Job Search Update

Well, as it turns out, my job search is OVER!! I was offered a position at Opportunities for Otsego, and I accepted it. I’ll be starting on Monday. As it turns out, the phone interview I had for Opportunities for Otsego was for a different department, but they shared there top applications with the department I got hired for, so I had my interview there and had the job within the week. I’m so happy, and my McDonald’s nightmare is over! I gave my notice to the store manager, and he was pissed. He asked me what the position was that I was leaving “him” for, and without his permission! (Isn’t that ridiculous?) He also started going after my husband and gave me a lecture and told me how much he had done for me (which is actually just about nothing). He had recently been cutting my hours, so that I wasn’t even making $150 a week and his managers were being complete asses. Seriously. The other night my manager tried to make me do back drive-thru and front counter at the same time. If you’ve never worked drive-thru, I can tell you that this impossible. You have to walk half the store, and take orders and money in two places at once; oh, and you have to back yourself up (get your own food together) up front. Needless to say this did not work. After that, he told me that he was going to do play place (the area that the kids play), front counter, and the bathrooms; and I was to do the dishes, and then, after that was done, sweep and mop the lobby. I then informed him that the front was already done except for a few things to be brought back and a couple other things wiped down. He didn’t care. Whatever, I won’t have to deal with them much longer.

In the Past Month…

… we have gone from no interviews, or possibilities thereof, to my having three interviews lined up within a matter of days, and another possibility; and Matthew finding job opportunities that he can apply to, as well as advancing his work on selling paintings. During the beginning of the month, I signed up with Manpower (a local temporary placement service) to hopefully find work. They also do permanent placement, just in case you are wondering. Well, to start that off, they had me take two assessments. One to measure my data entry skills and another to measure my Microsoft Word skills. I placed as a “master” in both. They were very happy about this, and immediately hired me to be either a temp or permanent employee; although they did not have any jobs to place me in at that moment. They apparently forgot to have me to the Microsoft Excel assessment, and so brought me back to take that assessment after I had an interview set-up with them because the job required the use of spreadsheets. Well, I took it and received a “master” grade in that as well. While this was happening, I got a call from the local JcPenney and Opportunities for Otsego, for interviews; and also came across an ad in the local paper from the company I used to work for before I had my son. They were advertising for an Executive Administrative Assistant, which is exactly what I went to college for. They said that they would consider me, and when I called to confirm that they had received it (I sent it via email), she said that she had forwarded it on to the “powers that be”, and would let me know if she heard anything. So we’ll see what happens there.

I think it would be really cool to work at my old workplace, since I already know the people and the business is thriving and they are local. It would also be really nice to work for Opportunities for Otsego as well, because they help local people and helping people is important to me.

I’ve also been working more on self improvement lately. I’ve been reading books on language self-defense (specifically for work situations), communication, finding joy in everyday life again, decision making, and reading body language. I’ve started the self-defense one, but haven’t gotten very far yet. I’ve also started relearning the piano.

Financially right now, I need to get one of those jobs. We were forced to take food stamps so that we could feed ourselves, and even that isn’t doing much for us right now. We only get $115 dollars a month to feed my husband, myself, and our son. Our son also gets WIC for things like formula, baby cereal, and juice. So at least he does get some nutrition. We’ve decided that we have to cut meat out of our diet for the time being and eat beans instead (cheaper sources of protein). On Sundays we normally go to my parents-in-law for a family get together, and normally have meat then, so we will get it once a week. I’m hoping that if I nail one of these jobs here soon, we will be able to eat more nutritiously again.

Latest Happenings

Well, I’ve applied to a lot more jobs, so we’ll have to wait and see. McDonald’s work has been going as usual, except for a very funny happening. About a week ago I was told that the front sign (the “Golden Arches) were not on because of an electrical problem that they had to come have a electrician repair. Well, on Monday one of the head managers came in later in the evening and when he left, he realized that those afore said arches were not lit. So he came back into the parking lot and drove up to the drive-thru window and asked me to tell my manager that the front sign wasn’t on. So I did, and the manager comes over and tells him that it is broken. Well, the boss manager guy tells him to check the fuses again “just to make sure”. So he did. All that time they had forgotten to turn the front sign lights on! It was hilarious!

As it turns out, all of the closers (with the exception of one and the managers, that I know of) are looking for jobs. I because I can’t pay the bills on what I am making, another because he just lost his other job and McDonald’s is just “not doing it for him”, and the other is looking because he wants a better job and doesn’t feel that he will have a reason to stay with almost all of his real friends leaving (or having already left) this job. He also stated to me that he doesn’t want to have to deal with re-adjusting to new people. All this besides the fact that most of us have a difficulty with our managers. I know if my manager respected me as a person, and actually practiced what they preached, I wouldn’t have anywhere near as much of a problem with it as I do. For instance, the other night, I was working with one other co-worker and one of the two night managers (I will not mention names) was yelling at my co-worker for not doing something his way (which most of the time is made up in his head and different every time he tells us how to do something). He was doing this and then went into the office and ate a pizza. Meanwhile my co-worker was closing grill, and I was working on the front-counter, drive-thru, and doing “dishes” at the same time. The funny thing is that later on that evening he told my co-worker that he was just trying to get him to hurry up – while he had just been eating pizza for an hour and doing absolutely nothing! Incredible. Whatever.

Waiting…Yet Again!

So, I’ve been trying to get a job at Bassett Healthcare (It’s a local hospital). I first applied back in November, got an interview in about a week, and got my second interview about a week after that. Then they told me that they had a lot of candidates to interview, so it would be about another month or so until they knew anything. So I call back in a month or so and it turns out that they filled that position (never got back to me), and put me in for another job. This job was for a slightly different position, but I’m in line, and since this was all happening around Christmas time, people were on vacation, etc. So, I’m still waiting to find out if they are even going to interview me for that position. In the mean time, my mother-in-law quit one job, lost another job, and applied to Bassett. She had a connection, and so she starts Monday. Grrh! Oh well. I shouldn’t complain, at least they are still considering me. It could be worse. I also applied to a whole bunch of other positions through them, so we’ll see what happens. G2G!More later…

Melody