Zenfish'n

Man...I forgot what its like to come home from work and not be angry. My new position, so far is relatively stress free. I'd forgotten what its like to be treated as an adult. Rears, formerly Sucks ...aka...Sears. is gone. My dealings with them officially ended today.(well at least until I cash the rollover cheques, if those bounce Rears will be dealing with the Government, not just me.) I received the 401k funds in the mail and all I have to do is give them to the bank and Sears is gone.

I lost my Unemployment hearing, I could pursue one more appeal, but I would rather have the experience of working for Rears far behind me. Anyone out there contemplating working for Rears, give yourself a shake and RUN in any other direction. It may have been a good company at one time, but that was long ago and many CEO's ago.

My curreent position seems to have everything I need right now. A relaxed atmosphere,very little pressure,& steady, normal hours. They understand that you work to live, not the other way around. I am even out of the major traffic rushes of the day.It may noy be as close, but it seems to be an all round better gig. Here's hoping.

For some time now I have been working on an idea. When I grew up, our English classes often covered fables and parables. These tales were taught to show a valuable moral that we all should adhere to. As I look around in this day and age...with the corruption of our political systems. The people that run corporations that care more about the money than their customers or employees or anything else for that matter. It seems these people ignored the fables and proceeded to create their own self centered purposes. For these misguided elite, I've decided to write what I am calling Immorals. They had to learn this attitude somewhere, maybe this will shame them. I doubt it but one can always hope.

The is the first in the series, I hope you like them. More importantly, I hope they disturb you enough to take action. Any likeness to any person living or dead is purely coincidental and is strictly the action of your conscience.

IMMORALS

Hatching A Plan

Once in a time not to far away or long ago... in a place not unlike here...there lived a sly old fox named Bushie. Bushie was artful at his craft. Bushie was a thief. He was the best chicken thief that ever plagued a farmer. All the other foxes thought he was just swell. Whatever he did was just okay with them.

Not far from Bushie's warren was the Freeman farm. Now in the farm there was, of course a chicken coop. The coop was protected by an hornery old rooster named Hiss. Not much pleased Huss. He ruled his hen house with an iron claw. Nobody would speak up against Hiss, he may have been old, but he had a troop of bloodthirsty capons that would do his every bidding.

Now Bushie loved eggs. He loved everything about them. The white the yolk, even the shell seemed to tickle his palate. He sat up on a hill beside the farm and watched. He watched as the hounds patrolled the yard. He watched as the capons made their patrols. He saw the farmer shooting at some gophers.He watched the cows, the pigs, the ducks...all to docile to be a threat. A smile perched uon his lips as he developed his plan.

Bushie went to see his acquaitance Badger. Bushie and Badger struck a deal. He then went to see his friend Blaine, the chicken hawk. They too, struck a deal. Bushie was happy. He then went to find crow. Nobody liked crow, he could not keep a secret. He would repeat whatever he heard, word for word. This was exactly what Bushie wanted though.

Old crow flew to the chicken coop just as Bushie had asked. Old crow sat on the wire and shouted down to Hiss.

" I bring a message from the foxes. They want your eggs. They see the farmer protecting you and unless you give then your eggs, they will attack you and take them."

Old Hiss began to shake. He trembled he was so angry.

" You tell the foxes we will send them all to hell if they venture into this farmyard."
With that crow flew back to Bushie and told him the response.

" Excellent" Bushie thought to himself.

Farmer Freeman and his family climbed into their pick up. Bushie watched as the luggage was placed in the back. He smiled as they drove off. He scurried off to send out the word. He then took his place on the hill over looking the farm. He could see everything from here. He would direct from here.

The chickens were gleefully picking up corn from the ground. A shadow passed overhead...then another...and another. The sky got a little darker, the air a little cooler. One chicken looked up, but it was too late.The talons snatched the meal by its neck and flew off. A cry went out. The capons rushed to the front only to see badgers to the left, foxes to the right. From above chicken hawks plucking out their prizes. Hiss ran under the henhouse leaving the others to their fate.

Crow sat on the farmhouse watching the carnage with dove. He looked over at dove to see a tear form in her eye. He knew what he had to do. He flew off to tell the others in the forest. They were horrified. They did not know how to help and they slunk away from the crow and hid in the forest.

