Transition

On Friday June 10th I was offered a new job doing data entry for the Sensis branch of Telstra. Of all the jobs I’ve applied to recently that was the last one I thought I’d have a chance with. When I got the call over a week ago I had to say I didn’t remember applying. I didn’t even send a cover letter which shows I really had no hopes for it. It’s an entry level position and comes with training. I can only assume the training was the thing that caught my eye.

At first I was told it would start in July but at the interview she realised she had made a mistake and the role she had in mind for me starts on June 27^th. Fuck! It’s all happening so fast. My current boss gave me a glowing reference but now that I told her I have to resign she sounds a bit pissed off. I am giving her notice. But I don’t know if that means I’ll have a bit of overlap with the new job. That’s going to be hard. I’m willing to work up to and including the Monday my new job starts but Tuesday might be stretching it too far. I won’t have any time to sleep! I should have handed it in today. I would of yesterday but it was a public holiday. It’s giving me a bit of a headache.

It’s a funny world but someone I was thinking of calling today ended up calling me. He even asked if there were any shifts at my work. I said, “Yeah mine!” Explaining I’d been offered this new job. I told him how my boss seemed a bit pissed off but if he puts his hand up today or tomorrow it might make things a bit smoother between me and the boss in my last few days. Here’s bloody hoping! I actually talked to the recruiter today saying I was running out of time to give my proper notice. It’s sorted now and I am bloody well starting on the 27^th. I realise how hard it is for them to get a replacement and I wouldn’t leave them in the lurch – I think that’s what she thought I was doing – even after telling her I wasn’t she seemed annoyed. I’ve known her for ages and she knows I never wanted to do cleaning so I was a bit disappointed that she wasn’t happy for me. I hope it’s more the suddenness of it all that’s upset her. (I hate people being mad at me!)

My new hours will be 3 to 11pm. Not quite the “day” job I was hoping for but much better in a lot of ways than my current one. It’s a six month contract but full time hours. It’s going to make a huge difference on my resume and to be honest my self-esteem. I’ve always hated telling people what I do.

“Fantastic!”

Less then a week to go now and I might actually get what I really, really, want for my birthday, a new job! I got a call for an interview for a data entry job I don't really remember applying for. That was last Friday. I just missed the call on my mobile and there was a message about a data entry job and to call back if I was still interested. Well easier said than done as the phone number came up as blocked. Luckily for me they also said who the recruiting company was. On a bit of a whim I went online to look the company up and then sent off an email explaining how I missed the call. I really did not expect them to get back to me as you can probably tell:

Sorry to disturb but I got a miss call from a private number then a text message from Garth(?) about an advertising data specialist role. I've been applying to a few places and can't honestly remember this job also I'm not sure if the call was for me or someone called "Benny." I use Seek but can't work out which job it might have been. It's probably all a mistake, sorry. I was seconds from picking up the phone it's just got me curious now.

Lo and behold they did ring back. I admitted again that I didn’t really recall this job having applied to a few recently. I imagine when I did apply I didn’t expect to hear from them. I had a nice little chat with the woman who’d called earlier and she said if I had access to a computer and the Net I could go on to the next stage which was a couple of tests. Speed/Accuracy and a general computer knowledge quiz. It took me a while to get the link and account set up and once I did I found out I needed a printer. Bugger! I sent another email but it was already 5 o’clock by then. I told Terry my dilemma and he offered to pay me back if I went out and bought one over the weekend. Seemed a bit much for me, (she says typing on the new laptop he bought me. I told him he shouldn’t have bought that as well!) My dad ended up buying me a printer/scanner. (Bloody hooked to the scanner! But I’m straying). When I finally took the test on Sunday afternoon I was SURE I had been too slow. So I was down and depressed and feeling quite shitty about going into work on Monday. (I've been feeling shitty and depressed lately anyway. That might sound normal but I mean really down).

I don’t know why it is but I’ve heard back from most of the people I’ve applied to and I only just started looking for work again. Last Friday I had an interview for a casual cleaning job with Spotless, (again!) It’s at a busy city train station and I opted for day shift availability. I don’t know what possessed me. Those are the exact, public, conditions I hate when I’m cleaning. Another whim slash desperation. Besides fucking up and getting there a bit late I think my interview went well. After all I sure know what I’m talking about! I might be hearing from them tomorrow. I assume only if I got the job. I’m okay if I don’t. I want to get away from cleaning! Remember?

