My life goes from "wow, things are going pretty good" to "I bet that road kill is enjoying life more than I am right now".

Argh! Where to begin.. Lets take the important stuff first. When I moved into this place that Im living in right now, I was able to work any hours any time. Was delivering pizza, so the money was decent, I just didnt have that much of a social life because I was working constantly.. no biggie. I mean Ive got my own place, granted its small and ragged.. but its mine. School semester starts. Have to change jobs, so I get a job at Home Depot, not making as much money if you include tips, but the best im probably going to get thats willing to work around a school schedule. (was trying to get away from tips to a more stable source of income)Work, get my first check.. "hey, thats not to bad, the next one should be about X amount.. this is great!"

Well, an unexpected bill comes in about a week before I was planning on it hitting. So pay that, "damn, money is super tight this week, oh well I get my paycheck in a week..." Woohoo, paycheck is no where near what I was expecting, turns out taxes werent taken out of the first one by accident, no big deal as the taxes from the rest of my checks will cover it. So that problem was corrected, but now I see what my paychecks are really going to be. In summary, I have a choice.. Work more hours (40+ over night a week) and give up school OR stay with school, and move back in with my dad for another year.. "Hi Dad, good bye cherished effiency apartment".

Now, since I was upset over coming to the realization of losing my place to live, life decided to help me out and take my mind off of it. Im hungry last night (was up half the night studying, the other half arguing.. more on that in a second) so I jump in my car to get the finest of meals for any broke man. 3 bean burritos and a large pepsi from Taco Hell.. Open the car door "damn, it seems dark in there.." Woohoo car wont start!! The expense of a new battery really helps with the whole losing the place to live thing..

But lets back track a little. As i said, I work at Home Depot. Late last week, my manager comes to me with a great offer, 40 hours a week, off on weekends, small raise. The catch: its working over night. Going back to the whole school thing, I reluctantly decline his offer. He accepts my rejection by removing me from his department completely to a new deptartment. So I go and talk to the head of that department (hardware) and he says that I start on Monday. So I show up on Monday night, walk over to hardware after clocking in, "hrmm.. nobody is around, they must be helping customers.." 10 mins, 15 mins, 20, 30, 45 mins still nobody there. Finally I see someone that is putting up some merchandise. I go to her and ask if she works in hardware, and if so, could she show me how to do stuff, where stuff is located, etc.. considering Ive never worked over there at all. Her reply? "Nope, I get off in 10 mins, here put this merchandise back on the shelf" After a string of colorful words describing her and her mother goes off in my head, I calmly ask who is here to help me close tonight? "Nobody, your it.." Yes ladies and gents, my first night in that department, and I dont even have so much as a part time cashier to show me how to do anything or how to answer any questions...

Well after the wonderful night of work, I go to school the next day to find out about a test that I thought was a week away is in actuality a day away. Cram time.. I come home to start studying, "damn whats that smell?" Ahh they are refinishing the floors next door (I live in a duplex) and didnt leave any windows open for it to ventilate, thankfully all of the fumes are coming into my house. People, you dont know pleasure until you try to sleep after cramming for a test in a house that reaks of polyurathaine. The headache you have when you wake up (along with all of the bugs in your room from sleeping with a window open) makes taking a test so much more enjoyable. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels they are enjoying life to much right now..

But alas, I do have my girlfriend to go to about all of this right? Wait a sec.. Shes acting all weird. Beautiful, on top of all of this, a week of arguing with her because she picks this week to be "distant queen" with a motto of "There's nothing wrong, why dont you trust me?" (after asking again a few days later) Because having a girlfriend that you get to talk to once a night for less than an hour and see every other week is normal behavior. If I wanted a relationship like that, I would have found someone on the opposite coast from the net!! But Im sure many in-town long distance relationships work all the time..

Hayel yeah, its friday! Cant wait to see what the rest of the week brings. At this point if it gets any worse, running with a pair of rusty scissors wouldnt be considered dangerous I swear..

dude...that's ass

Home depot is such a crappy employer. I did a three month stint there. I worked in plumbing, I was told do to my experience just take care of the customers, They showed me where everything was put a few returns away so i knew the aisles, but I answered pretty much any question, I swear I helped guys set up irrigation for there yards, redid there plumbing. Anything i could do and they asked me to help I taught them and they bought everything I recomended.

So 3 months come in time for your review, My manager comes in says deuce, your only one step from being fired, You dont do any stocking, you've taken days off during the weekend when you were scheduled (oh yeah when I was hired, I got this job as a supliment income, I told them 4 hours every weeknight no weekends _unless_ it was a emergency, well 1 emergency came up and then i was working every weekend so I didnt have a day off for a month) I said working weekends was not in my hiring agreement, they said this is retail you cant say when you want to work. I said well i'm the one that helps all the customers, he said yeah thats why you havent been hired. I finished out my shift after that. Came in the next day, found the manager (who was like that highschool guy that never grew up and wantin to be the cool guy and if you were cool with him you got away with murder) So him and his buddys were standing just talking. With customers 10 feet away just scratching there heads trying to figure out what and hwere they need to buy stuff, pulled him aside said I quit, pulled the gm in he said why do you quit, Said you violated my hiring by changing my hours and I cant work that time, as well as a stupid review by your manager here, So they asked me if this is i'm quiting in 2 weeks or quiting now, I said you treated me horribly i'm leaving now. They paid my timecard out in cash and i left that hell hole.

ARRRGH

sounds like when I was working as a cashier in Shop-Rite when I was in college - I said weekdays only, 6 hours max daily scheduled for after-class time, no weekends when I got hired.

I got scheduled for a Saturday almost immediately - told the manager I had told her that I took the job because they agreed to no weekends. Didn't get scheduled for another Saturday or Sunday which was cool.

Exams time coming up - tell the manager that I will not be able to work from Day V to Day Z, at such and such hours, in writing. What happens? I get scheduled for that entire week, exactly the hours I wrote that I could NOT work. Had to go back and tell them that they were wrong.

I get myself a summer temp job paying $10.78 so I tell the $5.25 paying Shop-Rite that I was giving my 2 week notice, in writing again. Not only do they schedule me fot the day AFTER I said was my last day, it was a ... SATURDAY.

Then they held my paycheck until I turned in every last uniform shirt they'd made me buy.

wait you had to buy the uniforms...but they took them up?

yeah, was like $6 per shirt, and they still wanted them back afterwards.

From my own view. Having your own place is great. It is nice, and it is refreshing along with fulfilling.

But you can't beat the economic sense of living with your parents while going to school. You might not be as cool as the next guy and you may get some funny looks from women, but again economically it is one of the most sound choices you can make.

I'm almost certainly going to school at Lehigh University, which is about a half hour from where I live. After the mandatory underclassmen campus living, I'm going right back home for the duration! Heck, people I know who go to community college have a 45-minute commute--this one would be 30!