Two Week Vacation Already?

Two week vacation already? I joke of course. I didn't go in to work Monday, the 23rd. They hadn't heard back from Alameda, California or New Hampshire.

"You mean Nebraska, right?" I asked her. It started with the same letter so I cut her some slack. "And that Alameda thing was a restraining order, not some arrest."  I sure didn't want to expose that.

Let's make a list:

• I'm making $12.50/hour eventually
• I'm a Teamster, Local 120, but it's still shitty starting pay?
• My really bad benefits don't kick in for 90 days? 
• I had to disclose my age before I even came in for an interview?
• I had to disclose my mental condition even before I drove a bus
• I had to stop Trazodone cold turkey
• I had the worst shift ever for somebody stopping Trazodone cold turkey
• I now had to disclose a restraining order in 2005, or was it 2004?
• I don't know where that woman is so if I have to contact her I'm S.O.L. (shit outa luck) 
• And now I'm also on some checklist in New Hampshire?
• I'm making $12.50/HOUR EVENTUALLY!

I tried to call her yesterday but settled for a voice mail. In it I said we'd have to discuss me washing buses or something until the criminal background check panned out, I'm innocent. 

At about 3:15, (my shift would have started at 1:30), I got a call. The earliest they'd maybe have something back from New Hampshire would be about July 7th. 

WTF?!?

"I never lived there," I told her.

Bottom line? There's nothing First Transit is able to do and I'm not going to do much about it either. 

Making the best of a bad situation, I decided to take advantage of my time off by attending an event at my favorite venue, the Lake Harriet Band Shell. CLICK HERE for article on the event.

The band shell seats 800 but they're giving away 2,000 tickets. Doors open at 8:30. How early will I go? Do I want a seat? What else do I have to do?

On the other hand, the forecast? Not so sunny. It'll be like going to a rainy Woodstock but different.

I'm planning on getting there early, as in 6:30. Why not? The line for tickets that were being handed out yesterday at noon started forming at 4 am. That's early. However, this time there are serious restrictions on what we can bring. No packs, liquids, etc. It'll be like loaves and fishes, i.e. something will just be provided. After all, it is Minnesota nice, right?