Fingers Crossed!

I went camping last weekend and when I talked to my dad on the phone after returning home after 14 hours in the wild he asked if I wanted to go to my parents' house for a night or two. I didn't feel like thinking about cooking dinner or lugging laundry down to the basement, so I took him up on the offer.

I spent a couple awesome days with the parents and when I checked my email on Monday afternoon I saw that I'd gotten a message from the woman who'd contacted me about my most recent interview. We swapped a couple emails and I called my dad to tell him I had to get back to the city that night so I could get a good night's sleep for INTERVIEW NUMBER TWO!

I got to the office and it still feels good walking in there. I think that if they hire me (knock on wood!) I could have a good time there. I met with one of the admins who's been there almost ten years and she didn't mince words at all. I then met with both the CFO and COO. These guys were no nonsense and really nice. The COO was the first of all the people I'd talked to there (six of them!) who asked me about my hobbies and life out of the office. He definitely wasn't expecting to hear me talk about going to the Opera and Symphony.

I gave them a list of my references and left feeling pretty good. I was told I'd hear from them in a few days and it's been a few days, but I'm guessing I'll hear from them this week.

Gah, I really want to go back to work and this company seems really cool.

Also!

I had an interview! It was almost two hours long and I got an email from one of the women I talked to saying she'd talk to me next week about a follow up interview.

And I heard back from the other office affiliated with my most recent employer. They were taking this past week to look over resumes but wanted to let me know that I came highly recommended by people they knew.

Man, fingers crossed. I need to be back to working.

Banking and Shopping

Oh, jeez.

I've had one unemployment check for a few days, maybe close to a week, and I got another yesterday. A responsible person would deposit them as they arrive. Or check the mail early when they're expecting a check and take it to the bank. (I don't direct deposit them for a few reasons.) But I really like sleeping in.

Today I went to the theater (classy!) and I stopped at the grocery store close to my apartment. I was just going to run to the ATM inside and grab cash to take to brunch with friends tomorrow. But I decided that since I'm trying to eat healthier I should buy some vegetables and get cash back when I paid. I got supplies for salads, sandwiches, and omelets, and headed to the register. My debit card was declined. Twice. My credit card was declined. The girl ringing up my purchase saved the transaction while I ran to the ATM. The ATM told me it wasn't going to give me any money and that I don't have anything in my savings account.

But I have something in my savings account. I have a lot of somethings in my savings account.

I went back to the register and asked if she could hold the transaction a little longer and that I'd be right back. And I walked up the hill to the ATM at the bank, figuring I could move money from one account to the other there. But when I got there it told me the same thing the ATM at the store had told me.

I remembered back a week and a half to when I was depositing a check and a very eager bank teller had me upgrade my savings account. I'd get a higher interest rate and she assured me that I didn't need to have a minimum balance for it. She neglected to tell me that I apparently can't access the account from an ATM.

I ran home, stole some internets (thanks, neighbor!), transferred some money, grabbed those two checks, went back up the hill to the ATM at the bank, deposited the checks, got cash, and went back to the store.

When I walked in I saw one guy who worked there dropping off some empty bags at another register and I just knew. I stepped up to the register and told the young man working that I'd left a transaction that I'd like to complete. And he apologized and said that they'd just taken everything back. "Yeah, we waited a half hour...sorry."

So I said I hadn't realized it'd been so long or blah, blah, blah, and thanked him and started walking back to the produce section. But the thought of walking through the store, picking up the things that some guy had just returned to the shelves, was just too much. I felt really embarassed. I was probably going to start crying any moment. I felt my shoulders drop and I tried to plaster on a brave face and turned around and walked back out the door, hopefully with an expression on my face that conveyed a sense of, "well, I have terribly important things to get to, la-dee-dah," but probably just looking like i was pursing my lips to keep the tears from forming.

At least I'd grabbed a sandwich from a cafe on the way home from the show. And I'd paid cash.

Lessons learned: deposit my effing unemployment checks as soon as they arrive, when running from a store to a bank to home to a bank to a store to home, wear comfortable shoes. My feet hurt.

Annoyed and Joyed

A few weeks, on a Thursday, I checked my mail and got a notice that on the following Monday I had to go to the unemployment office (again) for a mandatory meeting with someone about something.

I had to rearrange my weekend plans and, luckily, my dad drove me to the meeting. This was the start of a very hot week in the city.

I maintain that this office is the most depressing place I've ever visited. It's gray and sad and full of depressed unemployed people. And the bathroom is scary.

I went back to this woman's desk and she went through the motions of her job. She looked at my resume and told me it sucked. She told me what I needed to add, I said that I put all of those things she'd mentioned into my cover letters. She didn't really acknowledge that. She showed me websites where I can find job listings (thanks, lady, couldn't figure those out). And she printed out a job listing that I had to apply for. It's in another city. It's a temporary position. It pays less than I'm asking for.

Thanks for all your help.

I was really upset when I left and I went home (on a bus on one of the hottest days of the year) and I didn't apply for the job that day out of spite.

I did apply for the job (eventually) because I'd signed some bull form saying I would and that I'd call her to tell her what came of all that.

Whatever.

I got an email from a woman at a law office I sent my resume to. It was actually really nice that she seems to have emailed everyone who applied. This is impressive because she said in the email that she got over 800 resumes in three days. What. The. Blazes. So that made me feel as though I will never, ever be employed again.

I got into a funk for a couple days and figured that I'd be back in retail. Then I figured that to make what I was making at my last job I'd have to work two retail jobs.

I decided to drown my sorrows in a series of novels. I read about 12 books in two weeks. Which is actually pretty cool.

I got word from my sister that family members are worried that I'm destitute and depressed. I pointed out that depression isn't my style; I'm just annoyed at the state of things.

But things look up!

I got a haircut today (so girly, but haircuts and painting my nails make me feel really good) and I talked to someone from an office for about 15 minutes and we scheduled an interview next week! The office is atually in a builing pretty close to where I live and I used to work there. So handy. I also found out today that an office in the same company I just worked for is hiring for a position that I totally rocked at my last office. My (now former) boss let me know that he dropped my name to a guy in that office. I did really like working for that company, and being in a different office is a nice way to stick with the company while saving face a bit. Also, I'd totally get to go to the company holiday party!

This whole unemployment adventure has had its ups and downs. At least I'm getting a ton of sleep.