What's wrong with you anyway? Depressed? Unable to stand the thrill of the exuberant NOW? Have you not figured out yet that pain and pleasure are indisinguishable if you really, really focus?
Joanna
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(Apologies, but this answer will go under the petro-thusians thread for reasons that will become obvious below...)
Nothing's wrong with me. I just finished the shortest job I ever had. Two weeks! Clean in, clean out. Here's the route I had the day before I quit. (For non-SF Bay listers. Look at a map and see the SF bay forms an H pattern with the bay bridge as the horizonal connector. This route traces and re-traces that H.)
Arrive from Berkeley to San Leandro location (off Marina) just before 8:00a to pick up loaner and take to customer, on Davis Street and pick-up his chair and bring back to shop before 9:00a. Check route sheet. First item is a new chair in the shop that needs a programmer which is in Hayward location. Official road route started at about 9:00a loaded truck from San Leandro (Marina Blvd I-880) heading out for a day of mobile wheelchair repair. En route get a cell phone call from HQ, about a battery charger problem in San Lorenzo, but I am heading north to the Bay Bridge, so have to tell HQ to reschedule. They sound pouty and dejected.
Off to SF, upper Pine St just before Divisidero. Arrive to deliver cushion, double parked in heavy traffic. Off to find Mission/17th Street ramp to 101 south heading toward So. SF and San Jose, off at Silver Blvd, under the freeway to Bayshore Blvd (near Daily City turn) for a social worker style confab with lady whose chair is broken, but her main problem is seating (late stage diabetes, looks like she is heading for a leg amputation). I suggest she get a doctor or PT to evaluate her seating. Take notes on bent footrest and other items.
Back on the road. This time back across the East Bay Bridge heading north to El Sobrante, Appian Way (a few exits south of the Martinez bridge). Easy call. Nice lady nothing wrong with her chair. Discuss problem with chair shifting around in a van. Show husband how to make blocks for rear wheels so chair doesn't rock while driving van.
Next, I head south to Richmond exiting Carlson to meet another lady. Theoretically I am there to repair her chair and according to route sheet, she needs motor brushes. Turns out the company has had her chair for a month and she is in a loaner and wants to know where the fuck her chair is and what is happening to it. I promise to track it down and call her.
Back on I-880 heading south, traffic stalls at Bay Bridge interchange, so I eat lunch (2:30p) in traffic and crawl southward to Hayward, Winton Ave to get a programmer to check first chair pick-up and new chair never checked. It takes almost an hour to get to Hayward and is now getting toward 4:00p. Meet quickly with HQ route supervisor to get some scheduled time to work on three chairs in shop and locate missing chair. Route supervisor says she can get me some time next Wednesday. This is Thursday. VP is sitting in on this confab, so I say okay. Get the programmer and head back up I-880 in rush hour for Marina Blvd exit. Stop at Radio Shack in mall (5:00p) to get some test leads and alligator clips. Arrive in SL shop to quickly check new chair can't find problem from programmer. Check next chair the one I picked up first, must be a motor problem. It's 5:45p the other tech-driver has only store key and wants to leave. I pack up and he closes the door behind me. I get home around 6:30p, having left in the morning at about 7:15a. Typical eleven and a half hour day, no lunch break, paid for eight hours. Roughly 65-75% of the time was consumed in traffic.
I am not sure but I suspect SF Bay Area has some of the worst traffic in the country. From my experience it is topped only by LA and Houston.
Spend a sleepless night debating about it. I was 0:5 chairs fixed and did my route almost perfectly. I did ask for a re-schedule on the San Lorenzo run, but managed six stops on a route that covered almost the entire East Bay corridor and SF. If I was in a shop I could have completely all the work by early afternoon.
Friday morning I arrive at SL store inform office manager of my home address and phone number so she can send the first and last check by mail. Get on I-880 head for Winton and HQ, meet with route supervisor and outline pending repairs and issues with notes, hand in cell phone, expired gas credit card, van keys, receipts for gas and miscellanea. Meet with hub manager in parking lot and shake hands good-bye. He refuses to accept my resignation! Says think about it and see me Monday. He is off with a tech from the hub to do my Friday route. It's 9:30a and they are late.
So, I am thinking about it. There is simply nothing like grabbling with the neoliberal capitalist beast of healthcare services to clear the mind and focus.
I am not depressed. I am exuberant...
CG