In which Primo gets all stressed about quitting his job and I say Join the crowd honey I am living in Stressville

This is what it is like at our house right now with Primo contemplating quitting his job to be a full-time candidate: We are both super cranky and we snap at each other all the time and we fight in front of our friends and I tell Primo he has completely changed the rules and I never signed up for this and it is stress, stress, stress.

Then Primo reads this article in Salon.com by a guy who was dumb enough to quit a job so he could look for another job only the guy didn't even do any research about what kind of job he wanted to get and if those jobs were available and what he needed to do to get one of those jobs. He obviously never read Ask A Manager - Alison would never advise someone to quit a job without having another job lined up. Alison would also say not to listen to your parents about job advice because your parents are not objective and they don't always know.

In this case, the dad was an engineer with several patents and the writer was a failed musician who had gotten a typing pool job. The dad was all "Go for it, dude!" and the son listened to his father. He did no research (according to the article). He had minimal savings. He was 42 years old trying to get an entry-level position in another field. If you have ever looked for a job, you have probably discovered that employers are not eager to hire middle-aged, experienced people for entry-level jobs.

I feel bad for the guy, but honestly, he did not do it right.

Where was I?

So Primo is all stressed now because of this article and I pointed out that our situation is different - that Primo has been talking to people and we think we have a Plan B - that he could perhaps return to his old job after a year or to another employer in this area. I have a job. I don't make as much money as I would like or as I used to or as Primo does, but I make enough to cover our bills.

Still, we are super cranky and snappy with each other and if we both make it through this experience alive, I will be impressed.

Primo's parents certainly aren't encouraging him to do this, although I would be very happy if they would give him a $280,000 gift to launch his new life, as they essentially did with Jack and his restaurant.

Nope, Sly and Doris called yesterday - which was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend - to ask why Primo HAD NOT CALLED. THEY WERE WORRIED! IT HAD BEEN OVER A WEEK!

1. It had not been over a week. Primo calls them at least once a week, usually on Sunday before 3:00 our time because 3:00 our time is when they start drinking.

2. We were out of town. It is possible that the reason Primo does not call is that he is doing something else. It is pretty likely that he is doing something else on a holiday weekend.

But Doris had to give Primo the "But I was sooo worried because you didn't call" when she called at 4:30 our time, which means she declared panic and disaster only 90 minutes after the call usually happens and just had to go straight to High Drama rather than sending an email saying, "Hey! Hope everything is OK. I bet you are out of town for the holiday weekend. Love you. Talk to you next week."

Anyhow, the Primo situation is nothing like this guy.

And the good news is that the guy who wanted to run for the county board - the 23 year old - is not going to run. Primo got a text from a friend of his - this politically-connected guy - who gave him the news. The 23 year old had wanted to have coffee with Primo on Friday but then cancelled because he wasn't feeling well and rather just telling Primo over the phone that he wasn't going to run, he wants to reschedule the meeting, which makes me realize even more that this guy has never had a Serious Job because when you have a Serious Job, you don't get to spend your day running off to meet people for coffee so they can tell you something they could perfectly well tell you over the phone.

In which Primo hopes for rain so he can get out of meeting with volunteers

It is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and Primo is committed to spending Monday all day at campaign events. Then someone told him that there is a group of volunteers doing general campaigning who will be mentioning Primo's name during their rounds today - Saturday - and that Primo needs to meet with them.

Obviously, it's a good idea to somehow reward people who give their time to you. We are not in a position to pay people to campaign for us (what? you didn't know that people got paid for door to door campaigning? Yes! They do! Oftentimes, the sincere young person - the political equivalent of the indy singer-songwriter - who knocks on your door to tell you all about An Issue or A Candidate is being paid. I don't care - I am a capitalist and I believe people's time is worth something, but wouldn't you like to know if the person is being paid or is doing this out of sincere belief? I would.)

Where was I?

Oh. We are not rich people. We cannot pay people to campaign for us or to run the campaign. (although we made a big stupid mistake by paying Samantha, the most horrible campaign manager in the world for the previous campaign. My stomach hurts thinking of the money we wasted. Remember she tried to extort another candidate whose campaign she was managing?)

But Primo can spend time with people.

But it's not like Primo is a big name. So I have mixed feelings about this. It's important to keep people motivated. And it's gracious to appear in person to thank people who are working on your behalf.

But would I, if I were a campaign volunteer, even care if I met someone at Primo's level? I don't know. Maybe people who care enough about this stuff to spend the Saturday of a long weekend knocking on doors on behalf of someone else care about meeting the candidate.

Anyhow, it's not my free time. It's Primo's.

But he doesn't want to do it. He is hoping it rains so they can't do doors and he doesn't lose his Saturday morning.

I told him just not to do it anyhow.

"But that will hurt my reputation!" he said.

I laughed. "If reputations actually mattered in your world, Samantha would be at the bottom of the river."