Is this for you? Nah, prolly more for myself...
After being laid off for the second time in less than a year, I fretted. Terrible economy, frightening jobless numbers, a world in turmoil for so many different reasons and I was going to rely on unemployment benefits only barely paying more than that joke Big Brother likes to call minimum wage. Now, I had been looking for a job, and had scheduled to meet with a new temp agency (new for me anyway), but prospects for new employment weren't exactly rolling in in droves.
I met with the lady at the agency and informed her my situation had changed, I was unemployed and eager to start work ASAP (you have to say that, truth be told I never wanted to work again, people rub me the wrong way, or I do them and it's all cyclical anyway). She said she already had something in mind for me, a back office job for a locally owned shoe-shop. Lo and behold, she actually gets me an interview the very next day! But when I meet the manager, he's explaining to me the work entailed and the compensation, and they don't match up. I'm leery, but I tell the lady if they want me, I'll give it a go, if only for experience's sake.
The next day, I go to a bar I like, I want to learn about this whole bartending thing. Lady behind the bar says the best thing to do is start out as a "barback." Basically an assistant to the bartenders and waiters. She says she doesn't know if they're hiring, she's not sure they're even able to keep everyone they have staffed at the moment (the economy is hitting the bar? that can't be good!), but I fill out an app anyway. Of course I also drop my resume in to some other things.
The extended forecast is claiming that the following week is gonna see a pretty bad snow storm. They're sure of it. Bet on it. Snow.
The weekend comes and goes and it is OH so nice to be home with my family. I've been playing Red Dead Redemption and loving the down time. Some very much needed R&R after the shitstorm in the rug gallery.
Monday comes. That evening the snowstorm will start. I go to pick up the A.N.T. from school and as I'm waiting for her, the temp agency calls, they've got me a job! Interoffice, clerical, the money I want. Holy shit, yeah I can start tomorrow! "If you can't make it because of the snow, they'll understand..." she says to me, "but if you can make it, that'll look really good on you. Just call them and me if you can't." Will do.
I'm psyched. Seriously. Only a week out of work and I've got what I've been looking for. Granted it's through a temp agency, but that's how I started at Hilti and I got four decent years out of that. I set my alarm for early, expecting I'll need to shovel.
A text message comes to the A.L.T.'s phone early in the morning, even before my alarm goes off. So I go ahead and get up and as I'm getting dressed, the Precious asks what am I doing?
"I've got to try and get to work, I'm gonna go shovel."
"My Mom just said don't drive..."
"I've got to at least try."
It's still dark, but I can see it has snowed. I step out into the garage between our cars, dug out the shovel, and opened the garage door.
O
M
G
There's already six inches piled up against the door and a drift forming a couple feet down.
Closed the garage door, went inside, called in due to snow.
Oklahomans will be well aware that we totaled a metric-shit-ton of snow that first day of February, 2011. The ladies didn't make it out of the house either and we all stayed inside and watched in wonder as snow just kept falling, and temperatures plummeted. Records broke abound, and we, as did many other citizens, found ourselves placed under house arrest for the next week. I diligently called in to both my new job and the temp agency every day, with no response, my only hope being they weren't responding because they were stuck at home, too. My rep at the temp agency thankfully had access to her e-mail from her phone and we kept in contact. She understood completely and assured me I would still be able to take advantage of this job opportunity the following week.
My dad came and helped me dig out some of our driveway (he has four-wheel drive on his truck), but it was still so thick and compacted with ice underneath, that we were still stuck inside for the next couple of days. It was Saturday before we finally made it out and went shopping. Sunday the temps finally got above freezing and we tore that ice apart and were ready for work on Monday.
I started my new job, mostly data entry type stuff, worked Monday and Tuesday, and dreaded what was to come. Another snow storm. Fortunately, this one was much lighter, and I was only half an hour late to get to work.
I'm sitting here at the end of my second full weekend (I got President's Day off! The perks of working within a bank!) and feeling decent again. I'm not rich yet. And I'm not even assured this job I'm working, but I'm getting the experience and credit that makes me a commodity, and that feels good after feeling so helpless, both because I had been laid off (again) and then being stuck in the house thanks to Mother Nature acting a total cunt.
