Michelle Monday:
CLASS OF 1979
Rockmart High SchoolClass of 1979
Rockmart, GA
Southwestern Illinois CollegeClass of 2004
Granite city, IL
Michelle's Story
Life
You may have known me better as Shelly Soles. Although I didn't actually graduate with you, I did go back to college and studied for my GED and passed. I dropped out to get married (thinking I knew everything of course, to Michael Moore which didn't last). Me and my son Charles moved to Illinois and have been here since. However, I did lose him when he was 17 in a car accident in 1996. It has not been easy, nor does it get any better, I just learn to adjust. I have another son, Brian and he is 32. Brian is married and has one child who is my awesome grandson.
I have recently become a widow. I lost my husband of 16 years in 2011. I have had to do some major adjustments and as with losing anyone, it takes time and learning a new way of life. I love and miss you Jim. :)
I have often thought about everyone and wonder what is happening in your lives. Contact me, I would love to hear from anyone. Shelly
College
Brian asked if I would take a class with him. Sociology. I did and I had a great time. It's amazing that when you WANT to go to school at how different it is. So we were in the Fall 2004 semester. I am proud to say that we passed with flying colors. I found it to be a very rewarding experience. I got to spend quality time with my son and got to learn something with him. We would see who had the better grade on the quizzes. We had one at the beginning of each class every week. The majority of the time, he did better than I did and the reason I say that is, HE NEVER PICKED UP HIS BOOK! I couldn't believe it. Oh well, I guess being 21 had something to do with it :)
If any of you have the opportunity to do such a thing with your son or daughter, do it. It is quite an experience!
Workplace
Currently I work for my county government in the Board of Review office. Our responsibilities are receiving filed appeals about property owners home assessed value (1/3 of market value). My duties include receiving the appeals and filing them with our office, helping customers understand the process in the assessment procedure, entering data into our computer, running letters from said appeals, sending certain appeals to our state board, answering phone calls (mainly questions about the process) and doing jobs, errands, pulling files, etc... for the board members.
It is very interesting work and I really enjoy it most days. The people that I work with are just as crazy as I am and we make work fun. Sometimes dealing with angry taxpayers isn't fun but 9 times out of 10 they leave our office smiling. That is quite an accomplishment on our part. However, sometimes a taxpayer will come in very determined that they are righ...Expand for more
t and we don't know what we are doing. I've learned after working here for 19 years to just let them say what they want to say, allow time for them to calm down and by all means do not patronize them. Then when they are ready, they will listen to the process and understand that they were the ones at fault by not doing what they should have done when they received notice of a change. That's when the mood changes :) See, we do know what we are doing, but if you disagree with any change or have ANY questions about whatever has to do with the process, it is up to YOU to contact us. We work with thousands of properties and we are not responsible for your misunderstanding of the process. Our notices we send has instructions on the back of the card on what to do, how long you have to do it in and a number to call should you not understand. Usually people just file the cards away without paying attention and then when the bill comes out a few months later they come in all upset because of an increase.
I'm not sure how your state handles taxes on property but I would advise that if you do not understand anything about it especially after receiving notification in the mail about anything to do with it, I strongly advise that you call and ask lots of questions. Allow them to explain it to you so that you will understand it and not think that they are "out to get you". That just IS NOT the case.
I came to this job after putting in 5 years at Wal-mart. I enjoyed working there, but the pay was not that great and the work load was sometimes undoable. They would not allow more help and then would reprimand you when the work didn't get done. I felt I had had enough of that.
When I first arrived here in Illinois, I started out as a waitress. Whoa, let me just say that you work your buns off, get lousy tips most of the time, get blamed for the food if it wasn't right (which that is really the cooks fault, unless I wrote it down wrong, which does happen we are ONLY human)and on top of that, we don't get paid even minimum wage. At the time we had to turn in our tips which I thought was a rip off anyway. So, when you go out to eat sometime, take the time to really watch what the waitress does. If she is good, you will see her bust her behind to get the job done and done right. If that is the case, TIP HER VERY GOOD. If she is lousy and lazy, leave a penny and then tell the manager. There are people out there that will do their best work for their money, ones who absolutely NEED to work, when others don't care one way or another. In having been there, it's pretty easy to see. So, really watch next time... I'll bet you will be surprised.
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