Yesterday I went into Red Bee Media for some different tests. They do captioning work, in real time, so you can imagine you'd have to be amazingly fast at typing. I applied for a job here a couple or more years ago and I know what the tests are like. First proofreading of a news story that had been transcribed then a timed test writing captions for a documentary and a drama. I really doubt I’m any faster or better at spelling this time round but I thought I might as well go in.

Anyway I got the call for the data entry interview on the tram ride into Red Bee so that perked me up enormously. I still have my doubts about Red Bee and don't know why I agreed to come in. (Something to do of a Wednesday morning perhaps?) I'm not being negative, rather realistic. I'm not that fast a typist and a pretty shit speller.

Speaking of speed I still can't believe I passed the data entry tests. She said my results were "Fantastic." I'll show up Friday morning only to be told it was all a mistake. They're SO sorry! Can we get you a coffee at least? Okay, that's being negative!!!

Later that Wednesday....

Well the Red Bee test was rather fun. (And a wee bit familiar). Still not so sure about my speed or spelling but I did enjoy it. Nice Scottish man there and the people in the background sounded nice. He said he'd let me know how I went either way. And I remember they did last time I went in. I remember getting the call because it was during my lunch time when I was at Foxtel doing data entry and customer service. That was a disaster! For now though I'm happy. It’s amazing but that phone call for tomorrow (Friday’s) interview changed my whole world; turned me completely around. Of course I still might not get the job but to my mind I’ve soared across the hardest hurdle. We shall see! And I’ll enjoy this good feeling as long as I can.

NQR HNT (WTF?)

For one thing it's no longer Thursday, at least not in this part of the world. However I'm not waiting another week to post this.

I don't find the photo sexy at all, but it being me I wouldn't! It was more of a joke in my mind, a spoof of a moment in a movie I liked as a teenager. In the film Empire Records the employees find out the store is in danger of losing it's cool indie status and being swallowed up by The Man. Damn the man as they say themselves. They find the new uniforms, gross orange aprons and a list of what employees may or may not wear. The fairly-soon-to-be-famous Renee Zellweger playing the film's slut character has a rebelling scene in which she wears the new uniform with only her sexy, lacy black bra and panties on saying, "And they said no revealing clothing."
  

We've had OUR new aprons for, gosh, a couple of months already. I was so disappointed when I found out you had either a choice of wearing that or a yellow and blue hi vis shirt. Although those shirts can on occasion look sexy on the right type of tradie I find them absolutely disgusting. There is more than a bit of the snob coming out of me when I say it feels like it's branding me in the worst way as a cleaner/low income worker. I don't understand what was so wrong with the white shirt I was wearing before and still wear most of the time underneath the apron. In fact the shirt has the company logo on it whereas the apron doesn't. I'm getting used to it but still find the apron a bit cumbersome. For example the strings if untied fall into the toilets when I'm bending over them. Gross. It's just something extra that doesn't seem necessary at all. And so my protest-cum-ode to its existence is the mock HNT. (I'm not completely sold on the HNT tradition either).

Terry's arousal from helping me get this photo taken was surprising. (The photo doesn't exactly flatter). I wasn't going for that effect when posing. So it was a surprise to see Terry poking out and looking at me expectantly. I think I genuinely said, "Oh hello!" It didn't take me long to get on board and take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately my mum come home before either of us could.

It's not ideal having your fella stay with you when you're still living at home. Picture day was the second case of coitus interruptus. The previous time I thought I heard my mum's car pulling up but you guessed it I was wrong. We didn't really get much intimate times at all. My bed's a bastard at giving the game away - squeak! My mum subtlety offered us the couch when we were all together so I did lie on his lap from time to time. I couldn't get to the kissing in front of her stage, not even on the cheek. Arm around his shoulder or hand on his head was about it.
  

Returning to the work theme I have to say things have taken a dive. Not long after being told I was officially going up to 4 hours a day I suddenly and without no explanation went back to my original shift. That lasted around of pay, so a fortnight. I'm half way through the current round and have been given a few extra hours here and there but it's still a bit of a blow financially. The problem for me is the more often I do my original shift the less I can justify staying on and not going on the dole.

