It's Not All Bad

Jacob checks out the Phoenix office of Progrexion, where he'll

now be working after being at the Salt Lake City office for a year.

Most of the information I've shared about the Mesa house, with the costs and hassles of eviction, clean-up, repairs, replacements, and improvements needed, has been pretty much of a "downer." In this post, I'd like to focus on the positive aspects of the week I spent in Mesa dealing with this whole issue (two weeks ago).

First and foremost, as I've already shared, I'm thrilled to have Jacob back in Arizona. It's also great that we are able to provide an affordable place for him to live while he helps us fix the house up and make it the nice home it has the potential to be again, as it was when his great-grandma Helen was alive. Furthermore, I'm excited that he wants to buy the house himself and keep it in the family. We made a lot of memories there when the kids were younger.

The Progrexion office building is located in Deer Valley (north Phoenix).

On Saturday morning, the day after the rest of our family returned to Lakeside, Jacob and his aunt and cousin worked hard in the heat to load more rubbish into the moving van, and then they drove out to Salt River Landfill to dump it. While they were gone, I went shopping with Wilma's thirteen-year-old grandson, Thomas, before returning to the house to await the security company, who was supposed to install Jacob's security system (but couldn't, due to the powerless transformer). I also spent time cleaning out the pantry and lining the shelves with contact paper.

I must pause here to share a story. I'd offered Thomas ten dollars to help carry bags of trash out to the truck. Wilma offered him an additional three dollars, and he was quite excited at the prospect of spending his earnings when we went to Walmart. He went on at length about video games and other electronic toys. I warned him that the game system he wanted was hundreds of dollars more expensive than the thirteen dollars he had to spend, but he was undaunted.

Once we were at Walmart, Thomas dragged me right over to the electronics section and told me he wanted this particular gaming system, which cost in the neighborhood of $500. I explained that he didn't have enough to buy it, but he was beaming with confidence when he pointed out that, after he paid them his thirteen dollars, it wouldn't be as expensive for me to buy. That's when I realized that Thomas, who has autism, didn't fully comprehend the value of money. It was so sweet and funny at the same time. I did end up spending almost twenty dollars on a toy rifle with soft darts, but I felt he was worth it.

The main entrance to Progrexion, an affiliate of Lexington Law Firm.

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, Jacob and I were both beat. We were exhausted after two days of excessive heat and hard labor. It was time for a break. Around 3:00, he hopped into the now-empty truck  and I followed him in my car to the heart of Phoenix, where he returned the truck to Penske. 

From there, we headed north to Deer Valley so we could check out the offices of Progrexion, where Jacob would be working from then on, starting the following Monday. As you can see from the photos above, it's a beautiful building. Although the place was mostly deserted, we were able to get inside and look around. Jacob was impressed, telling me it was much larger and fancier than even their corporate office in Salt Lake City, where he's been working since November.

For those who wonder what Jacob does at Progrexion... It all began fourteen months ago, when Jacob decided he was tired of battling petty administrative problems at Walmart, where he'd been a customer service manager for more than three years. In May 2017, he was hired by Lexington Law, a consumer advocacy law firm located in Salt Lake City, with branches scattered around the country. After Jacob was trained and certified as a paralegal, he spent his days taking calls from people who were interested in the credit repair services offered by Lexington's team of lawyers. It was his job to explain the program to them, helping the callers understand what the company could do to help them repair their poor credit. He enjoyed the relaxed nature of the job and the good pay, but it still wasn't quite his dream career.

During his six months at Lexington, he began to hear about the sales division that provided the law firm with potential clients: Progrexion. Jacob loves sales jobs (I'll never understand it, myself; I even failed at selling Avon in the 1970s). Every year he won the award for most popcorn sales in cub scouts. He was a top seller for every school fundraiser. He had no fear of approaching total strangers and asking them to buy something they didn't really need, costing more than it was worth. And, the crazy thing is, they bought it! I don't know if it was his thoughtful, quiet manner or those big, sincere green eyes, but most everyone bought from him. After his mission, he worked in a series of retail jobs, including a car dealership, but he was in a wandering mood at that time and didn't stay with any job too long over a period of a year and a half.

The opportunities offered at Progrexion, though, fired up his old interests. The high commission rates and the chance to be involved in sales again persuaded him to apply at Lexington's sister company. With the blessing of his former supervisor at Lexington, Jacob was hired at Progrexion in November, seven months ago. And he's loving it. He doesn't do "cold calls," where telemarketers call random numbers trying to sell something to people who haven't asked for it. Instead, he takes calls from people with low credit scores, high debt, and bankruptcies who are already looking for someone to help them repair their credit. His six months at Lexington created a great foundation for the current job, because he truly understands the processes required to force creditors to correct inaccurate credit information.

And, if you're good at sales, it pays well. Jacob says, "I'll never again work a job that doesn't pay commissions!" (I feel the exact opposite...) He told me one day last week that he'd made eleven sales, earning himself $400 for that one day. That was at least the second time, that I know of. To Jacob, a bad day is when he only makes four sales...even though that still works out to about $18.50 per hour! On top of that, Progrexion provides the same relaxed, supportive work environment he'd enjoyed at Lexington, so it's a win-win.

We went to dinner at this Scottsdale restaurant, Chart House.

