witzend
Well-Known Member
At least this time it's by my own choice! :wink:
Since my surgery last fall, I have been feeling like I am more able to be out with people and not worry about what they think I look like or how I'm feeling because of my (previous) lack of a smile. There are things that I would like to be able to continue to do with the house and the yard, and our cars are 11 and 12 years old. Everything's paid for, but every penny is accounted for, as well. husband's company got bought out last year, and at the end of the year they announced that they were going to change their fiscal year end from May to December. So, while he got a second year end bonus (can't give them to the CEO's if you don't give them to the little guys...) I was really worried that we were going to end up owing a ton of taxes on it because he got two last year. And it wasn't very big because they take a lot out for taxes and it was only six months. But it turned out to be enough that we will be solvent once I file the returns and get a refund. Woo hoo!
So, I started looking around for a part time job. It was pretty difficult, because with my muscular dystrophy, I wear out very easily, and I am by no means ready to return to work full time. Or barely even part time. I've done a lot o volunteer work over the past several years but that's on my schedule when I feel up to it. I want to work from home, doing something like insurance billing or transcription, but I don't have any work experience that I could sell to people to let me take home their projects with me, if you know what I mean.
I did a bunch of searches on "craigslist" and found a few jobs that looked good to me. I tweaked my resume and sent it in and didn't hear a word. My job experience was from back in '97. I tweaked it again, and put my volunteer experience at the top of the list instead of at the end. Still no bites. I asked everyone I knew with their own business if they wanted part time office help. L wanted to know whether I was actually applying, or just saying I wanted a job. :mad:
I finally gave in and went to a temp agency. They gave me one day last week (Friday) at a "talk radio" station. On Wednesday, I had interviewed with a lady who owns a small insurance company who needed an assistant and was willing to work with me coming in only enough hours to maintain my SSI, when it was convenient to me, 2 - 4 partial days a week as needed. She seemed really impressed, but she said she'd call back that day or Thursday, and by the end of the day on Friday, I had heard nothing, so I was a little disappointed.
The talk radio station was an adventure. The job description said "No books or magazines". The phone rang about 4 times an hour. The girl (20 years younger than me?) who was supposed to let me in was 25 minutes late (in a mini skirt and electric blue 4 inch heels) so I couldn't get started on time. She was severely hungover. I later heard her telling a co-worker that she had been so drunk the night before that she was driving her car when her phone rang around 12:30 in the morning the night before and she picked it up and had no idea of where she was or was going or how she got there other than she could see a sign that said "To Ocean Beaches". That's not anywhere near us... Needless to say she wasn't the most friendly person. Except when she wanted to borrow a nickel so she could get a soda from the machine. :shocked:
They pumped the radio into the reception area where I was working. Let's just say that I lean a little (more than a little) to the left of center, and "talk radio" isn't really my bag. The morning wasn't so bad, they had a guy explaining investments. But I came back from lunch in the afternoon, and little miss blackout drunk told me that her boss was "really upset" because a delivery had come and I had put it behind the desk where the regular girl had left a note for me to put it, and I had rubbed the cardboard boxes against the wall and made a mark. The radio program had gotten a bit more zealous, as well, but I was able to tune it out. Until the guy who screams at everyone "SHUT UP YOU DOPE! GET OFF THE PHONE" came on. He was on for three hours. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/919Mad.gif In my family you don't ever talk to anyone like that unless you hate them. So no matter what this guy means by it, it means "hate" to me. Not nice. The whole afternoon was taken up by talk about illegal immigrants who should "go back home". Perhaps they might consider talking about little girls who drive during drunken blackouts. But then, I digress...
In fact, most everyone I saw was a sour puss, and seemed really put out that I might want to talk to them or say hello. Except for the creepy old short fat guy who kept walking by and staring at me. Once in a while, he'd say "Well, hello". :tongue: And I would say hello back. About 4:00 he sauntered by and did it again, then hung out right around the corner humming "Strangers in the Night". Really?
:hammer:
While I told them that they should call me anytime they needed help because I didn't want to get a rep with the placement agency as difficult, I really hoped they wouldn't. I made dinner, and was having a glass of wine when the lady from the insurance agency that she hoped I hadn't taken another job, as she had been really busy all week and knew that I was the person she wanted to hire.
:smile:
So, today I start in there. I am not having any preconceived notions about what I can and can't do, physically. She seems happy with my working whatever hours I want so long as the work gets done, and I know that it will take some time to settle into the job and know what I need to do. We are talking about 15 hours a week or so. I hope. If it's more it will be too much and I will have to quit or lose my SSI. You can only earn $640 a month on SSI without losing your benefit. It's not much, but then neither is my benefit. But I can make it seem like big $ per hour if I consider it to be supplemented by my SSI, I guess.
And since it's a small office with two women, there shouldn't be any "strangers in the night"!