My dole fears are mostly about never getting another job, except possibly cleaning,again! I've been on it before and hated it. I stayed off it a couple of times at the expense of my savings. Just this week I started looking for work again. Didn't see much but did apply to Hungry Jacks online and got rejected barely a couple of hours later.

There doesn't seem to be anything out there for me. And after all this time I don't feel like I can do anything except donkey work. Which was kind of what my mum said to me on Wednesday when I was telling her I got some overtime that day that went to 9:30; and yet I still didn't finish it all! She suggested I do cleaning or something equally uninspiring at an elderly home. That really upset me because it felt like my mum had given up on me. I told her so later after I'd gotten over the initial hurt. We talked it out. Her point was if you have to do shit work then do it during the day. (Fair enough, I guess). My main issue is I don't want to be a cleaner at all. The comment reminded me of times when people ask what I do and when. I hate the reply of can't you do it at another time or somewhere else. Fuck sake that's not what I hate about it! I don't want to be doing it at all. Give me a little more credit, please. Oh and I'm not to fond of the "Someone's got to do it," response either. You know no one wants too and why the hell does it have to be me?

God! I think I better go back to living one day at a time rather than thinking of being in this job for the long term. The more I think about it like that the more I want to give up altogether. (You know what I mean). No future; no point.
  
 

Oh You're Kidding Me!

Which isn't quite the reaction I had when I went to check my email this morning but I don't want to set up a blog that gives potential viewers the misleading impression that this site is raunchier than it actually is. LOL @ "viewers."

As we all know I need a new job and how! Since getting back to my current one after the Christmas New Years break I've just been getting on with it. Getting some overtime which is good - oh wait, didn't I say it was crap in my last post? Well yes it is but the money I make when I do my normal hours is even worse. So, so pitiful. Anyway it's almost been a month back and as I said previously I've been getting on with it.

I was talking to Terry about it and he asked if I had been looking for a new job. (No of course not silly man!) I think that was on Monday. The next day as I was wasting time online I decided I would check out the job ads on Seek. My preferred place to look. I found one for a job I applied to a couple of years ago. It was doing subtitles for TV and Radio. Would have been great. At the time I got a call to come in to be tested and failed miserably. I was told the standard was unusually high for that group of applicants. Unless he was a good actor he did seem sincere.

Even though they were advertising for a part time position I was interested. Fuck anything to get away from cleaning. Then I read the ad more closely and they had something about previous applicants need not apply. I figured even after the time that's past that includes me. Also when I clicked on the link to have another look at it the ad had been removed. I stuck around to see what else there was. And to my surprise I found one and decided I'd apply. Entry level admin. Not a dream come true but still it's got to be better than working at 3 in the morning. And in all honesty I know entry level is where I am at. (So embarrassing).

You know the expression, too good to be true? Well! the email that had be flummoxed this morning was from Seek. They wanted to let me know that the ad had been removed. They told me: We have identified a job ad on seek.com.au which was placed by a fraudulent advertiser who used the company name "Anja's Studio" - the title of the position advertised was "Office Administrator”

As our logfiles show that you applied for this job, we wanted to warn you that this ad was placed in contravention of SEEK's advertiser terms and conditions. We have concerns about the legitimacy of this advertiser -- and any other which asks you to send your bank account details.

We strongly recommend that you NEVER supply bank account details to a prospective employer.

If you have supplied your bank account or credit card details, please contact your financial institution immediately and ask for their advice. If you feel you may have been the victim of fraud contact the Australian Federal Police.

I have to say the ad didn't read as dodgy. Lucky for me it didn't get to a serious stage but I did recieve a reply from Anja that went to my junk mail. Bravo Hotmail! Just reading that email I knew it was bullshit. Good on Seek though.

When I was talking to Terry yesterday I said I don't know if there is anything I want to do and that perhaps cleaning is for me. However depressing as well as financially inadequate that may be. A decent wage would make a huge difference. So would more hours even though that would be exhausting and mind numbing to boot. (I can't stand the idea of being a cleaner during the day. I'd find it too painful. I always imagine it would be in a shopping mall. All those people pretending not to see you. Ugh! Oh please, no). I looked through all these jobs that I can't do for one reason or another. I know I'm not stupid but I kind of feel like it. There was nothing there I really wanted either.

