Unemployed

My father just became unemployed for the first time that I can ever remember. It's a strange feeling. Most of my childhood he was in the military, and he had lapse between leaving the military and finding a civilian job. His current job (which he's been there 8+ years) was what brought my family back to the Pacific Northwest. I've always known that my dad hasn't been 100% happy with his job, but he did what he had to to support his family - all eight of us. Now that I'm out of the house, it is a strange feeling knowing that my father will have this enormous pressure to find a job, in an economy where more than 1 in ten are out of work. But my family is in a great position. Literally, they have no bills except the house. Everything is paid for - no car payments (they hold the titles to 4 vehicles, and a trailer. No credit card payments, no student loans, NOTHING!!! And since they just re-financed their house, and the additional bonus of them having scrimped and saved last year as well as kept this and last year's tax returns, they have 6 months easily taken care of. That's the way to do it. My family will pull through, they always have, but it is definitely a great benefit to not have payments to worry about. It all boils down to: Think about the future.

Taking responsibility

So today I was confronted about an issue at work. I hate issues at work... I have so much on my plate, it is so easy to let one slip by. The truth of the matter is there isn't enough hours in my work day to do everything. I need 8 hours + 1 of no phone calls, no interruptions. I wish I got paid for overtime. So the issue I was confronted about was a responsibility I have to make sure gets done. But the entire reason it wasn't done yet was was because someone ELSE messed up, and they kept trying to get ME to fix their problem, not wanting to do it themselves, and it had dragged on for MONTHS. It had taken too long, and had gotten to my manager's desk. I reacted in a way toward my manager that I shouldn't have - I know that. I can make excuses for the way I reacted but I'm not. I am learning to not make excuses at all but to apologize for it and immediately find a way to remedy the situation. Taking responsibility is hard for me, it's a challenge. Especially when I feel like I have too much responsibility (or more that I don't have the time I need to get what I need done done). But it all boils down to the fact that whether or not the problem was caused by me, it was/is my responsibility to fix it. So the best way to do that? Take a deep breath, and plow in.