My 1 year anniversary at BigCo was this week.  A day after my 1 year anniversary, I put in my 2 week notice.

I finally got the research job!

I did not want to post until I was absolutely sure but I got an email asking what day I want to start. Looks like that is as sure I will get.  It reminds me of when I got into grad school. I got an email from the uni saying  “welcome to the MSW listserv” before I got a formal acceptance letter.

I put in my 2 weeks, my boss got angry since I was promoted so recently but I can’t really feel bad. This company sucks and treats the majority of it’s employees poorly.

I interned at the agency I am going to during grad school. I know the staff and they were excited to see me when I interviewed.  Notice I say agency and not company/corporation. No more corporate whoring for me, I’m going back to non-profit land.

I have a few days off between jobs and I would like to do something fun even though I have no money. Maybe St. Louis for a tattoo? Tennessee to visit my cousin I haven’t seen in years?  My coworker just went to Wisconsin Dells and it actually made me miss family vacations. If I had someone just as dorky as me with time off work, I would so go there.

I am having awesome job day!

Today I got a call for a 2nd interview for the research job I applied to last month. I thought they had forgot about me because I thought they wanted someone to start by July 1. Well I guess they just wanted to hire by July 1 and I’m in for the 2nd round.

Then later in the day, I find out I got the position I interviewed for last week at my current workplace. I accepted and I’m now a step above cube monkey!

I’m still going to do the 2nd interview for the research job because it’s still a damn hot job and I would be making more doing research than I would with my new position. I will feel bad for leaving a position right after they train me but I don’t have that much empathy for my current huge, faceless employer that I would pass up the research job.

I am so very popular.

I started the Motorcycle Rider Program this weekend. This is my 2nd time taking the class. I took it a few years ago, passed and got my motorcycle license but I’ve never felt confident with my riding skills. So since I might actually have money to fix my bike and start riding again this summer, I’m taking the class again.
Most people in this class have riding experience but aren’t licensed. I was very anxious the first time I took the class and probably the least experienced. Now I am not as anxious because I already have my license, I’m not worried about passing the test.  I still don’t like 2 instructors scrutinizing my every move and all my classmates watching me.
I’ve got a cute little Rebel to ride during the class (theirs, not mine) because I’m one of the shortest. They supply helmets too and I wore a 3/4 helmet today with my riding glasses. I liked it for our slow around the parking lot riding but I don’t think I would like it for faster street riding. It does save me from the chipmunk cheeks I get with the full face helmet. I bet that looks real cute.

The class is led by 2 completely different guys. Guy 1 is a middle aged, geeky white guy. He’s pretty normal except he has this weird, closed mouth laugh that sounds like it should come from a horse muppet. Guy 2 has an awesome matte black skull helmet. He said he gets a lot of comments on his helmet because of his line of work. He’s a funeral director. I would so love to see his bike parked outside a funeral home.

When I got home I noticed I have two bracelets of suburn on my wrists from the space between my riding gloves and the sleeves of my shirt.

I sold out at work and applied to another position. I said I was going to leave and I’m still applying for outside jobs but a position that I wouldn’t mind having at work opened up and I applied. I’ve talked with my immediate supervisor about it and now have to wait to see if HR interviews me. The position is more clinical, I would have a different immediate supervisor and I would still get LCSW supervision. A lot of the stupidity that pisses me off in my current position would be eliminated. I’m not being offered any great alternatives right now so I guess I’m not losing anything by applying. Oh, except my soul. They still get to suck on that.

I had an interview today with a non-profit that works with delinquent adolescents. The agency is small, the building is run down and the director’s desk is cluttered. Everthing you expect from a social service agency.

The job sounds nice, doing individual and group counseling with kids and lots of extra training and supervision. I don’t think they will be able to pay me enough for my to leave my current position no matter how awful it is.

My current job is easy but frustrating. All of my clinical skills are ignored and my evaluations are heavily based on my “customer service” skills. Potential job would be frustrating due to high cancellation/no show rate.

Let’s see if I get called in for a 2nd interview before I start analyzing this job.

Tomorrow I get new contacts and be Irish (drunk) all day! Yay! And for the dago in me, Sunday I will go to the St. Joseph’s table at my parent’s church. Only box wine there. Bleh.

And here is my latest project!

What’s this? Ohh, Harry Potter. Well, whatever gets the kids to read.

Oh no you tricked me! It is a hollowed out book. How clever.

That’s some awesome cutting you did there. 650 pages with an exacto knife? Wow, I bet you really wish you got your thumb fixed after New Years. Probably hurt.

Why can’t I kep my stapler in your book? You’re mean.

How did I almost forget about Shamrock shakes until now? You gross, green,what the fuck flavor are you supposed to be, indicators of springtime. Just going to McDonalds to get one gives me a stomach ache.

Maybe I forgot about them because I’m trying to eat less sugar. I’m doing a pretty sucky job of it at night but I’m good at work during my prime candy eating hours. Even with those tricky Girl Scouts pawning their delicious wares in my building. I haven’t had red meat in a while and I’m eating more overall healthy food. Can you tell someone else is cooking for me? :)

I’ve applied to some new jobs. It’s really nice actually having a job so I can be picky about where I apply to. If something is too far away or primarily involves small kids, I don’t bother. But I have been Google mapping suburban jobs to see if they are public trans accessible instead of looking past everything that doesn’t say Chicago. I will not apply for any job that requires driving. Commuting sucks and I don’t trust my car since my check engine light is on again. I’m convinced when I have it paid off in a few months it will spontaneously combust.

