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2.06.2009 ||> Plan A out the window
Since the New Year, I have been busting ass networking with as many people in my target companies as possible to get a summer internship. Last week, I had three interviews in four days. And not a one wants to give me an offer. I have been rejected by all my top companies and find myself with no options. All my leads have lead me... nowhere. All that work for no reward.
The rub is that I have been told by at least two companies that I'm a rock star, but that they wanted someone with "marketer" on their resume. I can't put that on there without lying, so it's out of the question. I thought that the whole point of being in a full-time MBA program was so that I could change my career. But how will I get any experience if no one will hire me because I have no experience? It makes no sense!
I'm tired, stressed and this is affecting my health. I am tapped out networking-wise and in serious need of a plan B. I don't know where I can go from here.
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Last Friday - Last day at work! I got totally shit faced at a happy hour and botched about my abusive boss. I finally got it off my chest: she was not as hot as she thought, as no one with a waddle can be classified as "hot" in my humble opinion.
Last Saturday - Nursed hangover. Oh, it was bad. I pissed Tony off while drunk, but we worked it out.
Last Sunday - Sat around and watched movies.
Monday - Sat around some more.
Tuesday - Started playing an old DOS computer game that I bought in the 90's.
Wednesday - Added RAM to my computer and got further in the computer game.
Thursday - Won the computer game!
Friday - Cleaned up a bit. Hung out with Tony. He's been super stressed at work, so I wanted to focus on him.
Saturday - Road trip! With shopping! But not for me....
Sunday - More shopping! We bought Lina a kitty leash. As anticipated, she hates it. But she will learn to love it.
I feel so much better...
Labels: friends, vacation, work
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Today is the beginning of the end of work. I have been looking forward to my summer vacation for awhile now. To be honest, I have some serious money worries and have been second-guessing my decision to quit so early. I know I made the right decision for my own sanity, and that this will give me the ability to get super organized before the move since I will have so little time to unpack when I move in -- about two days at best.
In response, Tony has offered me $40 to do his laundry once a week, so at least I will have something. Actually, for awhile now, Tony has been paying me to fold his laundry. We have always done our own laundry, and it's not even one of those tasks that would be easily synced. But he hates folding, and about a month or so ago, he offered me $15 in hopes that I would do it. And I did, but once I figured out that it was about an hour, I increased the price to $20. My time is more valuable than that. So now it will be $40 for washing and folding about three loads a week, which is nothing, really.
I would still be willing to do my job on a semi-part time basis for the next couple of weeks for some extra cash, but I am afraid that "part-time" would magically turn into "full-time" for less money, so I am a bit afraid to go there. And since my boss isn't offering, I haven't discussed it. So for now, there will be that $40 tax free, and that's it.
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So, I turned in my two weeks on Friday. Friday's the best anyway, because it gives your boss a good amount of time to think about what you need to do before you leave. And, it went well.
I was super nervous about sending in my resignation. At the last minute, I was totally unsure that I should be doing this. So, I closed my eyes very tightly and hit "send." And then I walked over to put the hard copies in the proper mailboxes. After that, there was a nail biting hour wait until I received the replies.
I wanted to be a fly on the wall for the reaction shot, but of course I couldn't be. Apparently, my boss was shocked that I am leaving, but my former supervisor is really happy for me and admitted that it is one hell of an opportunity. Since then, word has spread incredibly fast, and for that I'm a bit glad. We have a tendency to keep information, any information, close to the chest in my department, and I have always thought that transparency was the best policy. (Also, the more people know, the more likely it is that I will get cake before I go.)
Overall, people have said that they will miss me, but they are also very happy for me. It has been a really positive experience so far and I am hopeful that no bridges were burned. As much as I know I need to move on, I wanted to do it all the right way and make sure that no one thought less of me for how I exited. And now, it's onward and upward!
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I have been counting down the days until I resign from work since I was accepted into the MBA program. I'm doing it tomorrow and then two weeks until my summer vacation starts!
