Have you ever been down & out, and then given a break that turned things around?

[AnotherMother4Peace]

I needed a job something fierce when I was younger, to keep a roof over my head. Everyday I'd go to the HR office of the local Navy Exchange. The lady there finally wrote a note, handed it to me, and told me to give it to the supervisor of the store. I was hired that day. The note instructed the supervisor to "hire this persistent young lady." I will be forever grateful to that lady - it was a great kindness when I needed it.

There have been many other times when people have helped me in times of need, and I always try to remember to do the same when I am in the position to help.

[idovoodoo]

1. Yep. Every job I ever got before I started my own business was offered to me

"out of the blue", as it were. Word of mouth, apparently.

[Old and In the Way]

2. I hear yeah...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkVkyeUbsKA

[AnotherMother4Peace]

5. Hey Grisman & Garcia = Old & In the Way (same group)?

My son got to play mando with David Grisman - a very gracious man, and great mandolin player. Thanks for great link.

[Old and In the Way]

12. I have to admit....

Back in 2002? , I was listening to "Old and In the Way" playing "Old and in the Way" when I decided to log onto DU for the first time. Here's the lyrics...I can relate to them:'

They used to heed the words he said
But that was yesterday
Coal will turn to gray
And youth will fade away
They'll never care about you
Cause you're old and in the way

As I hear tell he was happy
He had his share of friends and were kind
Now those freinds have all passed on
He don't have a place called home
Looking back to a better day
When you're old and in the way


When just a boy he left his home
Thought he'd have the world on a string
Now the years have come and gone
Through the streets he walks alone
LIke the old dog gone astray
He's just old and in the way

They'll never care about you
Cause you're old in the way

[AnotherMother4Peace]

7. My son came in is playing "Down & Out" for me right now - What a treat.

He heard me listening to on the 'puter, and grabbed his guitar. Always good times when a son sings to his mother.

[Old and In the Way]

8. Glad to hear it!

Actually, your son needs to find Hot Tuna/Jorma Koukonen on Youtube or wherever...he owns this song. :-) Jorma was the acoustic guitarist growing up in my generation (lead guitarist for the Jefferson Airplane...now plays great country/folk stuff - see 'Blue Country Heart'

enjoy!

[davekriss]

11. Jourma Koukenen's acoustic Hot Tuna album...

...is a classic! It was the first (and only excellent) Hot Tuna album.

[Old and In the Way]

13. Do youself a favor.

Go to Youtube and find "Prohibition Blues"....recorded live in the studio a couple of years ago with Jerry Douglas and BelaFleck (not in the video)and Sam Bush...awesome.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

14. Oh my God - BelaFleck & Sam Bush - 2 of the greatest - thanks!

A great mando player, sans one finger.

[Old and In the Way]

21. Hard to believe that the lead guitarist for the Jefferson Airplane

is now a great Piedmont Blues guitarist, playing some of the best American Country Blues....I mean, this is 1st take stuff....Jerry Douglas playing Dobro is, authentic.

[Zorro]

38. Absolutely

Astounding acoustic guitar, and the recording puts you right in the club with them.

Uncle Sam's Blues is a classic (actually they're all classics), and Mann's Fate is a tour de force in guitar picking.

Today's youngsters should seek this album out and give it a listen.

[qwertyMike]

26. Wonderful

Mother/Son

A gift.

Mike

[gateley]

3. And I'm sure they were grateful to have you as an employee - you seem like

an outstanding person. :pals:

[AnotherMother4Peace]

17. Thanks for the kind words.

[Skittles]

4. I did hire someone in that manner

it was one of those sacked air traffic controllers - he had been out of work for some time - he looked me straight in the eye and said please, I have a family and I will do a great job for you. And he did. :D

[spooky3]

16. see my post #15 - sounds as if I was right!

Smart and kind. Kudos to you.

[Skittles]

28. it was kind of surreal

It was towards the end of the interview - I had pegged him as someone who was overqualified and probably would not be challenged enough in the position - but when he said that, there was about ten seconds' silence between us, and I saw a kind of desperation in his eyes that just wrenched my soul. I said very simply, "OK - can you start tomorrow night?" - he told me later it took all he had not to run around screaming "I GOT A JOB! I GOT A JOB!" :)

[AnotherMother4Peace]

35. In the end, that's what life is about - how we treat each other, how honorable we are.

Thank you for sharing that story.

[karmaqueen]

6. So many times I can't even count.

The first time was when my husband was in his last year of college & we just got married. We owned 2 blow up chairs and some crates with a few books in them. We rented an attic apt for 60 dollars a month. I would walk to a small supermarket to see if they had any marked down stuff that day & to see if they needed help. I would go to the back to look at the meat cooler but they rarely had anything we could afford. One day the butcher opened the window and asked if he could help me and I said "you can if you have a job for me" He hired me that day, I learned to wrap meat and I got discounts on everything. He later told me that the people in the back watched me look through the marked down stuff & were going to try & see if I needed some help. I made many good friends there and have had many times in my life where I was helped and have helped others, they are the best times of a person's life.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

9. Reminds me of my mother's stories about how people helped each other during the depression

She said her mother would always make extra food for the gentlemen looking for work in the neighborhood

[Tikki]

10. I guess a lot of folks have one of these stories...

Mine is so tender to me I can barely think about it without bawlin'.

This guy, a rich kid who was given a company to run, a guy who might have known better...ya know what I mean...
hung in there with my son who was in all kinds of trouble...the law and then a divorce thing.

