Spin Doctors

I love how the spin doctors can make anything sound good, as long as you don’t look any deeper than the surface. The consortium of investors that took over Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. operations and has named their new company Fleetwood RV, Inc., is sending press releases far and wide, boasting that they are hiring 650 workers for their Decatur, Indiana motorhome manufacturing plant. Wow! Great news! Is the RV industry finally turning around?

What they didn’t mention is that the first order of business, according to what I hear from folks in Decatur, was to fire everybody already employed (it wasn’t long ago the plant had over 1,000 workers). Now those same workers can re-apply for their old jobs. Company President John Draheim says former workers who accept positions with the new company will be paid about 10 percent less than they were making before. And obviously any benefits they had built up are history. What a deal!

I guess the good news is that it looks like under the new owners, the Fleetwood name is still associated with that proud old tradition of putting out three tons of bull crap for every ton of RV they produce.

Terry and I love working together in our business, and we make good partners, since our abilities compliment each other. Terry keeps me centered when I want to go off on four different tangents at once, and she takes care of the day to day operations of filling orders and making sure the bills get paid so I can concentrate on whatever the heck it is I do. For us, it works. 

If you are you a couple who would like to be able to work together, WorkingCouples.com, a website I just learned of, might be of interest to you. I’m not sure how many of their jobs would fit the RV lifestyle, though they do have a section on workamping. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Speaking of going off in several different directions at once, I have gotten a lot of positive response to the idea of a Bad Nick Blog. My pal Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour asked me if I really wanted to take on yet another writing commitment, but this would not be a daily thing. I’d probably only post one or two blogs a week, on whatever moves me (or Bad Nick). And they would not be just RV related, because there are so many issues that Bad Nick wants to talk about.

Miss Terry just shakes her head and wonders why she couldn’t have married a regular guy who spends his time drinking beer, watching baseball, and reading internet porn. I keep telling her that beer bloats me, and baseball bores me.

Thought For The Day – No one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

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