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In the last month, as I should be saving money for school, I have made two appliance purchases that would certainly make any penny pincher blanch. The first purchase was a Dyson DC-14 vacuum cleaner, which retails at $550. I bought it for $397 and as Tony went halfway with me, I spent $210 on it. We bought one together a couple of months ago, and because he will be keeping that one, it was only fair to split it with me. The second purchase is the blender to the left, the Vita-Mix 5000. It's the blender that smoothie bars and regular bars use to make their smoothies and frozen drinks. It retails at $399, but I am getting a factory reconditioned one for $349 (although, with tax and shipping, it's still $399)!
I decided to get these two products because, despite the hefty price tag even with the discounts, they are the best at what they do. I am tired of buying inferior products and feeling like I am wasting my money that way. When we first got the Dyson, we were able to pick up years worth of dirt, hair and fur. As for the blender, I burned through one and the cheap Oster I have now is just not keeping up with my smoothie consumption. It's loud, dull and leaves little parts of the fruit in the smoothie, making it gritty. The Vita-mix is guaranteed for 7 years to blend smoothies, nut butters, soups and ice creams perfectly. I am particularly excited about making sorbets, since right now, my blender cannot handle ice at all. The Vita-Mix can crush a half gallon of ice in seconds.
Despite these rationalizations, I'm still not sure if it's the right thing to do. After all, I am frantically routing money into savings for college right now. I know that if I were still going to be working, I wouldn't think twice about this. It's really hard though, when you are used to having a steady cash flow, to going back to constantly worrying about whether or not you will have enough to eat for the next month. I want to feel like I am doing the right thing for me, but who ever knows what that is?
Labels: work
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Right now, Congress is debating a new law that would make it so that employees have more time between being discriminated against in terms of pay and when they can sue their employer for it. Right now, the law is (according to the Supreme Court) that the employee has to notify the court 180 days after the discrimination occurs. Which, if you were discriminiated against at your hiring, and find out about it 2 years later? Well, you're shit out of luck.
I mention this because a coworker came to me today angry because he was given a low ball offer of a salary. It is far below what he is worth and would put him about 4000/year lower than the lowest paid person in the department. Which is, if you are a sought after tri-lingual employee, deeply insulting.
Luckily enough, he was able to counter the offer because he knows what the person who did the job before him made (which was 6000/year more than his offer). When he brought this up, he was told that it was none of his business what his coworker makes.
Well, excuse me, but it does. It does because the freaking Supreme Court said that employees need to know within 180 days that they are being discriminated against. How else are you going to know whether you are being treated fairly or not? At this point, sites like salary.com just don't cut it, because they don't take into account special features of anyone's job, or the economy. Hell, those sites tell me that I should be making 60k, and that is definitely not what I am making.
And employers can chalk up paying employees less due to "restructuring" or other bullshit all they like, but when a company is expanding and making money hand over fist, they should not be giving their more valuable employees the short end of the stick.
Frankly, we should all post our salaries right outside our cubicles or offices. It would go along way to protecting our interests as employees and keeping the upper hand in pay negotiations.
Labels: work
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I have been pretty down in the dumps lately, and I'm not sure why. I got accepted to the school of my choice, and I will be quitting this job in a couple short months.
I think one of the things that's bumming me out is that Tony will no longer be living with me. Originally, Penn State was my first choice because Tony had work in the town, State College. But it's not where his primary work is, and so we decided that we should split the living arrangements. It's weird because our relationship seems to be going in the wrong order. Couples are supposed to live apart, and after a couple years move in together. We have been living together since the second week and now, after a couple years, we are moving away from each other.
My grandma died recently as well, and while we weren't close, I did visit her in the nursing home, and I have at least one great memory of her. She had a really hard life, and it ended with a difficult and slow death. I think it has made me feel off balance.
