Sigh.

And...that office from yesterday? They're not ready to hire another staff member.


Back to emailing out the resume.

A Nice Little Office

A few weeks ago one of my friends sent me a series of emails between her and one of her friends. Her friend was asking if my friend would be interested in doing some part- to full-time work at her office. My friend is going out of town for a significant amount of time and let her friend know that it'd probably be a bit of trouble to hire and train her just for her to pack up and leave, but she mentioned that she has a friend (that's me!) who's looking for work. I sent my resume to my friend, she passed it on to her friend, and this week I got an email asking if I was interested in being considered for the position.

We swapped a few emails and this morning I got up at 6:30 (oh my, I'd forgotten how that was. And I had my dad call me to make sure I was awake on time.), got ready, caught a bus, and found the office.

A note about the bus. I don't like riding buses. I just don't. It's maybe from having to ride the bus to and from school for ten or so years. I don't know. I think it also has something to do with the fact that I'm not familiar with a lot of the places that I can't just walk to so I get all worried that I'll miss my stop and end up in another county or something. However, today's bus ride was pleasant.

Okay, so I found the office and went in and everyone was crazy nice. Holy heck. At least four people offered a cup of coffee (I declined because I'd likely spill it down my front.) and one guy just popped on into the conference room where I was waiting. Just to chat. And tell me a wee bit about the industry. I heard him mention excitedly to others in the office that there was someone there (that's me!) about an admin position. They had a summer intern and I think they're missing that extra pair of hands.

I met with a couple people for about 20 minutes and it was nice and chill. One of them got his graduate degree at the university I attended and I got to tell them a bit about what I'd done at my last job.

They're going to get in touch with me next week when they have a bit of a better idea of what they're looking for. They know I'd like a full-time job and I think they have to figure out when (or, indeed, if) this job will become a full-time position. Also, the starting wage the friend of my friend mentioned to me in the emails is right around what I'm looking for. Score!

So, here's hoping something good comes of today's excursion. I really liked the vibe of that office.

Food

Really good food is one thing that I have no problem shelling out a lot of money for. I joined a couple foodie friends at a posh sushi restaurant and the bill for dinner for three of us was over $150. I didn't even blink. What we ate was definitely worth that amount.

In addition to buying food at restaurants, I really dig cooking. My friends don't believe this because I like going out for prepared food and I like Kraft Mac & Cheese so much. I just don't cook very often because of a couple reasons. One, the lights in my kitchen are kinda lamesauce and flicker after being on for about a minute. It's like trying to cook at a really lame rave. Two, I live on my own and cooking for one isn't as fun as cooking for, say, three or more people. I know, I know, I can eat leftovers and freeze food, blah, blah, blah. The truth is, frozen food isn't as good as fresh food. It's just a fact in my kitchen.

During this whole unemployment adventure I've been meeting friends for lunch and if that happens I usually have a cheap or really easy-to-make dinner. This is, seriously, mostly mac & cheese. And this is only if I have more than one meal in a day. I've been getting hours upon hours of sleep and I'm usually not hungry for more than, say, a handful of crackers for the first few hours I'm awake. So I'll have some crackers or a few pieces of cheese, then it's mostly just water and maybe a cup of tea until late dinner.

One result of this is that I've tightened my belt a notch. The old jeans definitely got a little baggier. But another result is that I'm eating absolute garbage. How bad is it? Tonight's dinner is a bowl of Fiber One and a large side of broccoli. I had to make myself go to the store (after lunch with a friend) and buy vegetables. I need to clean up my act!

I've started turning to my veggie friend for tips on cooking plants. So delicious! She is responsible for me being a bit crazy about roasting brussels sprouts. And tonight's broccoli was steamed with some basil, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Okay, so, what am I learning? I'm learning that it's okay to go out for food (when the budget allows), but I really need to get healthy food to cook at home. And every time I get groceries I need to get produce that I will cook and eat. This will help me feel healthy and will keep my energy levels in check.

Gah, being an adult is hard sometimes.

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.