The Call Came for a New Calling

I got a bite!

I reeled in and I pulled back, and finally I hauled 'em ashore, and I'm happy to report that the City of Austin didn't wiggle or flop around too much.

OK, that's as far as I'm taking that metaphor.

My friends, I am tickled to inform you that I started a J O B with the City of Austin's Public Health Department on Monday, the first of March: a full-time (40 hours a week) although temporary (minimum six months) jay, oh, bee, baby!!

I've been assigned to a vaccination center to work as an usher at Wheelchair Reception, whose principal task will be telling arrivals where to go. What I think the folks in HR liked most on my résumé was how much previous experience I've had telling people where they can go.

 

It's clearly a position for someone like me who likes people, who's easy-going but responsible, and who's able to put at ease anyone feeling a little anxious. Before taxes the annual salary is in the mid-30s, which is all right: more than I've been earning lately. Added bonus: having received my first shot of the Moderna vaccine, at the end of my fourth day of work.

 

Other bonuses: greatly reducing wear-and-tear on El Tigre; oodles of overtime; and (possibly best of all) getting my foot in the door with the City. When the pandemic and this work is behind us, landing another gig at a City library would be sweet.

Last week, dozens of my co-workers and I helped to vaccinate about 3,200 people per day. This week, due to distribution problems, we've been vaccinating roughly half that number.

Texas persists in having one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, and very unfortunately, our Republican governor Greg Abbott rescinded the state-wide mask mandate, effective today, and allowed all businesses to fully re-open.

 

It's ironic, not to mention hypocritical, that a party that so often positions itself as an advocate for state's rights often works to deny to localities (cities and counties) the right to pass law that they see fit.

That's my news. Warmest wishes to you for success in all your endeavors, whatever they may be, wherever they may lie.