Wish me luck!
Since my surgery last fall, I have been feeling like I am more able to be out with people and not worry about what they think I look like or how I'm feeling because of my (previous) lack of a smile. There are things that I would like to be able to continue to do with the house and the yard, and our cars are 11 and 12 years old. Everything's paid for, but every penny is accounted for, as well. husband's company got bought out last year, and at the end of the year they announced that they were going to change their fiscal year end from May to December. So, while he got a second year end bonus (can't give them to the CEO's if you don't give them to the little guys...) I was really worried that we were going to end up owing a ton of taxes on it because he got two last year. And it wasn't very big because they take a lot out for taxes and it was only six months. But it turned out to be enough that we will be solvent once I file the returns and get a refund. Woo hoo!
So, I started looking around for a part time job. It was pretty difficult, because with my muscular dystrophy, I wear out very easily, and I am by no means ready to return to work full time. Or barely even part time. I've done a lot o volunteer work over the past several years but that's on my schedule when I feel up to it. I want to work from home, doing something like insurance billing or transcription, but I don't have any work experience that I could sell to people to let me take home their projects with me, if you know what I mean.
I did a bunch of searches on "craigslist" and found a few jobs that looked good to me. I tweaked my resume and sent it in and didn't hear a word. My job experience was from back in '97. I tweaked it again, and put my volunteer experience at the top of the list instead of at the end. Still no bites. I asked everyone I knew with their own business if they wanted part time office help. L wanted to know whether I was actually applying, or just saying I wanted a job. :mad:
I finally gave in and went to a temp agency. They gave me one day last week (Friday) at a "talk radio" station. On Wednesday, I had interviewed with a lady who owns a small insurance company who needed an assistant and was willing to work with me coming in only enough hours to maintain my SSI, when it was convenient to me, 2 - 4 partial days a week as needed. She seemed really impressed, but she said she'd call back that day or Thursday, and by the end of the day on Friday, I had heard nothing, so I was a little disappointed.
The talk radio station was an adventure. The job description said "No books or magazines". The phone rang about 4 times an hour. The girl (20 years younger than me?) who was supposed to let me in was 25 minutes late (in a mini skirt and electric blue 4 inch heels) so I couldn't get started on time. She was severely hungover. I later heard her telling a co-worker that she had been so drunk the night before that she was driving her car when her phone rang around 12:30 in the morning the night before and she picked it up and had no idea of where she was or was going or how she got there other than she could see a sign that said "To Ocean Beaches". That's not anywhere near us... Needless to say she wasn't the most friendly person. Except when she wanted to borrow a nickel so she could get a soda from the machine. :shocked:
They pumped the radio into the reception area where I was working. Let's just say that I lean a little (more than a little) to the left of center, and "talk radio" isn't really my bag. The morning wasn't so bad, they had a guy explaining investments. But I came back from lunch in the afternoon, and little miss blackout drunk told me that her boss was "really upset" because a delivery had come and I had put it behind the desk where the regular girl had left a note for me to put it, and I had rubbed the cardboard boxes against the wall and made a mark. The radio program had gotten a bit more zealous, as well, but I was able to tune it out. Until the guy who screams at everyone "SHUT UP YOU DOPE! GET OFF THE PHONE" came on. He was on for three hours. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/919Mad.gif In my family you don't ever talk to anyone like that unless you hate them. So no matter what this guy means by it, it means "hate" to me. Not nice. The whole afternoon was taken up by talk about illegal immigrants who should "go back home". Perhaps they might consider talking about little girls who drive during drunken blackouts. But then, I digress...
In fact, most everyone I saw was a sour puss, and seemed really put out that I might want to talk to them or say hello. Except for the creepy old short fat guy who kept walking by and staring at me. Once in a while, he'd say "Well, hello". :tongue: And I would say hello back. About 4:00 he sauntered by and did it again, then hung out right around the corner humming "Strangers in the Night". Really?
:hammer:
While I told them that they should call me anytime they needed help because I didn't want to get a rep with the placement agency as difficult, I really hoped they wouldn't. I made dinner, and was having a glass of wine when the lady from the insurance agency that she hoped I hadn't taken another job, as she had been really busy all week and knew that I was the person she wanted to hire.
:smile:
So, today I start in there. I am not having any preconceived notions about what I can and can't do, physically. She seems happy with my working whatever hours I want so long as the work gets done, and I know that it will take some time to settle into the job and know what I need to do. We are talking about 15 hours a week or so. I hope. If it's more it will be too much and I will have to quit or lose my SSI. You can only earn $640 a month on SSI without losing your benefit. It's not much, but then neither is my benefit. But I can make it seem like big $ per hour if I consider it to be supplemented by my SSI, I guess.
And since it's a small office with two women, there shouldn't be any "strangers in the night"!
Wish me luck!
