Samarah

Last week was spring break for Sarah so she had the week off but it was also Sam’s first week in his new job and he had to spend the week in Orem. Rather than spend the week at home alone she hitched a ride with some friends to Southern California. Her friends live in Huntington Beach so they spent the first few days up there and then when her friends did Disneyland on Monday and Tuesday, Sarah took the train to San Diego and spent a few days with us. It was wonderful to see her. Her friends came down this morning to pick Sarah up they were spending the day at the zoo and the beach. To say goodbye to Sarah Lisa and I both went into work late and had a nice relaxing breakfast of pancakes and bacon with her.

Sarah then surprised us when her and her friends stopped in at the temple to see us. We went out into the lobby and visited with them. They looked a bit uncomfortable in their bathing suits but I’m glad they came.

In case you missed it, Sam started a new job this week. I feel bad for poor Sam, he has had a long string of raw deals mostly due to people making empty promises to him and taking advantage of him.

Sam’s first problem was due to a poor choice in a college degree. He graduated in “Wildlife and Conservation Management” (or something like that). That would be an ideal degree and one that I would enjoy tremendously but what no one told him is that there are about 1,000 applicants for every job opening. Even seasonal jobs have people with Masters Degrees applying for a minimum wage job. It is next to impossible to get one of these jobs unless you know someone. To make it even more frustrating is that he would make it all the way to the short list and have to fly to far away places for an interview and screening (on his own dime) and then get passed up at the last minute.

When it became clear that this wasn’t going anywhere Sam noticed that many of the people getting these jobs were coming from Law Enforcement. It makes sense that if you’re a forest ranger interfacing with the public in what could be a confrontational situation, being an ex-cop could be of benefit. He then decided to take a detour to his ideal forest ranger job and become a cop. Well, that wasn’t a whole lot better. He finally came across an opportunity where he was “promised” that if he paid his dues and worked in the jail for a year or two they would train him and work him out onto the street. Off they went to Manila, Utah. I never knew such a place existed. It is out by the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and is in beautiful (if remote) country. Well, they did partially train him but two years came and went and it quickly became obvious that he was never going to make it onto the street. 

One good thing that did work out for Sam was that he put himself through school by pulling network cables and fiber optic cables at BYU. This made him good money but many of the jobs involved crawling in nasty grungy crawl spaces and getting into unpleasant places. He finally found a job posting in St George. They guy was thrilled to have someone with Sams experience and offered to pay him the higher wage he could get in Salt Lake City and to let him lead a crew of workers so he wouldn’t have to take the grungy jobs and he would train him to become an “Engineer” who designed the network systems rather than just pull cable for them. Sam and Sarah (Samarah for short) were thrilled and confident that this could become a new career for Sam off they went to St George.

Well, once again, they had been fed a load of bull. They guy failed every promise he made. He never did pay the promised wage, he refused to pay for training and the “crew” he was leading was himself. There was no crew and had never been a crew. All of this may have been acceptable if the boss was at least a decent human being but it turns out that he was demeaning and the kind of guy who was constantly yelling at his employees and telling them that he can treat them anyway he wants because he’s the boss.

Well the guy soon found out that he can treat his employees any way he wants but they can also choose to leave if they want. Sam was able to find work with a friend doing carpentry who was very flexible with his hours which allowed Sam to once again try and find a new career.

Back when Sam was still at the Y he was introduced to a company that would set up wireless networks for conferences, trade shows and conventions and that sort of thing. The guy would contract Sam to work for a week or two at these shows and pay him more in a week that he would make in a month. The guy loved Sam as did many of their customers who specifically requested for Sam to come back the next year. Sam really wanted to get on with this company full time but since their jobs were random and unpredictable it was impossible to keep more than one or two people full time. You would have to ask Sam to get a full listing but they do shows in Argentina, Switzerland, China, Jordan, Columbia and Las Vegas just to name a few. In addition to being able to travel to cool new places, set up networks for shows like this doesn’t involve crawling through any basements. It is all nice and clean.

Well, I think the Lord was watching for Samarah because almost immediately after Sam gave notice he was called to go on another job and to make a long story short, the job led to a job offer. A position had opened up and the company made an offer to Sam. We are all thrilled. They are currently located in Orem but will be moving to Salt Lake in the next few months. They have full benefits and a decent wage and when Sam asked if they would support his desire to train to become an “Engineer” (I don’t think they should be allowed to use that term) they were thrilled. They have been wanting someone who wants to learn the business. This way Sam could lead some of the jobs and the boss can stay home once in a while.  I personally think this could lead to Sam becoming a partner at some point down the road.

Congratulations Sam.