Waiting To Hear From You!!

It’s getting to be too long between posts. That’s because I’m working two jobs and don’t have the time to sit and write like I want to. When I do write, I’m writing about the things that interest me and affect my life. I love writing my blog and maintaining all of my websites but it all seems one sided.

Many of you have sent me emails and called me to ask how you can leave a comment on my site. I guess I haven’t explained it right because I haven’t seen a comment for some time. I’d love to hear what you have to say, good or bad. I don’t want to continue to write if no one is interested in what I’m saying. If you leave a comment I’ll know where I stand and others will be able to read your comments and voice their opinion as well. I only ask that you keep any discussions at an adult level with no name calling , cussing or any of those other high school antics. Everyone, including you, is entitled to their opinion and like it  or not this is America and you should respect an individuals right to free speech.

I have the option of disapproving comments and keeping them off of my site. However, if I deem a comment unsuitable for my blog, I will clean it up and let you all know what has been said.

So, to leave a comment you simply look to the right of the title of my post. There you will see what looks like a small piece of paper with a stick pin holding it. On the piece of paper there will be a number indicating how many comments have been left for that post. It will start at “0″ and go up as comments are added.

If you are getting notifications of new posts via email, you cannot leave a comment until you go to my site at www.TellMeAboutThat.com.  If you’d like to be notified of new posts by email, you have to sign up for notifications on the right side of my blog page under “Subscribe to my Blog”. You may have to scroll down to see it.

You can also go back and comment of previous postings by looking under “Post Categories”, also on the right. If you click on a category you will see all of the previous posts pertaining to that subject. You can then select the one(s) you want to read and then post a comment if you desire.

So, I’m waiting to hear from you. Tell me what you like or don’t like or give me ideas about what you would like to see. Just remember there is only one of me and I can’t keep everybody happy.

Don’t Judge The Disabled By What You See or Hear!!

As many of you know I work with S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation. My job is to contact companies in a five county area and talk to them about our services and hopefully find work for our disabled clients. What many people don’t know is that we handle over 150 different disabilities including diabetes, obesity, cardiac patients, stroke victims, learning disabilities and social disabilities. Many of our clients were not born with their disabilities but rather developed disabilities over time. That means that some of them have college degrees in different areas and many have worked in production, manufacturing and various other fields. With that said, most of our clients have difficulty finding and maintaining employment because of their disabilities or, more often, because of employers lack of understanding of their disabilities.

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of working with a family who didn’t even see the disabilities, but were more interested in the skills our clients possessed. I met Tyrone Wilson shortly after he and his family opened a garage out on Peach Orchard Drive in Sumter. It’s right behind the base and you can’t miss the bright yellow building. I was out on one of my drives knocking on the doors of local businesses when I noticed that a formerly closed garage was up and running.

I made an appointment for the following week and presented our programs to Tyrone. After I was finished he told me he needed a mechanic as soon as I could get him one. That was in early January. So far, we have provided two mechanics and two car detailers for his operation at Wilson’s Auto Repair and Car-Wash.

Between providing the first and second mechanic I had the opportunity to meet Dionne (Dee) Wilson, Tyrone’s wife. Together they are opening a high end coffee shop out on US 378, called Moca Soul Café. Dee told me that they were interested in our agency helping them to find a Barista to help out in the café. We provided three candidates and the Wilson’s selected one ,who will start on March 1, 2010. Oh!! I almost forgot, Dee also does hair. You can get information on her skills and contact information  at www.hairstylist4hire.webs.com or click the link to the right.

So altogether, they have given employment opportunities to five (5) clients and not once did they ask about the clients particular disability.  Additionally, by using our clients they have the opportunity to get tax credits for hiring the disabled and we help them to pay the wages for a specified trial period. This gives them the chance to get to know our clients and their abilities before committing to hiring them permanently.

We need more people like this. They chose not to judge our clients but instead decided to give them a chance, where others wouldn’t.  With 14% of South Carolinians being disabled and more than 1,000 of them on our caseloads in Sumter and Camden, we need a lot more employers to look beyond the disability and see the person beneath. Are you judging people with disabilities because of what you have heard or how they look? If you are, then knock it off and give them a chance!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

I hope everyone made it safely through the series of snowstorms that seem to have affected most of the central and eastern United States. I know it was especially bad in the northeast, since Mom was supposed to return from Philadelphia and her flight was canceled a couple of times. She finely arrived yesterday.

We watched the news to see the all those poor folks shoveling their walks, only to get a fresh layer the next night. I felt for the people who would no sooner finish shoveling and the snowplow would come by and cover the sidewalk yet again. 

I’ve had my share of shoveling snow, both as a kid growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and again while stationed in Minot, North Dakota. So I know the frustration of clearing the sidewalk only to have it covered again by the plows or new snow. 

Unlike most of my family I don’t have to put up with that anymore. I’m in Sumter, South Carolina and we normally get snow about once every three years or so. However, due to Global Warming we had snow two years in a row. Wait!! That’s the opposite of Global Warming isn’t it. Anyway, I don’t even own a snow shovel. When it snows here we only get an inch or two and it generally melts the same day or at the next day, at the latest.

When it snows here it’s a lot different than in places like Philly and New York.  Southerners have no idea how to handle snow and they tend to go into panic mode. Earlier this year the weather people said we might get some snow one night and, without a flake falling, twenty schools announced they would be closed the following day. Well, it didn’t snow.

We got our share of the latest storm on Friday, the 12th of February. When the first flakes started falling almost the entire population of Sumter headed to Walmart to stock up in case we were snowed in for a week. I was working my second job at Sears. When I arrived, a group of employees were standing at the door. They told me they were waiting for a call from the district manager telling them to close the store and go home. The snow hadn’t even started to stick yet. Later the manager came around and started telling people, who lived more than five miles away, to go home. He asked me how far I lived and I told him not to worry about me because I’m a Yankee and snow doesn’t scare me. Thirty minutes later they closed the mall and the store (2 hours early) and I headed home. By the next morning we had a grand total of three inches of snow and nothing was moving.

I was supposed to take my truck in for new tires but they called and rescheduled me for another day. I couldn’t get my hair cut until later that afternoon because Cost Cutters opened late. They didn’t even deliver the mail that day.

Every time it snows or threatens to snow down here I laugh at the antics that take place. I’m sure Walmart and other grocers love it. They get to sell all the stuff they hadn’t been able to get rid of for the last couple of months. The state saves money because they shut down all the schools and state government buildings. The kids get a day off from school and everyone gets a day off work.

This time there was snow on the ground for about three days, but I didn’t see anyone shoveling snow at all. The sidewalks and streets were clear by about noon time on Saturday and people went about their business knowing that the pantry was full.

If you get tired of the snow just move south. You’ll be able to relax nd enjoy the weather and have the opportunity for a good laugh every two or three years, when it does snow.