I should be relaxing now, saving money and waiting for the fall, and for whatever reason I cannot do this. It is making me crazy.
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I flew back home last week at this time. It was a 20 hour flight in which I went backwards in time and saw two sunrises.
I am getting all my pictures rounded up and I will have some funny stories to tell. In the meantime, have a happy holiday season. I am working today, have tomorrow off, and will be working the rest of the week after that. I actually have 3 hours of paid time off left, but I guess that's all gone now.
Last week was the company's annual Holiday Party, and I don't say much about work here, but I will say that the party was full of wacky fun. Like when a Director of Sales pole danced. She's about as old as my mom, and couldn't even say she was drunk! But there she was, hugging that pole for all it's worth while the company laughed. I hope that the pictures I have will secure my job for some time...
We were also kicked out of the bar and the place shut down early because we "broke the law." Which was pretty stupid, but I had a feeling that something was going to come to a head earlier that night when the bartender tried to refuse us shots at an open bar. The reason why it's open is because we are paying for it!
I don't get drunk or out of control except on rare occasions, so I was stone cold sober the whole time. So the next day when everyone came in hungover and wanting to either die or eat the greasiest food imaginable, there I was, plugging away efficiently. It was like a free day, with no one able to keep track! Excellent.
Labels: holiday, vacation, work
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This morning a male co-worker came over to my desk to tell me about last Friday's happy hour. I usually try to catch the office happy hours because we can usually con our bosses into buying a round. But since I was driving and wanted to get away from work last week, I went home instead.
Apparently, I missed a whole mess of stuff. The highlight, and the reason he wanted to talk to me about it, was that he was sexually harassed by a woman that works with us. Let's call her Nellie (because I like alliteration and Nutty Nellie sort of tickles me).
On Friday, my friend was sitting and talking to the people at the happy hour, when he got sucked into a conversation with Nellie. They had some more to drink, and she started moving closer to him, and rubbing his leg. During their conversation which touched on the sexual, she asked him if he would like to crash at her place. He could sleep "on the couch but if [he wanted] to sleep anywhere else in the apartment [he was] more than welcome to. Really, anywhere [he wanted]." He started to feel really uncomfortable and wanted to get away. Apparently, Nellie was so blatant at one point, that he saw some coworkers, mouths agape, stare outwardly, but she didn't care.
He eventually got her to move on to some other guy, and she gave up on him. When he woke up Saturday, he felt kind of sick and used. I hope telling me made him feel better, but I didn't really know what he should do.
The thing is, if it was a woman, I would say that she should report something like that immediately. It was a totally inappropriate and blatant case of sexual harassment. As far as I'm concerned, Nellie should be fired. However, the issue with something like this is that when it is a man, a situation like this is treated as some sort of joke. Because men being put in an uncomfortable sexual situation is funny... right?
Granted, if this was the opposite situation (a man harassing a woman), the victim would either be blamed for it somehow (what was she wearing? are you sure she wasn't flirting with him?) or have her name dragged through the mud. But with a man, there's the very real possibility that his feelings won't even get a thought or mention and he could very well face ridicule. Being ridiculed at work I feel is not conductive to a healthy workplace and sucks no matter who you are.
So, what should a guy do in this situation? If someone came on to you in a way that made you very uncomfortable, what would you do?
Labels: work
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Monday morning, my co-worker sent me an email that said:
This will make you crazy:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=22113
I had never heard of The Impossible Quiz before, and now I kind of wish I hadn't. It is really difficult and requires a lot of unconventional thinking. But I still think it's easier than the GMAT. Can I take this quiz instead?
If you have never played it before, go ahead and try it! Tell me how you do. I'm on question 86 now... and hoping to get to the end of it soon.
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I personalized my google.com homepage on the work computer and now I get a quote of the day. Today's quote is so me, it's like Google read my mind:
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
- Groucho Marx
Now... is that not me?
