The other day, on Facebook, some friends and I were discussing my current inability to get a job. (I was going to say "to find a job," but that's not true. I've found tons. I just haven't gotten one. [I totally just googled "is gotten a word?" It is.]) Despite the number of applications I've filled out and resumes I've submitted, I still don't have a job. Apparently, I just don't look good on paper. Which is sort of a disappointing thought, that someone looked at a little summary of my work-life and said, "Nope." I like to think I'm good at handling rejection... but everyone's got their limit, right? So I mentioned on Facebook that the job-hunting was starting to get a little bit depressing, and lots of friends have chimed in with suggestions. One friend is considering starting her own little craft business, selling decorative items. At some point, I may or may not have used the phrase "pimp out my crafting skills" when mulling potential money-making ideas. I also may or may not have said that I should try "pimping out my writing/editing skills." (At least I didn't spell it "skillz." I do have some dignity.) I am considering the idea more and more seriously.
I think I just might get into freelancing. Maybe. I mean, I'd probably have to have another job too, because as far as I know, no one's ever gotten (there's that word, again... why does it suddenly look so weird to me?) rich freelancing. But it would be nice to be doing what I like, even if it is just on the side.
So, welcome to the experimental phase! I'm going to start by asking you for a favor. If you're reading this now, PLEASE leave me a comment. Tell me what you think of my little corner of the internet. You can even do it anonymously if you don't want me to know who you are. Leave me suggestions-- is there anything you'd like to see on my blog? I know I sort of dropped the ball on the whole Crock Pot thing, but I like to think there were extenuating circumstances (like dropping down to only one night a week of classes and no longer needed to use my slow-cooker quite often enough to remind myself to post about it). Is there something you think I should be writing about? Let me know! Together, we can make this blog a million different kinds of awesome. At least.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
In Case You Wondered...
Well, we have a verbal approval from the auditor and should have the written approval by Friday. This is great, because I'm fairly certain our next move is to close on the house. Which is wonderful, wonderful, awesome, and fantastic (and a few other happy adjectives that are currently eluding me because, apparently, I didn't make the coffee strong enough this morning).
I still don't have a job. I am still sending out resumes on almost a daily basis. A friend of mine told me that the little boutique-y type store where she works will be hiring soon. It would be a great job, it's right in town (commute time: depending on traffic/lights, 5-10 minutes), and the pay and hours fit right into the minimum I need to make in order for us to pay all of our bills (and get groceries and put gas in the vehicles) with a little left over to spare each week. So I'm really hoping I can work there. Otherwise, tomorrow is my deadline, at which time I start putting in applications to work mass retail. I've been holding off as long as possible.
I just wrote a hugely-long paragraph about why, but I deleted it. Reading over it, I realized it didn't quite fit this post. I also realized that it would make a lovely stand-alone blog post one day, and, if I do end up working mass-retail while I wait for the boutique job to open, it will absolutely end up as part of a regular feature!
So that's my update: We're moving ever closer to the moment when we become first-time homeowners. And I still don't have a job.
I still don't have a job. I am still sending out resumes on almost a daily basis. A friend of mine told me that the little boutique-y type store where she works will be hiring soon. It would be a great job, it's right in town (commute time: depending on traffic/lights, 5-10 minutes), and the pay and hours fit right into the minimum I need to make in order for us to pay all of our bills (and get groceries and put gas in the vehicles) with a little left over to spare each week. So I'm really hoping I can work there. Otherwise, tomorrow is my deadline, at which time I start putting in applications to work mass retail. I've been holding off as long as possible.
I just wrote a hugely-long paragraph about why, but I deleted it. Reading over it, I realized it didn't quite fit this post. I also realized that it would make a lovely stand-alone blog post one day, and, if I do end up working mass-retail while I wait for the boutique job to open, it will absolutely end up as part of a regular feature!
So that's my update: We're moving ever closer to the moment when we become first-time homeowners. And I still don't have a job.
Friday, March 18, 2011
If You Look Directly Above, You Can See Our Future-- Notice How It Just Hangs Up In The Air, Inaccessible For The Time Being...
