Hardin, David A. Dah., GySgt

It is the year 2020 now, and our nation is in the grips of fear from the fear-mongering MainStreamMedia over this COVID-19 virus. It has a fatality rate of less than 1 %, but they make out like Billions will die if we dont listen to them and allow our economy to tank. IMHO this is just another attempt to try to take down our current president who is doing a great job in spite of the demon rats.

Their attempt to impeach him failed and oh yeah, just by coincidence the next day we hear of this virus. 

Then comes the protests and violence that resulted from the accidental death of a man arrested for passing counterfit money. When he resisted the police did in fact used much more force than was necessary, causing his death. The press made out like the police had planned this to happen before any of it occured. Sorry, not buying that. It has resulted in much destruction of private property, much violence, more deaths, calls to abolish all police forces, assassination of police all over the nation and much unrest. I pray that it will be brought into control soon, lest we see a new civil war begin.

There is a rhyme that you hear from time to time in the Corps that  goes like this:

     I don't drive this train.
     I don't even ring the bell.
     But just let it go off the track,
     And see who catches hell!

Well, now I DO drive the train. I DO ring the bell, and I get to blow the whistle as well.
But it never jumped off of the tracks, so I didn't catch no hell.

In the summer of 2018, I began working part time for the city of Kannapolis. I went into training to become a train driver and a carousel operator. Driving the train was a blast.

I also got to operate the Double Decker Carousel. The carousel was a piece of cake. Take the tickets, make sure everyone is seated and ready, press the button, wait for it to stop.

I found out that the train made my back hurt more if it was a full load. Then this spring I had knee replacement surgery and have not gone back yet because it is not right yet. Maybe soon.

I began working at Walmart again (I was at the MHC, NC store in '97) in October 2013 until September 2014 at Wal-Mart of Kannapolis as an Assembler. I assembled bicycles, displays, grills, and any furniture that customers wanted assembled. I enjoyed that part of the job.

I was also required to unload trucks and do whatever anybody else wanted me to do. I did all of this with enthusiasm and professionalism, even though I was only being paid thirty cents above the minimum wage.

As a result of my dedication and steadfastness, I was rewarded with my annual evaluation that was fit for an eighteen-year-old who had just entered the work force for the first time in his life. What an insult! The supervisor who evaluated me was a month late in accomplishing his task and I was lumped in with those who did their work with a lackadaisical don't-care-if-I-do-or-not attitude. To make it even worse, he would not "review" the eval with me, but put that off on another assistant manager, whom technically I did not work for. At the end of the review, she asked if I had any questions. I told her that if I did, she could not answer them since she had not written the eval, to which she agreed.

Then, two days later, I had my butt chewed out publicly by the store manager because of asking a question. A question that I had already asked of two assistant managers and received no answer. He finished his little display with what I have to assume was his standard line, "If you want to discuss this anymore, we can go to my office."
I finished digging my way into my work area (that was the question I had, why do I have to do this every day I work?) and sat there and thought over what had just occurred. The longer I thought, the angrier I became. So, I went to his office to discuss this more, but he was not there. I looked all over the store and did not find him. I returned to my area.
After stewing for a while longer, I went to find him again. This time I was successful. We went to his office. Without a word to me he began doing something on his computer. After several minutes, he said, "Let"s go to the assistant manager"s office. My computer doesn"t work."

We go there and he finds an open computer and again begins doing something on it. I can see this time that he is going through the employee list looking for my name. I had my nametag on, but I had purposely turned it over, so my name did not show. He would not ask my name or ask me to turn it over. He finally found my name. It was the very last one on the list.

He began to type my information onto a form. Then he said, ""ll pay you for four hours because you showed up."

This is when I realized he was about to fire me for asking a question. When I questioned him about that, he tried to say that I did not ask a question but just started bitching at him. Since an assistant manager was present, I asked that she be part of this discussion.
Before she arrived, I explained to the manager that I was not like 90 per cent of the people that worked at Walmart. They needed this job to put food on their table, pay bills, put gas in their car, and so forth. I DID NOT! I explained to him that I woke up every morning and made more money than most of them, maybe even including him. I taunted him even more by asking him if he knew what I did with my Walmart pay. He threw up his hands and said, "What?" I said whatever I wanted to do with it. If I wanted, I could go down the road and throw it out the window. I did not NEED this money, I worked here for the sheer enjoyment of my job.

She came and verified my story and became a mediator between the Store Manager and myself. We agreed that I would go back to work and do my thing. By the way, the question that I asked was never answered! I went home and had the next several days off. The more I thought about it the madder I got. I went in on my last day off and removed all my personal belongings from my work area. Then I went shopping with my discount card for the last time. After taking my purchases to my car, I went to admin and turned in my discount cards, my vest, and my nametag. I told the young lady there I would no longer need them. The manager here had stolen my enjoyment of my job, and it could not be replaced by anyone. I turned in my stuff and walked away from that lucrative position. Not one regret! I left Walmart because of the inept ability of the management. His bottom line was profit margin.

As a note of satisfaction, a month after I quit there, the manager was "transferred' to another store. I was told by a 15-year-old employee of Walmart that the store he went to was worse than being fired. It was a store located in a big city in a low socio-economic area that had a history of not making a profit. Yep, I had to smile a lot!

I recently worked as a member of a team that helps the fleet keep a fantastic elder statesman of an aircraft performing its mission 40 plus years into it's 20 year life cycle. I guess I was retired before the aircraft did! 
 

I worked from October 2012 through February 2013 at Turnkey Technologies, inc. We manufacture robotic welders used in the truck manufacturing industry and medical industries. Laser, thermal and fusion welders. It was a very interesting job. I learned new stuff almost every day. I was hired as a part-time temporary position to help them get caught up. I did, they are. A really great group of people to work with.
 

 

"NEVER trust a helicopter under 30!

On a sadder note, my marriage of 38 years and 4 months began it final throes of death in September when my wife said she was done. We have separated, even tho we still have the same address. I live in the "Guest House" out back for now. We would have been celebrating 39 years in a little over two weeks. She can celebrate being rid of me, I will mourn the passing of what could have been. I am doing fine tho, I have friends that keep a watch on me, and I have a dog to keep me company.

But now, on the brighter side of life, the marriage is over, divorce is final on Oct 4, 2016 at 4:55 p.m., but who is counting?

Since then, I have found a wonderful woman of God to accompany me the final leg of my journey of this life. She is great!

We have been happily married now for over five years!