So far this is the ideal job. Quiet, low stress, good wage, and it's literally down the street from our house. I hope I can turn it into something permanent, but until then, it feels good to be back in a grown-up job. Hopefully I'll have nothing but good things to say about the new job, or better yet, nothing to say at all (who wants to talk about work all the time? unless you taste test Skittles, I bet that shit would be awesome). May 2011 be so much brighter than that dismal 2010.
I met with the lady at the agency and informed her my situation had changed, I was unemployed and eager to start work ASAP (you have to say that, truth be told I never wanted to work again, people rub me the wrong way, or I do them and it's all cyclical anyway). She said she already had something in mind for me, a back office job for a locally owned shoe-shop. Lo and behold, she actually gets me an interview the very next day! But when I meet the manager, he's explaining to me the work entailed and the compensation, and they don't match up. I'm leery, but I tell the lady if they want me, I'll give it a go, if only for experience's sake.
The next day, I go to a bar I like, I want to learn about this whole bartending thing. Lady behind the bar says the best thing to do is start out as a "barback." Basically an assistant to the bartenders and waiters. She says she doesn't know if they're hiring, she's not sure they're even able to keep everyone they have staffed at the moment (the economy is hitting the bar? that can't be good!), but I fill out an app anyway. Of course I also drop my resume in to some other things.
The extended forecast is claiming that the following week is gonna see a pretty bad snow storm. They're sure of it. Bet on it. Snow.
The weekend comes and goes and it is OH so nice to be home with my family. I've been playing Red Dead Redemption and loving the down time. Some very much needed R&R after the shitstorm in the rug gallery.
Monday comes. That evening the snowstorm will start. I go to pick up the A.N.T. from school and as I'm waiting for her, the temp agency calls, they've got me a job! Interoffice, clerical, the money I want. Holy shit, yeah I can start tomorrow! "If you can't make it because of the snow, they'll understand..." she says to me, "but if you can make it, that'll look really good on you. Just call them and me if you can't." Will do.
I'm psyched. Seriously. Only a week out of work and I've got what I've been looking for. Granted it's through a temp agency, but that's how I started at Hilti and I got four decent years out of that. I set my alarm for early, expecting I'll need to shovel.
A text message comes to the A.L.T.'s phone early in the morning, even before my alarm goes off. So I go ahead and get up and as I'm getting dressed, the Precious asks what am I doing?
"I've got to try and get to work, I'm gonna go shovel."
"My Mom just said don't drive..."
"I've got to at least try."
It's still dark, but I can see it has snowed. I step out into the garage between our cars, dug out the shovel, and opened the garage door.
O
M
G
There's already six inches piled up against the door and a drift forming a couple feet down.
Closed the garage door, went inside, called in due to snow.
Oklahomans will be well aware that we totaled a metric-shit-ton of snow that first day of February, 2011. The ladies didn't make it out of the house either and we all stayed inside and watched in wonder as snow just kept falling, and temperatures plummeted. Records broke abound, and we, as did many other citizens, found ourselves placed under house arrest for the next week. I diligently called in to both my new job and the temp agency every day, with no response, my only hope being they weren't responding because they were stuck at home, too. My rep at the temp agency thankfully had access to her e-mail from her phone and we kept in contact. She understood completely and assured me I would still be able to take advantage of this job opportunity the following week.
My dad came and helped me dig out some of our driveway (he has four-wheel drive on his truck), but it was still so thick and compacted with ice underneath, that we were still stuck inside for the next couple of days. It was Saturday before we finally made it out and went shopping. Sunday the temps finally got above freezing and we tore that ice apart and were ready for work on Monday.
I started my new job, mostly data entry type stuff, worked Monday and Tuesday, and dreaded what was to come. Another snow storm. Fortunately, this one was much lighter, and I was only half an hour late to get to work.
I'm sitting here at the end of my second full weekend (I got President's Day off! The perks of working within a bank!) and feeling decent again. I'm not rich yet. And I'm not even assured this job I'm working, but I'm getting the experience and credit that makes me a commodity, and that feels good after feeling so helpless, both because I had been laid off (again) and then being stuck in the house thanks to Mother Nature acting a total cunt.
So far this is the ideal job. Quiet, low stress, good wage, and it's literally down the street from our house. I hope I can turn it into something permanent, but until then, it feels good to be back in a grown-up job. Hopefully I'll have nothing but good things to say about the new job, or better yet, nothing to say at all (who wants to talk about work all the time? unless you taste test Skittles, I bet that shit would be awesome). May 2011 be so much brighter than that dismal 2010.
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