feeling a little down and a bit stressed with my job

[Heber Richins]

So, I am the sole employee and worker at our Local Transfer Station/Garbage Dump here in Southwest New Mexico. I first starting work there about a year ago, and at the time I was excited. now fast forward a year today, I feel way less excited then when I first started.

I decided to work here so that I have the funds to build a full-service Chevron Gas Station. but about 5 or 6 months ago when I got a hold of Chevron, they couldn't see any reason to support such a station. what a way to crush a dream that I had been planning for Months. now days it feels like my job has become almost pointless besides providing me money for food and gas plus funding for a new dream or goal I'm working towards.

anyway, these days I'm not really feeling the same enthusiasm for this transfer station job that i have. the only few things i can do is write in logs and manage the transfer station in making sure the full dumpsters are replaced with empty ones, and making sure materials go in the right place. sounds easy right, well it not quite so easy as it sounds, especially when the bays for the materials are overfilled and I've notified the people responsible for picking them up, but they haven't even come pick it up. they did come out to look at it, and I had hopped they were going to come pick it up, but they never did, even with the last employee before me. he had a different supervisor before the current one and he always made sure that the bays were emptied out when they were full, but now with my supervisor that's not happening anymore. the other local transfer station attendee has come by to pick up paperwork, but every time I've tried to visit with him, he just doesn't seem to want to talk, even when Hes been out there to address some problems like pipe leaks, or mold issues he just doesn't seem interested in talking at all.

every day now whenever I leave for work, I feel somewhat down, and somewhat useless even though i know I'm not useless. with materials coming in and it's not getting hauled off like it's supposed to, its slowly feeling like it's getting harder, and harder to do my job. i do apologize if I sound like I'm complaining, I'm usually not one to complain, but this is a job that I don't want to keep for 10 or 20 years. And as far as I know I'm the only employee in the county with Autism.

I really want to switch to another job, one that I can feel useful, one that I'm happy with and one that pays just as good. I'm not sure what to do

 

[Aspychata]

Can you transfer? Is this a county job or city job? Sorry about your dream not materializing. There is so much less supplies in the consumer market, and gas is one of these things right now. Maybe you just hit bad timing right now.

 

[VictorR]

Sorry to hear. Losing a project / motivation can be very tough, for having something to focus on and look forward to can distract us from the mundane of the everyday.

As for the refusal, I'm guessing it sounds like there might not be enough market demand to support a new station.

Have you looked into whether the owners of any existing stations in the area you're interested in are considering retirement soon, and if so, if any of those owners might be interested in selling their station to you? It's possible you might even run into someone who is willing to mentor you and offer favorable terms if they take a liking to you and that they think you'll take good care of their business.

 

[Heber Richins]

Can you transfer? Is this a county job or city job? Sorry about your dream not materializing. There are so much less supplies in the consumer market, and gas is one of these things right now. Maybe you just hit bad timing right now.

It's a county job, the only transfer station in the county with more than one employee is the Lordsburg NM City Transfer station, all the others just have one Attendee per transfer station and right now there is only 5 transfer stations in the county.

 

[Heber Richins]

Sorry to hear. Losing a project / motivation can be very tough, for having something to focus on and look forward to can distract us from the mundane of the everyday.

As for the refusal, I'm guessing it sounds like there might not be enough market demand to support a new station.

Have you looked into whether the owners of any existing stations in the area you're interested in are considering retirement soon, and if so, if any of those owners might be interested in selling their station to you? It's possible you might even run into someone who is willing to mentor you and offer favorable terms if they take a liking to you and that they think you'll take good care of their business.

it's okay, I had really thought they would like the idea too to cause most companies are fond of their history. i had wanted to an old-fashioned style gas station like it was out of the 1950s providing full service to the customers, but i guess with today's economy with gas, and in the area that I live, they didn't see that as a way or reason to support my idea. I have no doubt that you are correct. I haven't really looked into that, the only gas stations in the county are fairly new compared to what i wanted to do, and it will a really expensive investment in one I don't think I'll be able to do. but i have gotten started on a different goal, instead of a gas station i will be working towards opening and operating a non-profit museum in Lordsburg New Mexico, the county is having a hard time struggling to bring people into Lordsburg or Hidalgo County and so i figured i can be more helpful there than the transfer station.

 

[Aspychata]

That sounds neat. You might be able to find federal or state grants to aid you. Find somebody to help maybe with fundraising too.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

The future is not in fossil fuel stations,...the market is relatively saturated.

The future is in EV charging stations for cars and trucks. You can do some research on this topic but the future looks like what a modern truck stop does,...restaurant, shopping, solar arrays over top the charging stations with huge battery storage tied into the grid. Tesla and other charging networks are really pushing this concept,...and right now,...there are Federal dollars dedicated to this infrastructure.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/0...r-supercharger-in-santa-monica-lets-see-more/https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-mega-supercharger-lounge-food-kids-area-kettleman-baker-ca/

 

[Gerontius]

There's a full-service filling station in my hometown at the old general store. (This is in the deep south.) I drove the car there yesterday & the attendant came out, pumped the fuel I needed, and took payment in cash. Simplest thing in the world.
I don't know if Chevron would support that, but doing something the old way involves going back to creative basics if you want to do it in the 21st century.
The idea of electric vehicles needing full service is actually quite interesting; I'd never thought of that. Trying to provide something the drivers can do while their car is charging would be a great opportunity to:
Sell brake fluid, windshield wash, windshield wipers, defroster, etc.,
Air up tires and check tread depth,
Wash car,
Sell stuff to driver & passengers (Lunch counters are another 1950s classic displaced by fast food)
Offer actually CLEAN restrooms
This would all work at a small crossroads store, and would give people time to walk round--you might make good money at this. Maintaining a gasoline pump for people driving conventional gasoline cars would be another excellent idea; maybe start with gasoline pumps & transition to electric just a scooch before the majority of automobiles do.

 

[Shevek]

I don't know if it would work at your place, but my favourite recycling depot had a free store for books and magazines, as well as opportunities to scrounge parts. It was very popular.

 

[Heber Richins]

I don't know if it would work at your place, but my favourite recycling depot had a free store for books and magazines, as well as opportunities to scrounge parts. It was very popular.

as far rules go, customers are allowed to take appliance parts and tires, but my supervisor says that scrap metal cannot be taken because they will get hauled off to scrap yards, unfortunately with gas prices Hes not going to get very much he will most likely get enough for gas, he has told me that he will have people come pick it up, but that was a few months ago and he has never come to pick up any of the scrap metal. as far as a store I don't think they will go for that here since the county just spent quite a bit of money making the ramp up to the dumpsters narrower and restructuring it. it's a very small transfer station too. note that the image is not up to date, but it gives you a perspective on how small the transfer station is. most days I only get 5 customers, some days its only 3, but on a really good day i can get about 10 at least. the first image shows how far it is from the road and the area it's in. the second image shows the size of the transfer station. the little building on the left is a shed like office, and behind it is where the appliances and scrap metal and tires are kept, that area back there is way overfilled now. it's almost up to the little office building. the grounds are not a clear as you see in the photo, there is weeds, and tall grass, perfect place for Rattlesnakes to hide which makes the job a little nerve racking. in fact, I was told just Thursday last week that when the company that hauls off the dumpsters came out to switch them there were two rattlesnakes under the dumpsters. but yeah, being isolated without much help, it's quite a lonely job...

 

[paloftoon]

Would you have the money to start a gas station in different locations maybe? If you're willing to move, that could widen your potential opportunities for jobs or starting a franchise.