Ok, so it's a pretty long title. But it sums up the past couple months nicely, I think. We have a house-- sort of. We're waiting on the government to sign off on some special something-or-other that they have to sign off on when someone buys a foreclosed home. Once we get that, we should be closing on the house within 30 days. A week ago, we were told we could expect to have said approval in a week. So far though, nothing. I mean, I understand... government bureaucrats are busy folks, and it's not like they would expect me to respond in a timely manner if they needed something from us... oh, wait... I know that we're probably supposed to be learning some deep lesson in the value of patience from this whole experience, it's just that... I'd rather not. There are plenty of other ways to teach me patience, aren't there? Also, I'm beginning to feel that patience may be just a bit overrated, and would it be so awful to just let me get on with it all now?!
But then I remember that I don't have a job, yet. So even if we do get our approval and close on the house and move in-- how are going to pay bills? So, why don't I have a job yet? I think it's harder to try and be patient about that than it is to be about the house. Why don't I have a job? I applied to work as an order-filler for a warehouse (which shall remain nameless, unless you're my facebook friend, because I named it a few times on there) and didn't get the job. That was a real blow, too. It was the perfect commute, the perfect hours (3:30-midnight-- no need to worry about day care!), and perfect pay. But I didn't get it. The interviewer kept hinting that I didn't have any warehouse experience, but plenty of retail/customer service experience, and maybe I was looking for the wrong type of work, and had I tried seeing if any of the condos/hotels near the beach were hiring? (Never mind that right in front of her was a paper with my work history, and written in plain English under "reason for leaving" my last job at a condo on the beach was my explanation that the commute was awfully long and gas was starting to get a little too expensive. Also, never mind that gas has only gotten more expensive since then.) One of my facebook friends mentioned that maybe I was over-qualified. Which is probably true. It's a warehouse, after all. Not brain surgery. But... who cares? Being over-qualified isn't going to help get the bills paid.
I've lost count of the number of applications I've filled out and resumes I've mailed and e-mailed. So far, I haven't heard back from anyone. This is getting frustrating. So, let me take a moment to address all potential employers: (yes, I understand that the chances of any of them reading this are slim... but, you know, maybe someone will know somebody who knows somebody...)
Dear Potential Employers:
Hello! And good day to you! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? (Unless it's raining when you read this, in which case: Lousy weather today, huh?) I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I'm smart. I am also literate, well-read, and almost have an AA in English. I'm a fast typer (65 wpm) and an even faster reader. My entire work history, ever since high school, has involved customer-oriented jobs. I have been a cashier. I have worked a sales floor. I have handled the check-in/out crowds in the middle of July at a condo on the beach. I work great under the pressure of a deadline and enjoy a fast pace. I am competent. I am dependable. Please do not let the fact that I might be over-qualified for the position you're offering scare you away from hiring me. I was raised to believe that when you have bills to pay, no job is beneath you. Please consider me. I, and my family, thank you.
In other news, I've decided to get optimistic and start packing. Not a lot, mind you-- where would we keep all the boxes?-- but I've been putting away some smaller things. Particularly from the kids' room. Mostly because I just cleaned/purged their bedroom and I'm trying to avoid having to do it again before we move! I'd like to start thinking about paint colors, house decorations, and yard projects, but I'm afraid that might be tempting fate just a little too far.
I'm anxious for the day when little pieces of our future begin drifting down, like balloons whose helium has started to leak out, and start falling into place. I'm ready to heave a great sigh of relief when I can see actual, tangible evidence that everything really is going to start coming together. I could also do without these new pesky gray hairs that keep sprouting.
But then I remember that I don't have a job, yet. So even if we do get our approval and close on the house and move in-- how are going to pay bills? So, why don't I have a job yet? I think it's harder to try and be patient about that than it is to be about the house. Why don't I have a job? I applied to work as an order-filler for a warehouse (which shall remain nameless, unless you're my facebook friend, because I named it a few times on there) and didn't get the job. That was a real blow, too. It was the perfect commute, the perfect hours (3:30-midnight-- no need to worry about day care!), and perfect pay. But I didn't get it. The interviewer kept hinting that I didn't have any warehouse experience, but plenty of retail/customer service experience, and maybe I was looking for the wrong type of work, and had I tried seeing if any of the condos/hotels near the beach were hiring? (Never mind that right in front of her was a paper with my work history, and written in plain English under "reason for leaving" my last job at a condo on the beach was my explanation that the commute was awfully long and gas was starting to get a little too expensive. Also, never mind that gas has only gotten more expensive since then.) One of my facebook friends mentioned that maybe I was over-qualified. Which is probably true. It's a warehouse, after all. Not brain surgery. But... who cares? Being over-qualified isn't going to help get the bills paid.
