Stubbornness

See that little plant stubbornly coming up in the crack of our front steps? It's sweet basil. And it has no business growing right there. Nobody planted it. Nobody cared for it. It has to be just barely rooted.

But still it grows. Doing what it was designed to do.

I kinda feel like that little guy. Holding on. Doing the best I can, but with a somewhat uncertain future.

I found out two days ago that my bid for the cleaning account (that makes our house payment) wasn't good enough. It was the lowest price. The facility manager has no complaints with my service or attention to detail. My downfall is that I'm a small, local provider and the multi-national corporation wants to only deal with national companies. So, I'm being replaced by an outfit out of San Francisco. And my house payment goes to California.

Six years of good service and commitment don't seem to make a difference. Neither does lowest price. Nor does keeping local money, local.

There's a chance the "big boys" will let me subcontract since they don't have a local affiliate. But how long do I stand around, waiting?

The shock is starting to wear off and the exasperation is setting in. I guess, for now, I'll just stubbornly hang on.