So, after a little over a year, I am down 100 pounds from where I started, and my life is back.....again. UGH!
I was told about a month ago that my school bus was now considered a van, and that they could bring in anyone off the street to drive it with little or no skills, and a driver's license. Because of that re-assessment, they lowered my wage below that of a lowly school bus driver. This made it almost impossible for me to continue driving and still survive.
Now, on Monday of this week, my boss called me and asked me if I would want to drive a "real" school bus, because one of the regular drivers had knee surgery and couldn't continue.
We don't get paid for learning a new route, or taking the bus out for a test run. We don't get paid for a lot of things like supplying our own cleaning supplies, or a trash can for the bus. We also don't get paid for time to and from home to work, or for fueling up the bus on our own time. But, it's a great job and it all balances out in the end. There are many days where we get to go home early and they pay us full anyway. We also get lots of extra "gifts". The one I don't participate in anymore is that they take us out to lunch or breakfast. I have a series of sweatshirts, umbrellas, chairs, coats, hats, and other do dads from the company.
Are you following so far, or did I just ramble right off the subject? And what does all this have to do with weigh loss surgery?
So, they offered me the school bus run and I took it.
I took the knee surgery driver out on Tuesday to show her where the van goes. It's a long drive and covers a large area, so we took the van she is going to drive. My van...the one that I put 30,000+ miles on the past two years. It was fun.
Yesterday, I drove my new 84 passenger bus on a fun cruise to see how it fit through the back country roads of Conestoga Valley. Past all the road apples, and buggies, Amish farms, etc.
I hammered out some of the kinks in the route, and came home to write it all down in a turn by turn form to follow when I started this coming Monday.
This morning, I went out again to work on a new elementary run that they changed last night. It sometimes gets confusing. They did the change because one of the other buses was out of position and needed more time to get to their next destination. So they swapped me. It worked out better for me because my new ending point was closer to the garage, allowing me to get home sooner than before.
Still there?
So this morning I was finishing up the turn by turn and getting ready to hard copy it, when they called to offer me another run where I get to take the bus home with me.
Now, after all this, I am back to where I started at the beginning of the summer. I have a full schedule on a "real" bus that I can take home with me. This saves me 50+ miles a day of driving my car, and allows me more time to goof off, I mean, work at losing weight.
They also benefit because I have a turn by turn that I will send them that will save the new driver of the big bus from having to do the route.
I am also covering a new area this year, so I will be happy to have something fresh.
I think if this had happened before my surgery, I would have jumped off a bridge from stress.
For now, it's just another day I don't have to be locked up in a cubicle.
I get paid full, am outside, and having fun driving kids around in the country.
Life is Good!
I was told about a month ago that my school bus was now considered a van, and that they could bring in anyone off the street to drive it with little or no skills, and a driver's license. Because of that re-assessment, they lowered my wage below that of a lowly school bus driver. This made it almost impossible for me to continue driving and still survive.
Now, on Monday of this week, my boss called me and asked me if I would want to drive a "real" school bus, because one of the regular drivers had knee surgery and couldn't continue.
We don't get paid for learning a new route, or taking the bus out for a test run. We don't get paid for a lot of things like supplying our own cleaning supplies, or a trash can for the bus. We also don't get paid for time to and from home to work, or for fueling up the bus on our own time. But, it's a great job and it all balances out in the end. There are many days where we get to go home early and they pay us full anyway. We also get lots of extra "gifts". The one I don't participate in anymore is that they take us out to lunch or breakfast. I have a series of sweatshirts, umbrellas, chairs, coats, hats, and other do dads from the company.
Are you following so far, or did I just ramble right off the subject? And what does all this have to do with weigh loss surgery?
So, they offered me the school bus run and I took it.
I took the knee surgery driver out on Tuesday to show her where the van goes. It's a long drive and covers a large area, so we took the van she is going to drive. My van...the one that I put 30,000+ miles on the past two years. It was fun.
Yesterday, I drove my new 84 passenger bus on a fun cruise to see how it fit through the back country roads of Conestoga Valley. Past all the road apples, and buggies, Amish farms, etc.
I hammered out some of the kinks in the route, and came home to write it all down in a turn by turn form to follow when I started this coming Monday.
This morning, I went out again to work on a new elementary run that they changed last night. It sometimes gets confusing. They did the change because one of the other buses was out of position and needed more time to get to their next destination. So they swapped me. It worked out better for me because my new ending point was closer to the garage, allowing me to get home sooner than before.
Still there?
So this morning I was finishing up the turn by turn and getting ready to hard copy it, when they called to offer me another run where I get to take the bus home with me.
Now, after all this, I am back to where I started at the beginning of the summer. I have a full schedule on a "real" bus that I can take home with me. This saves me 50+ miles a day of driving my car, and allows me more time to goof off, I mean, work at losing weight.
They also benefit because I have a turn by turn that I will send them that will save the new driver of the big bus from having to do the route.
I am also covering a new area this year, so I will be happy to have something fresh.
I think if this had happened before my surgery, I would have jumped off a bridge from stress.
For now, it's just another day I don't have to be locked up in a cubicle.
I get paid full, am outside, and having fun driving kids around in the country.
Life is Good!
