Joel was officially hired. He's ben working at Western Trailers for the past 3 months through a temp agency. He is part of an aseembly team that builds semi trailers. They do it that way because they can fire temps right on the spot without any reason. They go through a lot of shady characters. Luckily Joel isn't that shady. He enjoys it. He gets to weld adn play with metal and fire and build things. His supervisors liked how he worked so for a while he actually got to work on custom trailers, made specific for customers not just the standard ones. I think they have enjoyed having him there. He loves to use his brain and think of ways to get things done efficiently but quickly. He hates doing things the stupid way or doing it just because that's the way it's always been done. He's definitely had some trial and errors but overall has come out with some really good ideas on his part of the assembly line. Because he thinks and doesn't just follow the way it's always been done, he has been able to make his team and their work much more efficient. He's actually doubled their production. Unfortunately the other lines are still working at their usual pace. BUT the bosses haven't let it go unnoticed. Having only been there a short time hasn't stopped the supervisors from inviting him in on engineering meetings to discuss new trailer designs. They are thinking about starting a fully aluminum line and if that actually happens Joel would be a part of that. He has also been offered a "Bay Lead" position when the current bay lead steps up in a month or so. That means that instead of being at the bottom of the totem pole joel will be in charge of a whole assembly line/bay. He was pretty excited about that news.
He's always been good at climbing the ladder within a business because he works hard and works smart. It's been a much happier place for him to work. He still has his challenges and things to work on but most jobs will present you with something of that sort. He works with a lot of ex-cons and some that he actually supervised while at CCA. Here he has to learn how to work with them and not boss them or blow up at them. Prison guards are imprinted to react a certain way, now he's learning how to undo that to a degree.
Joel has enjoyed being back at work. Having six months off was nice and he gained a lot but it drove him nuts at the same time. When he took this job it wasn't because he was going to be making tons of money-not even break even with what he made before, but this time it wasn't about the money. How many people actually look for a job and money isn't the first priority. The first priority was that Joel was able to get back to work and enjoy what he was doing, really enjoy it. He thought he enjoyed the prison and corrections and there were parts of it that he really did, but he never came home excited about projects he was working on. He never pointed out people that he worked with. He will get distracted by trailers on the freeway and even some he'll say, "I built that!"
He started welding when he was younger with Brent Moncur but people steered him away from that type of work because it was "blue collar" and "menial" and he was meant for greater things. BUT Joel loves welding. it's like creating art for him. He's talked about schooling and doing this or that but usually it doesn't ever pan out. It remains a theory, but this time he actually put it into action. On the 9th of August, Joel starts classes that will teach him and certify him in the different types of welding. It will help in his current job and future career.
Many of the "trades" that the states were built upon have disappeared. People sit at desks and the world revolves electronically, but Joel doesn't want to be at a desk. He wants to be out there creating, designing, DOING something, and having something that he can point out at later and say, "I built that."
He comes home happier--most of the time. He is off all antidepressant/sleep meds that resulted from the prison. He works swing shift and is doing manual labor so he doesn't need any extra help sleeping. He actually wishes he could get more of it.
A plus side, we're hoping it works out this way anyway... is that he gets home around 2:30-2:45a.m and goes to bed sometime after that. Hopefully it works out that he can take over a nighttime feeding when Emilee comes so that I can get some extra rest.
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