Life's been crazy. Care to hear about it?

 

(No?  Well, that's a shame.  Because that's exactly what I was intending to talk about.  Sorry to break it to you.)

 

Ahem.

 

I don't know if any of you have noticed but I've been rather absent lately.  Usually I try to post at least once a week, but here we are two and half weeks since my last post!   To say I'm feeling a little behind in my duties as a blogger is a statement not to be laughed at.  It doesn't help either that during the past couple weeks I've been tagged by about a hundred people  (okay, maybe five or six) and am beginning to wonder whether I shall ever be caught up on everything.  (Don't get me wrong.  I love being tagged.  It's just that after awhile...whew.  Answering questions can be exhausting.)  (And I still have two more Ask Me Anything posts to complete! ...Ugh.  We're not talking about this.  Who brought this subject up?)

 

Ahem and ahem. 

 

To get back to the original point of this post.  Did I say life's been crazy?  Well, it has.  And it all has to do with work.  Jobs.  Employment.  You know what I mean.

 

In fact, another title for this post might well be "How to land yourself a job - Miss March fashion."  (You'll want to stick around for this.  This is going to be very educational.)

 

First off, let me explain to you what my job situation was as of two weeks ago.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings found me working as a Teacher's Aide at a local preschool.  And Saturdays found me a happy (and not so happy sometimes) employee at a farmer's market, selling produce to costumers from 6:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon.  Due to the school-year being near it's end, my preschool job was just about over.  And due to my love/hate relationship with the market job, I was ready and willing to find something entirely different to replace both those jobs.  However...due to my appalling lack of confidence and sorry lack of spirit in trying new things, that was easier said than done.

 

You mean I have to walk in there, by myself, and apply for a job?  Do you realize what that might do to me?

 

Here you are. 

 

10 easy steps for how to land yourself a job and drive yourself crazy - Miss March style

 

*****

 

1. When driving through a nearby town with your sister, your sister sees a Now Hiring sign outside a small restaurant/coffee shop.  She suggests you apply.  You don't say much because you're thinking.  (Something which takes a powerful lot of concentration on your part, haha.)

 

2.  You finally decide you will apply at the coffee shop.  So you drive past it multiple times in the next week or so intending each time to stop but...circumstances you know.   Circumstances beyond your control.  (Like, uh, plain straightforward cowardice.)

 

3. At last you put your foot down.  YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS.  You stop.  You walk up and take a closer look at the sign.  "Apply within or send your resume through email."  Send your resume through email?!   What luck!  You're back in the car and heading home.  And your resume is sent off that very afternoon.  (You may feel like an undersized chicken at this point but it is possible to ignore that feeling.  I speak from experience.)

 

4. You get no reply to your application.  Weeks past.  Either they didn't like your resume or they never got it (and it's probably the first option because that would be just your sort of luck).  At last you decide that this coming Friday, after you drop your siblings off at school, you're going to stop again and this time you're going to go in and ask for an application.  (Daring, I know.)

 

5. First comes Thursday evening though, when your mom spots an ad in the advertiser for another job opportunity.  A front desk representative position at a Christian camp/retreat center.  Mom thinks it would be worth looking into.  You think it's way out of your comfort zone.  But the chips are down.  You're already feeling terrible about your status as a coward and decide it's time to do something brave.  So you email the retreat center that evening with more specific questions about the job.  Done.

 

6. Enter Friday morning.  You stop at the coffee shop.  You walk in.  You ask for an application.  (And wonder of wonders, it wasn't even that scary!  Who would have thought?)  You take the application home.   You start freaking out because what is one supposed to write on an application anyway?  This is too hard!  You check your email.  You have a response from the retreat center with very kind answers to all your questions, plus a a ton of information about the job in general which immediately sends you into overload mode.  You cry buckets of tears.  Mom saves the day.  Helps you fill out the application and talks you through the immense amount of information about the retreat job.  You're feeling much better, and head back to the coffee shop in the afternoon to drop off your application.  I said, drop off.  However the "drop off" suddenly turns into an interview with the boss who hires you on the spot, and because you always have your wits about you and are such a very clear thinker, you accept the job right then and there and find yourself scheduled to work on Tuesday afternoon right after your work at the preschool.  

 

Now you're really freaking out because "I just got a job!  I just signed my life away!!"

 

7.  To complicate matters, you realize the job at the retreat center actually sounds rather intriguing.  Now it's time to cross bridges before you get to them and worry about how you're going to work up the courage to give notice at the coffee shop so soon after being hired, (that is, if you did happen to get hired at the other place).  *Heart palpitations* 

 

8.  You calm down a bit over the weekend.  Things are not as bad as they seem.  You decide you will apply at the retreat center.  You'll fill out the application on Monday and take things as they come.  But first you'll have an emotional breakdown when Monday comes along because now you have an application to fill out and beginning paperwork for your new job and YOU HATE PAPERWORK!!  (So...let's cry some more tears, shall we?  Such a fun thing to do.)  And then...and then!  You get a phone call.  From that other place you applied at weeks ago.  They want to set up a phone interview for Friday!  THEY WANT TO WHAT??!  How is this happening?  Three different job opportunities in one week!!   This is too much!  (Here's where you faint dead away.)

 

9.  All the paperwork is finally finished.  You're beginning to breath again.  Then comes Tuesday.  Preschool in the morning, new job in the afternoon (which is a dishwashing job by the way.  Forgot to mention that), and then preschool in the evening again because someone invented ending programs.  You're exhausted by the end of the day which works itself into a regular fit of depressed spirits.  The week is beginning to stretch before you like a dark, foreboding shadow.  Wednesday will be another day with preschool in the morning and dishwashing in the afternoon.  Thursday the same.  You can't do this.  You suddenly realize the dishwashing job is not what you had envisioned and not what you care to be doing right now.  For one thing your hands have a horrible tendency to grow red and cracked when in contact with too much water.  For another, though you love washing dishes, you had hoped for a job that would include a little more people interaction, and this job doesn't have it.  So, all things considered, you go in the second day and give your notice.  (Yes, horrible isn't it?)  You're surprised at yourself but, what else could you do?  You were desperate.  Thankfully your new boss is very understanding.  You finish out the week and breath a sigh of relief that it's over.

 

10. So you gain a job and lose a job in the space of a week.  But it's not such a horrible situation because you've still got those other two jobs pending, right?  You have your phone interview on Friday.  You bomb it.  (At least you're pretty sure you do.)  Things begin to look a little shaky.  You hear nothing from the retreat center.  You begin to worry.  But then!  Tuesday the 16th of May comes around!  And you get a phone call setting up an onsite interview at the Camp for Friday!  Things are beginning to look up.  Mayhap there is a job in store for you yet.  We shall have to wait and see.

 

And so...

 

That's that.  Crazy right?  Oh, the trials and tribulations of being Miss March!  *profound sigh*

 

I'm not really sure why I felt the need to write this all down.  Like who cares about such details anyway?  But there it is, and it would be a waste of my time and energy not to publish it after working on it for so long so despite it's being a lame excuse for a post I'm going to send it forth into the world just the same.

 

And while we're on the subject of jobs and crazy schedules and all that...

 

How are you all doing?  Got any fun plans for the summer?  Do you freak out whenever you go to apply for a job, or do such things not phase you?  (If the second, please tell me your secret.  ;))  What would be your dream job?  And what is one thing you're very much looking forward to doing in the next few months?

 

Enough questions?  Enough questions.

 

T.T.F.N.  Ta ta for now!