The sweet and the sour

 

Last December, my employer decided to raise the starting minimum wage in order to be 'more competitive' and furthermore, give all of us an incentive to stay in that horrible environment. While everyone else was elated by the news, I had my trepidations. Why? Because, folks, I have definitely 'been around the block a few times' as the saying goes and I knew that we employees ("associates" as they refer to all of us) were going to pay the piper for it. Not only have we been pushed to work 10 hours a week overtime for a year now, but now we were informed that we are going to be forced to work mandatory Saturday's until the end of the year! The only time we can be 'excused' from it is if we work three Saturday's to get one off, OR we waste two PTO (paid time off)  days - Friday and Monday. My response to this BS is they can KEEP their pay raise - I want my life back. Period.

I have to be honest, this job has been THE WORST thing for my heath both medically and mentally. The initial reason I made an appointment with my new physician, Dr. Guiles, was because of the fact that my blood pressure was so high. Why do I blame my job for this? Well, besides the terrible stress of working there, my body has gotten so screwed up working second shift hours that I actually gained 50 (Yes, I said 50!) pounds in the two and a half years I have been employed there. 

As per my doctor's instructions, I have been keeping track of my blood pressure on a daily basis. It is still very high - 177 over 107. However, I have been taking the Collagen with Peptides for a week now (one scoop in my juice or tea twice a day) and it is too soon to really notice much of a difference (the Peptides are suppose to help bring my levels down). But, because Collagen is good for arthritic joints, I am beginning to feel a lot less pain in my bad knee. Happy about that. 😀

For example, money can not buy friendship. My case in point, the day after my birthday, my co-worker and friend, "Sweet Rosa" as I have nick-named her, surprised me at work with this beautiful and very thoughtful gift ... A Tree of Life gemstone necklace with rose gold.

 

I must add that the ONLY good thing that had come from working at this godforsaken job are the few good folks I have met! And I do not regret that.