Every day, even with court appearances and all, there was a job for my son to go to; money earned and a life turned completely around.
This guy, Brett, would just shake it off as "I worked him hard, ya know"...but to me, a mother, that man is as good as gold.


Tikki

[AnotherMother4Peace]

32. Tikki, your story gave me goosebumps - there's a place in Heaven for that gentleman.

[spooky3]

15. She was kind but she was also very smart

She knew someone like you would be a dedicated employee. Her employer probably thanked her a million times.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

33. Thanks, spooky3

[tomreedtoon]

18. I help when I can, but I know I'll never be helped.

The people I help are truly desperate. A girl who's been out of work for four years, who's unsuitable for McJobs and depends on cash and odd jobs to get by. A lady in school on scholarship, whose husband is recovering from bone cancer. Assorted other folks whom I help with gifts and things they need, when I can get them for them.

They all thank me, and that's all they can do for me. If I stumble and fall, if I lose the job that gives me the cash to help them, if I get seriously ill, they won't be able to help me at all.

I accept the Humphrey Bogart philosophy of life. In the final analysis you'll be screwed by everyone and everything, but there's no reason for you to screw others.

[spacelady]

19. Yes, been blessed with serendipity and timing.

Hope to pay it forward. Trying to give back when opportunities arise. A helping hand can mean more than money.

[lonestarnot]

20. Yes. Every day in some form or fashion.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

22. Ain't that the truth. And don't forget the kindness of strangers.

[U4ikLefty]

23. Yup, and mine was a recruiter from a temp agency.

She had always given me the "good paying" jobs becuase of my positive outlook (don't laugh).

After losing a great contract with an aerospace firm she convinced me to take a job with something called a "dot-com" company.

Well, that opportunity landed me a permanent position in the company & when we went public, I was granted stock.

Those stock $$$ gave me the chance to go back & get my engineering degree. I had the skills & most of the math under my belt...I just needed a chance to "go back" and finish.

3 years later, I graduated with my BS in Civil Engineering. Today (2 yrs later) I am making good money & love my job.

Many of us are just a "break" away.

[lonestarnot]

24. Woohoo! Nice!

[U4ikLefty]

27. It was pretty cool.

I graduated at 40 yrs old & felt sooo good.

It wasn't about the $$$, it was about accomplishing something I had wanted for years.

I was driving a forklift at the dot-com, but that job got me to update my commputer skills & get my self-esteem back.

I really thank that person (even though I can't remember her name).

When I went back to school, I volunteered (all 3 years) at the ReEntry Center at my University to help other older student get back into school.

What I realized is that there are many more like me out there, just waiting for that "break" that will help.

[lonestarnot]

37. Very fantastic story! Congratulations!

I have a very similar one, but cannot share it here.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

30. Wow, after hearing your story & my story - I shake my head at the loser in the White House.

Bush has had opportunity after opportunity, made trash of them, and walked away. Not a care in the world - his family would wipe his butt, and put him into some other endeavor. The guy doesn't have an honorable bone in his body. How in the heck did such a loser become president - baffles the mind.

[U4ikLefty]

31. Yes, I always wonder if Bu$h had been born in a low income household

if he would be 1)in jail, or 2)be pumping gas on the outskirts of a small Texas town.

Either way, we know that Yale wouldn't be one of his options.

Maybe someday somebody with our experiences will be in the White House.

[Generic Brad]

25. Yes. From a close friend

I was in a place where I hated my job. I hated where I lived. I had completely lost hope and my wife and I were both depressed. I spilled my guts to a friend of mine when he dropped us off at the airport for a long overdue vacation.

When he picked us on our return he drove us to an apartment he had found for us. On the way there he convinced us that we could work through temp agencies until we found full time employment. We signed the lease, quit our jobs, and moved in two weeks later. That was exactly the fresh start we needed and it would not have happened if he had not helped us out.

Incidentally, that was the repayment of an enormous personal debt he owed to me. A few years earlier I had helped him recover from a huge personal crisis by sticking my neck out for him.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

34. It sounds like timing was perfect, and you have good people in your life.

[blues90]

29. I have at times lucked out

Many times I feel through being honest with people who I've either worked with or dealt with I have been helped out .

I don't know if it can be called karma but there have been times where when we were on our last dollar somehow something would come out at the right time to save us .

It never turned our lifes around in that sense but it did allow my wife and I to keep going .

I have gone out of my way to help customers who i knew were in a rut and could not afford to fix their car even though it took time but I could not let people go ignored .

I have always felt that I had to help if I could and oddly enough people I have worked with said you will never get ahead that way , well it's not about getting ahead it's about being human seeing past the money .

[Le Taz Hot]

36. More times than I can remember.

The one that sticks out the most is a time I was still in college and had just found a permanent position but was two weeks from seeing my first paycheck. I had managed to pay my rent & P.G. & E. using the last of my meager savings. Unfortunately, it left nothing for food and I had only enough for maybe 2 days. I was working for a retail sheet music store and was helping a random customer (as I did all customers) locate the sacred vocal music. We did a little small talk but that was it. I helped her find what she wanted, she paid at the register and off she went. About an hour later she came back in and signaled that she wanted to speak with me at the back of the store. I followed her back and she handed me an envelope saying, "Jesus told me to give this to you." I opened it up and it was a check for $100.00 (the "Pay To" part was left blank). She just smiled and walked away while I stood there with my mouth open.

I'm not a religious person at all but stuff like that defies "logical" explanations.