Thankful Thursday ~ Family, Cobbler, And An Old Dog Learning New Tricks

 

 

 

 Time for more joy and smiles!

This week has me thankful for:

 

Going on walks with Chuck

Pizza for dinner

Hanging out with Allie

Small upgrades on the house

Learning new things at work

Blackberry cobbler

Fresh cut grass 

Family coming together to help family

Our jobs and finances

My Bible - the Written Word

The Lord - the Living Word

 

Have a great start to your weekend!

She Might Cry Tonight But The Change Will Be Good

Beth works at Little Caesars two evenings a week. She folds boxes, sometimes 300-400 in a three hour span. She loves her job and the people she works with. The problem though, is that her job is about 45 minutes from our house. And that's on a good day.

There is usually SO much traffic, it's known as a bottleneck here in Seattle. When people hear you have to take that route to get somewhere, you'll hear moans and groans. It's a long, grueling trip and no one likes it.

Well, Beth has been taking that trip (riding the DART bus each way) for more than 2 years. Sometimes she's on the bus for 2 and a half hours each way which means she's gone from the house for sometimes 8 hours... for a 3 hour shift.

And the poor DART drivers! One night they dropped her off at home at 10:20! I asked the driver if he was headed home and he still had one more person to drop off! It makes for a long day for everyone.

Beth's job coach has been searching for a store closer to our home that would hire her to do the same job. Some stores are franchises and they don't have a position of 'box folder'; others don't have the hours to spare.

But today she found a store willing and able to take Beth! The same woman owns both stores, the one Beth is at now and the one she'll be going to and she was willing to hire her at this new place! She heard how beneficial Beth was and what great job she did, so she was willing to let her switch!

And... the new store is only about 15 minutes from our house. I'm so relieved.

I told Beth about it this morning over breakfast and she was sad at first. I could see her starting to tear up, but the more we talked about it, the more excited she got! She met this new manager a few weeks ago and when I told her K would be her new boss, she smiled and her eyes lit up.

She ended up making a card for everyone at the store tonight, then I printed off a picture of her in her uniform and we put it on the front. She wrote a beautiful sentiment inside and I expect she might cry as she leaves work for the last time.

But I know she's gonna love this new place. We plan to take her by the store tomorrow so she can see where it is and it won't be a big shock to her come next weekend. It's such a relief knowing she won't be so far away and she won't have to spend 6 hours on the bus!

 

"Stack of Boxes"

Beth sent me this text last week: I DID IT FIVE STACK OF BOXES MOTHERA

Me: Beth you are amazing!

Beth: YES I AM

This girl works at Little Caesars and she works hard! She folds pizza boxes, 3 hours a night, two nights a week.

The boxes come flat, wrapped in plastic in groups of 50. She moves each group from one counter to another, unwraps them, folds them and puts a sticker on each box. The stacks get so high, she needs help placing them on the top.

That's 250 boxes. In 3 hours. She's a pizza box ninja!!

 

 

A Reason to Celebrate

This weekend was pretty special for us because it was the 1 year anniversary of Beth working at Little Caesars! It's the longest she's ever held a job.

Some jobs were too difficult for her to do, like cleaning the dining area at a McDonalds. I think she could have done it, but this was quite a few years ago and the only reason she wanted to work there was because she got to have french fries while on break. So that job didn't last long. :)

When she worked for Auntie Annes she had to stand in one place for over an hour and ask people if they wanted samples. She struggled to stand that long - without being able to move very much - and she was so shy it was hard for her to speak loud enough for people to hear her.

She did laundry at a group home for a while and did really well, but the manager began treating her unfairly, then wouldn't show up for meetings that she scheduled with me and the job coach. The last straw came when she accused Beth of taking a mop out of a bucket that was in a room Beth didn't even know existed. (Beth would go into the home, go to the laundry room and do laundry for a few hours. Why did the manager think she would go into a different room and take a mop?) That's when the job coach and I agreed to submit Beth's resignation.

But Little Caesars has been A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! They love Beth, they stick up for her, they fight for her, they love having her there. Boy that does my heart good.

Beth decided she wanted to make some cooking to take to everyone at work. She said everyone loved them! I asked her job coach if her coworkers new it was her 1 year anniversary and she said that when Beth got there, 'C' announced to the crew and they all cheered and clapped! I just know Beth was beaming.

 

 

 

 

Then, at the last minute, we decided to drive up and surprise her! It's a 30 minute drive so we went over and picked up Sharaya and Allie and headed north. We walked in and one of the workers came over and asked if he could help up. When I told him we were Beth's family, he went to the back to get her. We could see her manager telling her it was okay, she could come say Hi and when she came out, there was a huge smile on her face and she yelled, "Bobbin!!" (That's her nickname for Sharaya, who was taking her picture.) :) Allie ran up and gave her a hug, it was awesome!

 

 

I'm SO thankful she has found a job that she likes and gets to work with people who like her and treat her well. One thing we noticed while we were there; the place was packed. So many customers, it was always full. And the crew was movin'! They were hustling and yelling orders and packing... there were probably 8 or 9 of them. And they were all guys. Beth was the only girl.

 

No WONDER she likes working there so much! :)