Bushie looked on. The deed was done now. He made his way down to chicken coop and with his own paws he printed out success on the chicken coop. He thanked the chicken hawks, the badgers and of course the foxes for making it all possible. He made his way into the henhouse and began to gather the eggs. He propped his feet up when he was done and picked out the biggest one he could fine and sucked out the yolk. A smile curled up on his face and layed to rest.

and the immoral of the story...

A few people may crow, but if your big and strong enough...you can pretty much do what you want and no one will be able to do much about it.

Well its now official. I got my separation package today. They still haven't paid me for all the vacation time they owe me...but that I'm sure I can point out the advantage of being a law abiding corporate citizen. The job hunt begins. Well...the job hunt has been an ongoing thing ever since I began working there. Now I can work on it a little more in depth. I have finished with the resume updates and they are ready to go.

The cops have three cars on First avenue. Normally they pull in and park. These form a semi circle around the streets and pointing at the sidewalk. They are interviewing a group as I type. They usually don't block two lanes of traffic. It must be something big.

They assembled the big crane for the building across the way. The boom sits right out our window. I've noticed people crawling around on the roff of the building across the street.( beside the new construction) I think they are getting ready to tear this one down soon. There are still a couple of businesses running. I imaging their leasee is up at the end of this month.

A fire truck has pulled up beside the cops. Someone must be hurt. The fire dept. seems to respond faster than the paramedics. Although I do not see anyone down from here. Plenty of people are walking by on the sidewalk. It doesn't seem to hold there interest for very long. The firemen are walking back to there truck to put the medical equipment away. They have now walked back without the equipment, probably to finish their report. No one seemed to be arrested.

I quit my job today. The combinations of pressure at work and at home became to much. The final straw came when my immediate supervisor directly lied to me. He seemed to forget that I had worked in the building four times longer than he had. Still, he tried to pass off this one little untruth. I don't think he realizes what a pickle he will find himself in after December 25. My job was to process returns for a company that begins with and ends with "S". Who will from hence forth be known as "Sucks". Man, even the right amount of letters. I actually hope this one tries to sue me. I could use some of their money. The problem for them will be where to put all the merchandise that needs to be processed... now that they don't have a processor.

For those that do need to return merchandise and find themselves facing a "restocking fee"...fight it. Write your Governer, Senator, MP or MLA. It is an entirely bogus fee. The pennies it costs a company to process a return does not match the percentage they are charging for the return. It is simply another way that retail companies have been allowed to fraudulently get money for NOT living up to their warranty. Extended warranty...again we are allowing companies to be completely devoid of responsibility for the products they sell. Something has gone horribly wrong in North America. I can only hope that when a company tells you they will not honour a return...is that you stand up and say this is wrong. Write your consumers bureau, write the better business bureau, make your voice heard.

I can feel some of the strain lifting already.

We set up the tree yesterday. Its small, but fun. That time of year is here. As I may have mentioned I am an atheist. That does not mean I don't like the idea of Christmas. Not so much the religious angle...but the importance of friends and family to gather once a year. To celebrate each other. That is what's important. If it under the guise of a religious celebration...so be it. The gathering of friends, family and tribes has been a consistant theme all throughout human history. The day to day trials and tribulations are washed away by such events. They remind us of what we work so hard for all year long...those few moments when we can relax and share ourselves with each other. That time to enjoy the fruits of our labour and to appreciate those we love in our lives. There should be more time in the year to pursue these occasions.

The work front goes reasonably well. I've taken us from four months behind to about seven weeks behind. Not bad for a months work. I probably could have taken it further if I did not get interupted so often. Mind you a lot of those interuptions were for items that needed to be repaired in the store. The boss seems to have noticed I've been busy. Next week I will finally get a little bit of training. It'll be nice to find out what I've been doing wrong. I'm getting repairs back and technicians are starting to come in to repair stuff...so something must be working.

Tomorrow we do the Christmas shopping. I wasn't supposed to have it off, but sometimes these things happen. We don't normally leave it this late. ( we just mail things out too late) Normally we are done by June. With the exception of goodies ( normally Diletente), we try to keep that as fresh as possible. We're trying to correct that problem this year. Then what is Christmas without traditon?