Eventually, we left Progrexion and continued southeast to Scottsdale, where we arrived ten minutes ahead of our 5:30 dinner reservation at Chart House. This is one of those fancy establishments frequented by the financially well-off, since the average cost for one meal was about $42.00. Some went as high as $85.00.

I know this may come as a surprise, but I am not rich. Not even close. I know, I know, after a dazzling, twenty-seven year career as a teacher, I should be rolling in the dough, but alas...no.

We were given a table by the window, overlooking the water.

The only reason we were able to afford dinner at this restaurant was a perk of my stay at the WorldMark Scottsdale resort earlier in the week. In order to persuade club owners to attend an "informational presentation" (actually a thinly-veiled sales pitch), WorldMark by Wyndham offers incentives, which I usually take. In this case, they gave me a $25.00 voucher for Chart House and an American Express card loaded with $75.00. I never say no to free food!

Our table had a "VIP" card. The salad bar was well-stocked. 

I generally feel out of place at these high-class establishments, even though it's also fun to pretend you have enough money in the bank to legitimately be there. I feel like a rube and a clod, as if everyone in the place is watching to see if I drool or eat with the wrong fork. Nonetheless, the maitre d' greeted us as if we were royalty and led us to our table, one of the best in the house, overlooking the blue lake on the golf course where the restaurant is located. There was even a VIP card on our table. At first I thought they must do that to make all their customers feel important, but then I looked around and didn't see any others on the tables around us. 

Jacob had prime rib, I had filet mignon, and Yukon Gold garlic mashed potatoes.

The meat was so tender it practically melted in our mouths.

I finally realized what it was when our waiter took our order. He mentioned that "our special hot chocolate lava cake has already been ordered for you, courtesy of your concierge." Concierge? What concierge? Then I remembered the man in the lobby of WorldMark who had actually called Chart House and made our reservation for us. I remembered he said something about us being valued guests or something. Now it made sense. WorldMark must send a lot of patrons their way, and Chart House responds by treating those guest as truly honored VIPs. In my solidly middle-class mind, it's kind of silly, but it was also kind of nice for one hour of my life.

The hot chocolate lava cake was the best I've ever eaten!

The waiter was young and handsome, and he hovered attentively over us the entire time we were there. In fact, he seemed so interested in us, you'd have almost thought we were Mary and Jacob Kardashian. However, he was pretty down-to-earth. He told us how he'd moved to Arizona from northern California recently, because the cost of living there was out of control. His girlfriend's parents were also preparing to make the leap, as more and more people are following suit. We told him how Jacob lived in that area during his mission and how we vacationed there just last October.

Jacob's eye-rolling expression says it all: "To die for!"

At the end of our meal, we soon learned that they hadn't exaggerated the excellence of their lava cake. We were brought one lava cake to share (price, paid by WorldMark: $11.50), and it was unbelievably decadently delectable. Indescribable. From the Heath Bar crumbles scattered over the top, to the hot chocolate sauce that oozed thickly from inside, it was total perfection.

In the end, even with the $100 worth of voucher and American Express card, we still had a bill for $13. Add to that a $20 tip and our $33 charges were roughly the size of a two-person bill at restaurants we normally patronize. Not too shabby.

Jacob at least had his living room in place when I left to come home.

That's Jacob's dog, Razz (Razzmatazz), with his squeaky toy, Foxy.

While Jacob was at his first day of work in Deer Valley on Monday, I worked hard on getting his living room up to snuff. The house was definitely becoming more livable (or so we thought until he discovered the cockroaches two days later), but I wanted him to have at least one room that was all his for now. Since his bedroom was where we'd stacked all his boxes, that left the living room.

Even though the flooring in the living room is going to be hauled off soon, I moved the furniture around and swept and mopped the floor well. Again, it took multiple Swiffer cloths before they stopped coming up black. All Jacob had were his two love-seat-size couches, his wolf artwork, and the faux-fireplace entertainment center for his TV. So I drove over to Deseret Industries while he was at work and bought him a small table for $12.00. I placed it between the two couches so there'd be a place for his very cool wolf-lamp. I thought it looked quite nice when it was all done.

If you think Jacob is all about wolves, you're correct!

He claims that his spirit animal is the wolf. (That stuff 

stacked on the left is mine. It came back home with me.)

One last thing. I mentioned that I'd cleaned out the pantry. That included the floor inside the pantry, still covered with the ancient, original linoleum that was the kitchen floor back in Helen's day. It was sticky and stained with some mysterious black gunk, and it took a long time to scrub it off, but once it was clean, seeing that old pattern brought back so many memories.

Later in the day, I went to the pantry to get something I'd placed inside. As I opened the door, the scent that wafted out smelled exactly like the pantry of Helen's time. The memories it triggered almost knocked me off my feet, as I was transported back in time to when my kids were small and we came to spend a weekend every month or two, because Helen was my children's favorite person in the entire world. She did our laundry and fed us and spent every moment possible with the grandchildren she adored. Those were the days when my children would start chanting as soon as we reached the freeway exit near her house: "Grand-ma's house! Grand-ma's house!"

A while later, Jacob went to the pantry to grab something. As soon as he opened the door, he stopped and looked at me in wonder. "That's Grandma's house!" he exclaimed. He told me the other day that he still gets that sensation every time he opens that door. It reminds him what all our work is for.

Mark and I will be heading back to Mesa tomorrow, partly to take care of some business for Mark, and partly to spend two days doing more work on the house. I can't wait to have Mark stand in front of the pantry and open up that magical door...