Labels: work
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As you can see in the side panel, I have done some website updating. Most of it has been in order to organize my files more effectively. I am hoping that I will be able to do more in the future. For now, my stock photos are organized by country for faster loading, I have removed some dead links and some links that I'm pretty positive no one goes to anymore.
I have had seprah.com since 1999, and have used it actively since 2001, so some of my information is also really dated and the writing awful. I am trying to streamline everything. If someone out there would like me to change/remove something, or if something just bugs, please post in the comments.
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Just surfed the web and happened onto some websites of old high school/university friends. I have to ask -- does everyone in the world make more than me? I have 2 college degrees and went through school with flying colors. Why are all these people making 5-50 thousand more a year?
Sigh.
Labels: work
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I would rather:
a. work 10 hour days and get a 3 day weekend
b. start work earlier so that I could leave earlier
But not:
c. work 10 hour days all week long
d. start work earlier and leave work later
Instead:
e. an 'a' for effort.
Labels: work
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Have you ever gone into the bathroom at work and realized that:
1. Someone is or has pooped in the next stall
2. They refuse to come out until you are gone
I walked into the bathroom this morning and went to the bathroom, realized the person had pooped and had the sneaking suspicion that the person was waiting for me to leave because I might find out they pooped?
I poop at work all the time, and I have to say that it's a mixed bag. Sometimes I don't care and just pop out of the bathroom, engaging in conversation. Sometimes I do, and refuse to make a sound until everyone has left the bathroom. But one thing I do know is: I don't care about other people pooping. So why would they care about me?
Hey, it's getting paid to (literally) do shit! Something to be proud of, I guess.
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When I opened my paycheck last week, a brilliant light flashed before my eyes and I heard an infinite number of angels doing a musical number on the head of a pin. No more commissions, and my paycheck is still over a hundred dollars more than my highest commissioned paycheck at my old job.
Then I got all my bills in, and suddenly there was a massacre on the head of that pin where the angelic singing turned into the gurgling of a bloodbath. My electric and cable bills doubled. My transport expenses doubled. And I need to get more cold-weather clothing.
Soon I will be paying for my health insurance and my 401k, which will make my paycheck smaller (but still not as small as at my old job). I can't decide whether I feel despair at having to still reign in my expenses or overwhelming relief that my pay got higher at the luckiest time.
Labels: work
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"Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills."How simple life is! My parents, Darwin, and the makers of Ortho-Tri-Cyclen are directly to blame for those shootings. Thanks again Tom, for reminding me why I will never live in Texas. Or be a Republican.
- Tom DeLay, 1999, after the Columbine High School shootings
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Today is my last day at work. I can't imagine that doing a good job will be my highest priority today, but with my need to be perfect, who can tell?
Labels: work
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Yesterday they restricted all internet usage at work that isn't directly work related. That means, no sports sites for the guys, no Serenity for me. I can't say I'm particularly angry about this, as I could possibly be the worst offender in the office when it comes to unauthorized internet usage. It also doesn't matter in my case anyway, as I only have to work for six more days. After this, I hope that I will be starting a new job that doesn't require unauthorized surfing merely for survival.
On the other hand, it's still six days that I'll have to do this cold turkey, and let's face it: had it not been the distraction of the internet during work hours, I would have quit this job a month and a half ago. I began surfing as a survival mechanism in order to deal with the bullshit day in and day out. I don't know how I can deal now. More overt ways of screwing around on the job?
All that's left is this feeling that I'm a junkie who comes home to find her stash gone. I can not wait to leave.
Labels: work
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Today is a very mixed day, as was yesterday. Whenever life seems to start going my way a little bit, it always comes with a price. The good? Well, I have been working on getting a new job for a couple of months now, and it looks like the work finally paid off with a new one that's right up my alley. I would get to work in a fun environment with people who seem (on the surface) to be more in line with the way I think and feel.
Now for the bad. My mom and sister came to town, which always makes my blood pressure go through the roof. I typically refrain from posting when I'm pissed at them because they occasionally read what I write. However, this is too much.
