid I cleaned my neighbor’s house, washed cars and sold avocados in the neighborhood, just to make extra money.

So when I took this job at the factory of the Great Satan*, I knew the work was going to be hard. And it has. Still, I really don’t mind the fact that this job involves working Lucy-style (sans cute uniforms) on a conveyor belt line, moving huge bins of cheap plastic crap around with my arms and pallet jacks. Every day is a physical wipeout, but I still ride my bike to work to energize me in the morning, and burn off steam at night.

But what’s really pissing me off about this gig is the lousy way the workers get treated by the temp agency that runs the show for Satan (in fact, almost everyone who works at the factory is a temp; Satan outsources just about every job). We are talked down to, lied to, given no consideration or respect whatsoever. Everyone lives in fear of individual job production quotas, and management reminds you on the hour if you’re meeting them or not.

In the early 90s when jobs were scarce, I played “The Temp” in offices around San Francisco. Back then, I thought I was treated like crap. But this recession is so much worse, and it seems that with so many out of work people, temp agencies are exploiting the situation like never before. At least this one is. I can’t ever recall being treated with such disrespect by an employer.

I keep telling myself; stick it out, this gig is only temporary. I thank Dog I have the resources to move on after 12/23.

*About “the Great Satan” . . . apparently I signed a Non Disclosure Agreement that bans me from badmouthing this certain company. Well, I’m not sure if I signed or not, there were so many forms when I got hired, so to play it safe, from here on out my new boss is going to be known as The Great Satan.