Bummed

 Gift card boss love bombs me, but she’s professional about it. I was told if I did this whole stint with this couple and the split shifts until Thursday evening, I’d get a $5 per hour differential and a $75 gift card. The last three gift cards I earned, I requested Walmart. So she asked me what about this time. Then she bumped it to $100. 

I’m fundamentally down in the dumps about being a caregiver again in my life, but she’s a good person to work for. And I *can* set boundaries with her. The stuff I was raised with, how I would get fired and replaced immediately if I made requests of any kind or asked for something is all untrue. 

Do you know what else is untrue? That I can’t be a writer. I can be a writer!  I’m checking out writing classes to take and joined some online communities, but no posting yet. And as much as being a caregiver sucks, one benefit is that there is some down time. There’s no downtime with inventory- we just scan everything in the store and then leave. Caregiving tasks are a lot harder than doing inventory, but unlike inventory, there is down time. The amount of down time depends on the client. So I can have my little notebook with five skipped lines between each sentence and write one or two lines at a time while looking up for a few minutes at the clients, get them things, etc. 

I had it with me today. I told the male client a little about what I want to write. I simply said I worked with abused kids in the past, and I want to write about it. They were very curious. Then as I was about to leave, I put it in my bag. I commented something like, “I shouldn’t leave this here- but I know if I did, you wouldn’t read it.”  The old man paused for a second and said, “Hell yeah I’d read it!”  

This is an easy job if the client easy and miserable if the client is difficult. These people are a piece of cake. Three more days until my $100 gift card. Regardless of what’s easier or harder, I do miss going all over the place to do inventory. One thing my writing has done is made me realize JUST HOW MUCH I’ve been through working with kids and senior citizens. I’ve been through a lot, and it was just nice to have an easy job with nice checks. 

But what can you do