I've lost count of the number of applications I've filled out and resumes I've mailed and e-mailed. So far, I haven't heard back from anyone. This is getting frustrating. So, let me take a moment to address all potential employers: (yes, I understand that the chances of any of them reading this are slim... but, you know, maybe someone will know somebody who knows somebody...)
Dear Potential Employers:
Hello! And good day to you! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? (Unless it's raining when you read this, in which case: Lousy weather today, huh?) I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I'm smart. I am also literate, well-read, and almost have an AA in English. I'm a fast typer (65 wpm) and an even faster reader. My entire work history, ever since high school, has involved customer-oriented jobs. I have been a cashier. I have worked a sales floor. I have handled the check-in/out crowds in the middle of July at a condo on the beach. I work great under the pressure of a deadline and enjoy a fast pace. I am competent. I am dependable. Please do not let the fact that I might be over-qualified for the position you're offering scare you away from hiring me. I was raised to believe that when you have bills to pay, no job is beneath you. Please consider me. I, and my family, thank you.
In other news, I've decided to get optimistic and start packing. Not a lot, mind you-- where would we keep all the boxes?-- but I've been putting away some smaller things. Particularly from the kids' room. Mostly because I just cleaned/purged their bedroom and I'm trying to avoid having to do it again before we move! I'd like to start thinking about paint colors, house decorations, and yard projects, but I'm afraid that might be tempting fate just a little too far.
I'm anxious for the day when little pieces of our future begin drifting down, like balloons whose helium has started to leak out, and start falling into place. I'm ready to heave a great sigh of relief when I can see actual, tangible evidence that everything really is going to start coming together. I could also do without these new pesky gray hairs that keep sprouting.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
I Have A Lot Of Pet Peeves. Here's One Of Them.
Dear Teacher at Ben's School Who Stands Outside During the Car-rider Drop-Offs,
When the car ahead of me started to pull away from the sidewalk, I assumed that that meant it was on it's way out of the parking lot. So I pulled right up to the end of the sidewalk and dropped off Ben. Had I known that you had a long, long conversation that you absolutely had to have with the lady in that car right that very minute, I would have stopped a little further back so that I could have pulled around. I'm pretty sure that the minivan that pulled in behind me would have done the same. And I'm pretty sure that the car that pulled in behind the minivan would have done the same as well. And I'm pretty sure that the same goes for the other four cars that pulled in behind it. I mean, the only place I had to go after dropping my kid off was home. But what if the people behind me had somewhere to be? Work, an appointment of some sort, or even a rendezvous with destiny. Instead, we were all just stuck sitting there, moving neither forward nor backward in the world. Here's the thing: There's a whole parking lot there. I mean, I know it's not a huge parking lot or anything, but I counted at least three open spaces that lady in the car could have moved into for the duration of the conversation so that the rest of us were free to leave. I'm just sayin'....
(Incidentally, getting stuck in the drop-off line in the mornings is one of my biggest pet-peeves-- how hard is it to pull up to the sidewalk, tell your kid, "have a nice day!" and pull away? I think I just got a little more peeved than usual this morning since it was an actual teacher holding up the line rather than just a parent and kid who suddenly forgot they weren't the only people in the world.)
When the car ahead of me started to pull away from the sidewalk, I assumed that that meant it was on it's way out of the parking lot. So I pulled right up to the end of the sidewalk and dropped off Ben. Had I known that you had a long, long conversation that you absolutely had to have with the lady in that car right that very minute, I would have stopped a little further back so that I could have pulled around. I'm pretty sure that the minivan that pulled in behind me would have done the same. And I'm pretty sure that the car that pulled in behind the minivan would have done the same as well. And I'm pretty sure that the same goes for the other four cars that pulled in behind it. I mean, the only place I had to go after dropping my kid off was home. But what if the people behind me had somewhere to be? Work, an appointment of some sort, or even a rendezvous with destiny. Instead, we were all just stuck sitting there, moving neither forward nor backward in the world. Here's the thing: There's a whole parking lot there. I mean, I know it's not a huge parking lot or anything, but I counted at least three open spaces that lady in the car could have moved into for the duration of the conversation so that the rest of us were free to leave. I'm just sayin'....
(Incidentally, getting stuck in the drop-off line in the mornings is one of my biggest pet-peeves-- how hard is it to pull up to the sidewalk, tell your kid, "have a nice day!" and pull away? I think I just got a little more peeved than usual this morning since it was an actual teacher holding up the line rather than just a parent and kid who suddenly forgot they weren't the only people in the world.)
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