This Must Be What Hell is Like.....Only Hotter

I love Tucson, I really do. There are so many more positives than negatives. While we are constantly getting bigger we still have very much a small town feel. Everyone knows everyone or at least knows someone who does. We have a great outdoors life: biking, hiking, camping. The list of positives is possibly endless.

Despite all the great things about Tucson the summer weather is brutal. It is so unbelievably hot that at times it is simply shocking. I was out running errands and came home looking like I'd been sitting in a sauna. In many ways, I guess I was. Despite being a native I just cannot handle this heat and in my old age I realize I just don't WANT to anymore.

In all seriousness I have begun encouraging my husband to pursue any out of state job opportunities, particularly in Washington, Oregon, or Colorado. He works for a company that has locations throughout the country so he could potentially be transferred anywhere. I never really thought we'd leave Tucson and we possibly never may but it has never been more of an option than it has been this summer. I have a feeling it is only going to get hotter.

Keep on Truckin'

It is easy sometimes to take for granted the things we have been blessed with. I know that I am often guilty of this. It saddens me to think how many hours a week my husband has to work and how much he misses out on with our kids, yet because he works that much we can afford to pay our bills. While he works close to eighty hours a week there are others (and some in our immediate circle) who don't have jobs at all. When I think about their uncertain future it makes me so much more grateful that my husband is employed. I oftentimes think it would be easier if we had more disposable income (who doesn't?) to blow on luxuries and non-necessities and then I think about those who can't afford food to feed their families or those who are losing their homes. It is hard to not see my husband as often as I would like and I wish he and I had time to go out alone and spend more time together, yet then I think about a couple of friends of mine who are currently going through divorces and will be starting their lives over as single women. It makes me thankful for the time, however little it may be, that I do have with him.

Times seems to be rough for a lot of people right now. The economic struggles seem to permeate into the personal lives of those battling hardship. How can it not? As tough as things sometimes get I always try to remind myself to be thankful for what we have. We have food, clothing, and shelter. We have our health and our love for one another. Nobody is putting his/her life on the line fighting a war as many of our American men and women are doing on a daily basis. For all of those things I am thankful.

When I look around and see friends or people I know losing their homes, the lives they knew, their marriages, and their self-esteem it is disheartening and discouraging. However, it makes me that much more intent on making what I have and what my family has work. Everything is cyclical and what goes down must come up and while things are far from ideal we keep plugging away, holding on, working together. And that has to count for something.

Customer Satisfaction

My husband used to work for a car dealership in town where he was paid on commission only. They frequently messed up his paycheck, sometimes by as little as a hundred, but often closer to a thousand or more. Each time he'd jump through the hoops to request the shorted money and it always took at least a week to get the money he was owed. This annoyed me and infuriated me to no end as they always acted as if it was no big deal and we could just wait until they got around to it.

Last week, we bought a mini-van from this dealership. We wrote out a check for the down payment. I had some incredibly intense second thoughts about this purchase and we ultimately ended up returning the car the next morning. They assured us they cancelled payment on the check; we trusted this to be true.

Well, last night I discovered that they had indeed cashed the check two days ago. This morning my husband called to inform them of the error. They were very apologetic and assured us they would cut a check today. Sure enough we got a call telling us that the check would be ready this afternoon. I made the comment that this was the fastest that they had ever corrected an error in the almost three years my husband worked there. Apparently, according to them, customer satisfaction is more important than employee satisfaction.

Interesting.