Monday, January 31, 2011

This post has been a long time coming.  True, the timing of everything could have been better but we knew it was an inevitable thing.  Wes lost his job on Friday (the day before my birthday).

When Wes and I met in June 2009 (no we hadn't been dating long before we got engaged), he was working for a Norwegian oil company.  He was contracted to them to do logistics for supply boats going to and from the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico out of Southern Louisiana.  His schedule was 7 days on, 7 days off.  He made great money and was never in a dangerous position like the people out on the rigs.  He was pretty  much in an office doing paperwork.  Then, in April 2010....
 He was able to continue his regular job for a few months (through the summer) because everything that was in the Gulf had to come back to shore.  His company in Louisiana was luckily able to keep most of its employees in some manner.  Maybe not their usual job, but they were doing something associated with the spill and clean-up.
We knew it was only a matter of time before Wes's position would be affected.  He was moved to Mobile around August (not sure exact dates) to coordinate the evacuation of the clean-up equipment if there happened to be a hurricane in the gulf.  This was a 14 day on, 7 day off schedule---still do-able.
After hurricane season, he was moved back to south Louisiana to work on decontamination of the clean-up equipment.  (All these were office jobs and he was never physically cleaning)  This schedule was more "work as much as you can and take off only when you have to".  This allowed him to work a lot and we were able to save some money, but it was hard to be away from him so much.  He was given 2 weeks off at Christmas and was unsure of whether or not he would be needed again after the New Year.  Luckily, he was called back and got to work for another month.
So, it wasn't a surprise that he got laid off, but it still sucks.  Hopefully, Obama will let drilling start back up soon and Wes will be able to have his old job back.  Oh, and YES he did file a claim with BP, so maybe something will come of that....
This is going to be a blessing though.  I am sure of it.  It will only make us stronger as a couple.  I look forward to what God has planned for us.

Sorry this post was so long, but I felt like y'all needed the whole story.


P.S. I'll have a birthday post later with some of the goodies I got!

3 comments:

  1. Aww sorry to hear about his job. That just stinks. Sounds like you're looking at it positively. I always say these things happen for the right reasons!

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  2. Sorry to hear about this. I hope ya'll get through everything okay!!! Keep strong!!!

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  3. I'm sorry this happened! It will work out and you will be stronger for it! If I hadn't been laid off I wouldn't have come home and started dating Michael. These things have a way of working themselves into something better :) And Happy Belated Birthday!

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