I will be at the South Side Irish parade this Sunday. If anyone else is going, let me know. We can ride the Western bus together. My coworkers want me to take a drunk bus from some bar out there but they had to pick the one that leaves at 9am. The parade doesn’t start until noon. I don’t think so. Anyway, I’m not a frat boy, I can’t drink at 9am. And the more they bug me daily about going on the damn bus, the less I want to go on their damn bus. I guess they’re used to people that cave under cajoling of friends. I’m more the type to just not show up if you bug me too much.

It sounds like my downstairs neighbors are rockin out to Salt N Pepa’s “Push It”. You go girls.

I got a ticket for Type O Negative concert today. I’m eager to get my high school angst on. And MC Chris announced a new tour with Piebald. Wouldn’t have put the two bands together but I will probably see the show.

I applied for one job so far and got an email back saying “Hey, we will contact you when we start interviewing.” Not getting my hopes up but it’s nice to get a non-automated reply.

I’m putting off installing my new DVD drive because I think I will fuck it up. I have to do it soon because I really want to watch my new Nick Cave Abattoir Blues Tour DVD and it’s in PAL format. (Thank you, Valentine).

It’s cold and there’s some sort of ice rain going on.

I’m going drinking.

I accepted the job from BigCo. SmallCo never called me back. I start at the end of the month, working 9-5 in an office downtown. I also scheduled my first personal training session at the gym. Did I ever think this would be me?

No.

I’m pretty sure it’s the right direction. I’ve wanted some sort of stability in my life for a long time.

I was hoping I could visit my boy between leaving my current job and starting my new one but that doesn’t appear to be doable. His schedule doesn’t work with when I’m available. I’ve been penciled in for August but I’m not terribly hopeful. I’m slighly jealous that a 60 year old man could make him break his schedule and I can’t. OK, that old man is Tom Waits but come on, I’m way hotter.

BigCo from interview #2 called me back today. I haven’t called them back yet but I’m guessing they’re calling for a 2nd interview. I know SmallCo wanted 2nd and even 3rd interviews but I don’t remember if BigCo said the same thing.

I’m not quite sure how this part works. I want to do 2nd interviews but I also want to wait to see who calls me back. I don’t know if BigCo is down with “Thanks for the offer, can I call you back with my decision?” especially since they told me to email them back after the 1st interview after I had thought about whether I wanted the job or not. I know it’s going to be hard not to jump at the first job offer but I do prefer SmallCo to BigCo. Non-profit is still in the running as well, I liked them just as much as SmallCo.

Mmmm…real job getting close!

The job hunt is looking up!

The story of 3 interviews.

Interview 1. Non-profit, downtown office, helping low income peoples.

Usually non-profits have small offices in bad neighborhoods. During the interview I was told their 2nd office is in Lawndale. Oh, the ghetto makes me feel better. Speaking from a very social worky POV, you don’t make the crazies navigate their way downtown, you go to them. Treat and release. Like a wildlife preserve. The interviewer spent a good amount of time convincing me I would be safe in the neighborhood until I told him that i worked in Austin and Englewood, which are much worse than Lawndale. I’m hardcore, yo.

Interview 2. BigCo, huge, intimidating for-profit downtown.

It was one of those buildings where you get off the elevator and are greeted by huge wooden doors bearing the name of the company in gold letters. Counseling happens here? In an unusual way, yes. I would work in a cube, 9-5 and never actually see, touch or smell a client. It’s the sterile version of social work my mom would like.

I was interviewed by 2 HR people, one seemed greatly disinterested in interviewing me. I waited 15 minutes between the time I took some stupid personnel quiz and the time I saw the HR people. One kept yawning and I couldn’t stop looking at her fatness peeking from her a slit in her shirt. During the tour, the other more interested HR candidate took me around the department. It was filled with people but so quiet. People barely looked up as we passed by. I found myself lowering my voice to a library whisper. I didn’t want to disturb the drones.

Obviously, I’m having issues with this whole corporate America thing. I’m not sure I can be a happy cube dweller.

3rd interview,SmallCo, just a phone interview so far.

I get a call from a 2nd company, same field as BigCo, similar location. During the phone interview, the HR woman tells me a little about the company. It’s small, she can tell me about the person I am replacing and why she left. The HR person puts me on hold during the interview. She has to set up a conference call for Mr. X. Mr. X as in “X & Y” company. So I have an interview with them next week and maybe this smaller, not so faceless company will be nicer.

I had a phone interview this morning with BigCo. The job sounds similar to my work on a crisis hotline but the crisis line was housed with other counseling programs so I also saw clients in person. The position would be strictly phone based, the woman I interviewed with described the office to look like a call center. Working in a cube with a headset kind of makes me shudder.

It reminds me of my two least favorite jobs. I worked as a telemarketer during undergrad for a few months, convincing people that had a certain company’s auto insurance that they should also buy that company’s life insurance. I hated bugging people, following the script and I ended up getting fired because I talked so fast and stuttered so much no one could understand me. The best part was when my boss pulled me into his office and said “Have you ever been in speech therapy?”
The 2nd worst job was when I worked for a temp agency doing data entry. I had to battle rush hour traffic to get there by some awful early hour and type meaningless numbers all day until I wanted to cry. I lasted a week. I think i described the job as “soul sucking” to the temp agency person when I called to quit. I worked as a waitress after that. That place is a story for another day.
So I’m a bit nervous at the prospect of having a job that requires me to work a 9-5 in a call center environment. I have an in person interview later this week and I will wait until then to decide if this job will drive me to make paper hats that say “monkey push the button” and cry on my way to work.