Hope....a waste of time?

I will be the first to admit that I’ve done some pretty bone head things in my time. I’ve also been a little slow on the uptake a time or two, and taken the long hard way about learning some of life’s lessons. I usually do eventually learn the lesson. A light will eventually go on, I’ll have an a-ha moment and I’ll get it.

Having said all of that, I feel that I can say with quite a bit of confidence; there are just some people out there who just never seem to get it. Case in point, my ex-husband C2, who managed to get himself fired yet again, on Friday. Of course, that’s not the amazing part of this little story, what is amazing is that he actually had this job for close to a year, which is almost a record for him. No, not the shortest, sadly, it’s closer to the longest he’s held a job.

The surprising part of this story is he swears he never saw it coming. Hello, I did, from a mile away. It’s hard to hold on to a job you don’t bother to show up for. If you’re scheduled to work 40 hours a week, that does not mean that 30 are mandatory and 10 are optional. Nope, 40 hours are required. And, while you’re there those 40 hours, you pretty much have a job to do, all of it, the good, the bad, the ugly, the unpleasant, the difficult, the easy, the fun, all of it. You don’t get to pick and chose the work you will or won’t do. Believe me, you’re not that special, and you’re not that good at anything. Nobody would consider themselves lucky to have you working for them. Mainly because you don’t work for them, you’re just on their payroll.

So, he calls me Friday to let me know there will be no more child support payments mailed in from his employer because they are no longer his employer. He of course, laid all the blame squarely at their feet, even though I know where the blame really lies. Then, he asks me “Do you know where the unemployment office is?” My response; ‘Aren’t you on a first name basis with most of the people out there? Did they move in the last nine months? I’m sure they’ve been waiting for you to make your semi-annual appearance.’ He failed to see the humor in that. I fail to see the humor in his lack of employment. He’s pulled this so many times at so many different places; he really is running out of places he can get a job. His reputation in the field of his ‘expertise’ precedes him and makes it hard for him to find a job. He, has, of course, called in every favor owed him in the past, and now has quite literally hung himself, and me.

Now, every once in a while, the system will work in my favor. Turns out, that when he files for unemployment, and if the system sees fit to pay him unemployment (wouldn’t that be just right up his alley…a paycheck without having to show up at a job and pretend to work) I can contact child support enforcement and garnish his unemployment check so that I continue to get the money he owes me. And when he sees his lack of funds, then he just might be a little more motivated to get a job, or a little less picky about the ones he turns down. Of course, that’s a HUGE maybe.

I keep hoping he’ll grow up. Or that someone will toss him a quarter, so he can buy himself a clue. I hope a light will go on somewhere down the line, and he’ll get it. I doubt it, but I’ll continue to hope. I mean, after all, I eventually woke up, got a clue, figured it out, learned the lesson. Maybe he can too.

Yeah, when pigs fly.