Crapping On About Work

I don't want to go to bed yet. It's been hot the last few days but finally the firece wind outside is cool rather than warm. This is the easiest cleaning job I've had in terms of tasks to do but my God I was sweating up a storm last night. Not attractive. I was doing a bit of overtime but I think things are back to normal now. Bummer. Three hours a day fifteen hours a week, it's not a lot of money. I get paid fortnightly now. It kind of fools you into thinking you're making okay money, but I'm really NOT. I daren't re-check what the dole payment is because I know it's pretty close to what I'm making now. Rather than going on the dole I wanted to be making my OWN money but the strain it puts on my time and "social" life makes me think twice. Well it would if I could get over being on the dole again. Fuck no! Not again. Shit!

Spotted

Oh my God! I got recognised from the adult website BeNaughty in Dan Murphy’s this afternoon. This guy said something like, “How are you doing?” And I think, “Can I help you?” He was wearing a yellow high visibility shirt and carrying a case of beer so for a moment I thought he might work there. So after I said no thanks I went back to my wine selection and then he asked if my name was “Oz.” Well that’s what I thought he said but when I said no he’s like, “Eyes from the net?” I denied it but I felt my face going red while thinking “Oh shit!” He had a nice voice and was young to boot – woo hoo! – but it still freaked me out a bit. I wasn’t sure if I recognised him, but I didn’t get that great, or long, a look at him.

It was weird because when I was in Safeway earlier I was thinking about it happening. Not that I wanted it to. And actually one time in Safeway this man tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention because he seemed to know who I was. It turns out he was the painter doing next door’s house. I never really looked at him properly while he was working – shame because he was quite good looking in his civvies – so until he told me who he was my face must have been a startled blank. He was also with a woman, who I assumed was his partner so for a split moment I was thinking, “Is this some couple from BeNaughty who recognise me?”

It’s a weird, totally sex with little commitment, site. I won’t bore you with why or how I ended up as a member but as it’s free for women I have checked it out from time to time. You can look at people’s photos and chat, email or “wink” at them. You can see who has viewed your profile and do your own searching. There’s all this explicit stuff you can fill out for your profile too. In a way it just seems pointless to me when free chat is used often enough for hooking up with people. Seriously can’t understand why anyone would pay. Men! I don’t know. I know I have pissed off a few guys for not being interested. I did close my profile down but about a week or so later I joined again. (I missed getting the annoying emails okay).

I’m thinking now I’m going to be avoiding it. I’m not sure whether or not I will close it down again. I probably should but I have met some people I enjoy talking too. But really I know I have no proper place there.

Give Us A Go

Hello there, how can I fulfil your fantasy today?

Oh crikey dot com! Amazingly I got a call back from Adult Fantasy House this morning (before ten! I don’t know, that impressed me). I was totally surprised and in the middle of a car race on my mum’s Nintendo DS. It was all a bit crazy. I was shocked and sounded a bit hesitant but then I mentioned having done it for fun with men from chat. She said all our men are lovely and regulars. I was trying to work out how it all worked, especially as they patch you through on your landline, and she explained you do shifts, how much you’d be aiming to earn when you start out and that I’ll need a bloody ABN.

(That’s come up a lot lately in my job search. The first time I’d have to get one if I wanted to be a contract cleaner. There was no way I wanted to make that sort of commitment to cleaning! And it also came up for a job as a freelance writer for an online newsletter called WeekendNotes. You subscribe and they send things to do in your city. From what I’ve read I feel my writing is up to scratch but I don’t feel creative enough to write regularly to earn any money. Plus I’m in Melbourne and I’ve never found that much to do here. However, I am tempted to submit something just to see what they say. I would like get some feedback on my writing).

Anyway once I got an idea of how it worked it did sound doable. She suggested doing a trail shift next week. I was going to nominate Wednesday but I think I have a doctor’s appointment then and I hesitated again saying I need to check my diary and she said call the boss back if you’re interested and I was just about to ask for the number when she hung up on me. I hope I haven’t fucked up. I’ll just email them again and nominate Thursday morning. I need a bit of time to think up some dirty banter. It should also give me a bit of time to think and discuss getting an ABN.

The most exciting news from that call is that they do have work available and I really don’t want to miss out. Oh blimey sometimes I know I’m my worse enemy. Still I am a little bit excited now.