They came on Saturday, I spent some time with them on Sunday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I worked and then had dinner with them and went home. Add up all the hours we spent together and it probably comes out to 10 at the most. I was grateful for this because I held up some hope of them not driving me crazy or fighting with them. I suppose that that's just amusing now that I look back.
Anyway, they are two peas in a pod, and if they tried could probably finish each others' sentences. And I am nothing like them. I've tried to relate to them, to listen to their music or watch their TV shows, but I stopped years ago when I realized that they were not only not interested in the same things I was, but they weren't interested in even trying to relate to me or see things from my perspective. Case in point: I have written about nothing but Serenity for the past month. So what does my sister say before they even arrive? That the one thing she doesn't want to do is see Serenity. Fun times.
Anyway, today we were supposed to take a tour on these amphibious vehicles. My first choice was to take a bus tour of Philly but my aunt suggested this special water tour and so I made plans. I had even talked to my uncle earlier about how it was going to rain and we might want to make other plans but he seemed pretty gung ho so I kept making them. Then, last night my mom found out it was going to rain (it was a surprise, you see, because it hasn't been raining all week) and said she didn't want to go. At 10pm. Completely at a loss, I fell back on being whiny and said that I had been planning this all week, and if they didn't want to do it, then they could think up something themselves. Not my most mature, but I'm sick, tired and stressed. My sister, of course, blows her top rather than act like an adult. She accused me of all sorts of things, like being a bad role model, wanting my nieces to get pneumonia, and acting awful to them the entire time they're here. (Remember? For that 10 hours I have seen them all week - most of the time spent eating.) She doesn't want anything to do with me ever again... blah blah blah.
My mom likes to finish me off when my sister gets done verbally abusing me, so she waited until my sister flipped me off (oh, yes, role model there) and left. The she tears into me about what an awful person I am and I have enough and just leave her.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't know how someone who is a functioning adult, a college graduate, a Peace Corps volunteer with a group of loyal, loving friends that she would die for can be such an awful monster. But apparently I am. Apparently, I'm selfish, arrogant and I abuse children by giving them nightmares. Interesting how not one other person on this earth thinks that though.
I've come down to this: I haven't had a family in a long time. I don't have one: not a mother, not a sister. They haven't wanted me in their family since I left at 18 to go to college, and were probably counting down as much as I was. And so it has come to pass that I'll go to Arizona, take my stuff, leave and never speak to either of them again. If I happen to die early (and I'm not - I have plans to be on the Tricentennial float) the people allowed to get up as my family at the funeral will be my friends (the twins, David, etc), not the people who only pretend to care by accident of birth.
Labels: work
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So yesterday morning I was bored at work and so I posted to the browncoats board an off-the-cuff idea about placing a thank you in Variety Magazine's weekend edition to Joss, Tim, Universal and crew for Serenity. I was hoping to spread the word about the movie a little more, but also to do something warm and fuzzy and nice to show appreciation. I cannot say enough that this was a rather unoriginal, spur of the moment idea that I completely expected to get shot down.
But it didn't. People said "hey, I'll give $10" and so I called Variety thinking that it would be too expensive (the other mags were). The sales rep, Gina, gave me some steep discounts. I can't remember too much after that because Monday flew by in a whirlwind of emails and posts from people who wanted to help/get on board/donate. Of course, it wasn't until we had already collected about $700 that the armchair critics raised their heads, sniffed the air and gave their valid (for the most part) criticisms, and not-so-valid (occasional) potshots.
We now have $1915, which is 48% of the $3920 needed by Friday. If we don't raise enough, then we will give it all back.
I have to get to work, so this post is coming to an end, as well as all the thoughts that were collecting this morning. Except to say that I'm sure that Kel is probably laughing right now because not 3 weeks ago I insisted that I would never go onto a posting board again.
Labels: work
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