Continuing the life re-lived 'countdown' series of the three most influencial happenings for me personally in 2006, and having already looked at my teaching experience at number three... it comes time to look at number two.

Being fired. Twice.

The first time came *technically* last year 4 days before Christmas... but spilled over into the new year period. I was fired for taking my first holidays over Christmas in 5 years. It was 2 shifts. I am still bitter over it.

To refresh your memory of the monkey incident:
"BP and 1RQ Riverside Quay is being run by monkeys. Much like the Church of Scientology I suppose. But please forgive the bitterness today. To make matters worse, I got booked by the police for using my phone in the car about 45 mins later. I was on the phone to a mate talking about the monkeys, and if monkeys were allowed to fire me like that. It never rains... and when it does, it rains monkeys."

And then I got this job:
" Those of you that have heard about my drama with the monkeys at BP may be aware that I now have a NEW job for the year. Gone are the lazy apes, incompetant gorilla's and stinky chimps from BP. I now work for rebel sport in chatswood.

Apparently they had over 100 applications come in, I was invited to, and made it through both stages of a group interview, and at my final interview, I was offered the job on the spot. No call back or anything. SWEET. It just goes to show, that sometimes you really CAN get by 100 others based soley on your skills and merit as a worker."

*cough* or you could have connections *cough*

And then I got fired for being late. A couple of times. It didn't help that they changed the rosters, or that I had to walk about 2km's in Chatswood after parking my car...

The real irony? The day I was fired from BP, I got fined by the police for using a mobile while driving. The week I got fired from Rebel, I got a parking ticket (which I am contesting in court in Feb 2007). Being fired sucks. Bad for the self esteem... bad for the wallet. REALLY bad for the wallet. There were times where I honestly had no idea where my money was going to come from, but it always arrived... just enough, just in time. *phew*

So being fired comes in at number two on my life re-lived list.