Ramblings Of The Unemployed and Over 79

 

I had worked in the same job for 18 years.  Some people came and went.  Some circumstances changed.  However, it was basically doing the same job at the same place the same way for 18 years.  It's odd how a job can come to define and outline the parameters of your happiness/unhappiness.  For most people, you sort of fall into whatever it is that you do.  A few years pass, and you become whatever your title is at that job.  "Greg?  He's a TV guy."  At no point did I lay out a plan when I was 19 years old that said, "With some luck, when I'm in my fifties I can sell weather sponsorships in the 4p news to a window company for a dysfunctional TV station in Cleveland."  You just sort of get there somehow.

The problem with these jobs is that once you get trapped into a life you have constructed where you need a minimum of X dollars a month to make sure that the people from Mastercard don't come to your house and beat you with sticks, you become trapped.  Now you are stuck in a microcosm where the 10-15 people of your department is your entire world.  You figure you've got 65 hours a week tied up into that alternate reality with a 830a-530p Monday though Friday plus commutes and prep time for going in to your workplace.  If you sleep 8 hours a night, that gives you 15 free hours during the week and 32 hours on the weekend for 47 hours of your time.  You're looking at 60% of your life defined by your work environment.  More than half of your life is spent with a collection of people and a social strata in which you have very little control.  

Every workplace I have ever been has that lie they perpetuate about being "like a family".  I would agree to that if "like a family" you meant having an emotionally abusive mother, pathologically lying father, promiscuous sister, brother on the spectrum and an uncle with anger management issues, but I'm not sure if that's what they meant.  The thing is though you spend so much time there that it all slowly becomes normal.  People that might be clinically found to be sociopaths are directly impacting your quality of life and it just is the way that it is. They are your leader because they randomly got a job and you accept being the submissive.  When you think about some of the people you have had to maintain your composure around when they lie to your face because they are an "assistant regional manager" and you are a lowly "associate leadership specialist", it's crazy.  Yet, we all have agreed to operate under this social contract.  I've had people managing me that I wouldn't put in charge to go get a pizza if I handed them a $20 and a map to the pizza place, yet I tried to nod my head thoughtfully when they drone on about the most harebrained self-serving idea I've ever heard.  "Sounds good Bob."  You ever work at a place with a "seagull manager"?  That's one that flies in, shits all over the place and then flies away.  

I haven't been to my old job in a couple months now.  It's amazing how little I think about it.  I worked with people that had their hair fall out and developed stomach ulcers because of the low rent Court of Versailles that was that work environment.  There were people there that think a slightly modified newscast will save their doomed industry and I haven't even turned that channel on in 2025.  All these jobs are like that.  You can't see the forest because of the trees.  When you are freaking the fuck out at your job, please remember this.  No one cares.  Whatever you are doing, it probably doesn't matter.  The boss that is bullying you?  They are getting dominated by their spouse at home and take it out on you.  That all powerful regional manager that comes in quarterly to "shake it up"?  They are referred to by their neighbor as "that dipshit next door" when they fuck up garbage day again.  These people that assume outsized importance in our lives are little people doing little things that don't matter.  Forget about them.  The job will continue when you leave but more importantly, you'll continue after you leave the job.

The great news is I am now able to focus on the only three things that matter as we approach Spring 2025.  Wine exams, the new Whiskey Daredevils record, and MLB baseball win totals.  As I have discussed, I have taken a position on the White Sox.  I do feel a need to be connected to the local Guardians franchise.  Last year on my birthday I received a custom Guardians jersey from Krusty.  The number was 79.  The name on the back was "Over".  Yes, I had bet on the Guardians to win more than 79 games last year, an easy winner.  With the Guardians win total sitting at 82.5 this season, that makes the shirt null and void.  Well, until I realized I could just shift the win total down to 79 and bet the over at -165!  Suddenly I'm wearing my Guardians jersey again! 

I'll be honest with you.  I don't know that much about the Guardians.  They have a couple good hitters, some OK starters and last year an amazing bullpen.  Typically bullpens have great variance, and I think Clase is going to return to Earth which will cost them some games.  The rotation has a bunch of versions of "If he gets healthy" and "if he can keep progressing" guys, which is a great concern.  But, this is what I think of as "A Team Of Guys".  It's a collection of a bunch of OK to pretty good players.  Those are the teams that tend to finish around .500.  Are they going to win the World Series?  Absolutely not.  Are they good enough to win half the time?  I think so.  We're not looking for much here.  I can win with an 80-82 record.  Why not?  Let's get to 80 wins.  For my shirt.  Guardians Over 79 wins -165.