Interviews...

I've got a question for y'all.

Do you think that an interview process is not only a chance for the company to get to know you, but for you to get to know the company? And, as such, if you believe it is such, shouldn't that company be trying to make the best impression they can?

Why do I ask this question?

Well, I had an interview yesterday with a bank in town. I had slight trepidation going in, and I wasn't sure why. It just didn't feel...right. I don't normally feel this way about things, so when I get this feeling, it usually proves itself to be correct.

I walked in and told one of the tellers I was here for my appointment with the manager. She went and told him. He proceeds to go behind the teller line, ignoring me entirely, and starts chatting with the employees, leaning on a wall, just completely ignoring that I'm there. I sat for five minutes while he just let me sit...

Then, when he came over, he sprung another interviewer on me, which wasn't a big deal. In the interview, he didn't ask how I was, didn't ask me to tell him a little bit about myself, wouldn't have shaken my hand if I hadn't initiated it, and jumped right in on the reason I was fired from National City.

Now, I understand that's important. It's the big thing standing in the way of another bank job, and I know employers want to know about it. But there's a polite way to do things. He asked me questions, and then didn't wait for me to finish before he started in on another question. When I was answering the questions, he frequently was glancing out his window into the lobby or interrupting me.

The woman who was in the room with us never said anything, didn't ask me any questions, didn't respond with anything but the bare minimum when I asked her a question, and never once smiled. The man behind the desk was a pompous ass, laughing at my old bank AND making strange, hateful asides towards Chase Bank, who I have no association with.

It was generally unprofessional and completely unacceptable. If he were the interviewee, I'd have shown him the door and told him to learn some respect before he tried to apply again.

He failed his half of the interview. Brilliantly.

Why is it that I can only get job offers from sexual predators and assholes who run banks that are highly unprofessional? Does that say something about me?!

I'm taking a day off from job hunting today.

Out

Morning Stops...

I went back to interview again this morning. It was sort of awkward, because he sat on the same side of the desk as me. We were in Lori's office again, and she was sitting behind her desk. It was obvious he was unprepared for the interview. He kept shuffling through my resume and application at breakneck speed, sort of like studying ten second before the test hits your desk.

I can't really fault him, though, because I don't think they told him he'd be interviewing me today until he walked in this morning, and since the lobby opens at nine, and I showed up at nine-fifteen, I'm guessing he didn't walk in too much further ahead of me. Blah.

I didn't feel like this interview went as well, but maybe that was just because he wasn't prepared as much. I don't know, really. It wasn't as smooth. And I didn't really like him.

And I called Lori by the wrong name. I called her Lisa. Dang it. But they seemed impressed that the old job was trusting me to do leadership type stuff. So, who knows. I think that might balance out "the incident", as I've come to call the specifics of my termination. Blah. He seemed a little shaken by that whole explanation...with good reason, but...

I dunno. Lori told me that the hiring process there works very slowly. We shall see. In the meantime, I'll just keep looking, applying, and calling around.

Oh, and I stopped by the library today. I checked out Maus (they actually had the full volume, which I didn't know before--that should make you happy, Maureen). And then I got some CDs. This is a window into my musical tastes: I got Norah Jones, Moby, and Switchfoot. All new. And then I listened to Adam Lambert on the way home.

And now? I think I'ma play Cave Story on my Wii. If you have a Wii and you liked any Metroid game that has come out before Gamecube, or you just like that retro charm and a kickass game, GET IT! Download it on the Wii Shop Channel for 1200 points. It's totally worth it.

I'm...Out

Sew...

The party was canceled, because everyone backed out. My friend Nichole's dog is sick and she didn't feel like going out. Some other friends stayed with her for moral support. Two couldn't find a babysitter. One was in a play. So...that left three of us getting together. So we relocated the party to my house.

They brought wine. We had a Catawba pink, a moscato, a pinot grigio, and a bottle of super sweet red called Li'l Ol' Truk. It's my mom's favorite.

So, needless to say, we drank too much wine. Chips and salsa, chocolate covered raisins...it was a strange night. I saw a boob. I dated that boob in high school, middle school. I share a birthday with that boob. We talked, sat in the kitchen, perched on counters and stools, played with the cat, refilled and drained glasses.

I needed it.

The next night, we went to see a friend play the lead in Little Shop of Horrors. He was great. The rest of the cast? Eh...there were a few places where I was wincing. Harmonizing that didn't work, timing that was off, voices that couldn't be understood no matter what they said. But we had fun.

I needed it.

Last night I went home to see my mom. I picked up some jigsaw puzzles from home. I drank some wine, Port of Utica, which is like Li'l Ol' Truk on steroids. We had a huge dinner with a pork roast, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, biscuits, salad...it was wonderful.

I needed it.

And now? Who knows...currently I'm listening to Adam Lambert telling me that he's here for my entertainment. If only. Otherwise, I'm waiting for an employer to call me about a job in Sycamore. And I have to see if anybody got back to me about several jobs I applied for last week.

My standards have dropped, now that I'm not getting unemployment. Ugh. Maybe I'll have a promising interview somewhere good.

I need it.

Out

Last night hanging out with friends was awesome! Derek and I cruised through our Alma Mater, went to the mall, cruised back through, told stories, laughed, had genuine great conversation, and then met friends for pizza. It was awesome. I saw people I hadn't seen in years. My abs hurt this morning because I laughed so much yesterday. I think Derek is the funniest person I know.

And that was amazing.

And then today I get a letter in the mail from unemployment. I've been denied benefits. FML.

And tonight we're getting together for an "I have too much alcohol in my house and you all should come drink it" party at my friend Katie's house. So...it's perfect timing.

Don't wait up.

Out

Another Bank?

Yes. I applied at another bank in town. This one's local (less bullshit and bureaucracy? I hope so.) and has a bunch of locations around town. They've got several teller openings, so...maybe I'll be able to get right back in where I left off, but with the competition.

I'm not ecstatic about another bank job, but I'm qualified and it would be a steady income. And in a smaller bank, the possibility for advancement seems much more likely, since they're recruiting people from inside AND not from all across the whole dang country.

So...there's that. I also checked on a few jobs yesterday. One of them turned out to be in a garage, fixing cars. That's NOT "customer service" last I checked.

And now I'm typing around the cat, who just scared the hell out of me by launching himself onto the computer desk with a yowl. It's hard to see the keyboard or the monitor around a 14 pound cat.

Okay. I guess it's time to feed his royal highness.

Out

Unemployment: Day 1...

So...here's the deal. I wanted to talk without having people offer me advice, so I talked to the camera. This could be chronic.



So there.

Out

Fired...

Yup. I got fired today.

I don't really have much to say right now. My mom told me I should get drunk as hell tonight and tomorrow start looking.

I'm most upset that I won't get to talk to my customers and let them know they won't be seeing me anymore. Unfortunately, there were some I liked. The rest? Fuck 'em.

My boss fired me and then told me he could write a letter of recommendation if I wanted it. I got up to walk out and he started telling me what to do. I looked at him and said, "You can't tell me what to do; you're not my boss anymore, remember?!"

So...yeah. Not graceful. But whatever...I told him I appreciated that he could write me a letter, but that it was shitty that after giving them two fucking years of my life they couldn't give me two fucking days of notice. He said there was nothing else he could do. I told him I didn't want to be there anymore and asked him what I would have to do to be able to just leave. He asked for my keys, but first I cleaned out my vaults with all my sticky notes, drawings, etc. I accidentally locked my vault without putting my coin back in it. I just tossed the keys on the counter and said, "I guess you can put those away. I don't work here anymore!" And I walked out.

Debbie tried to put a hand on my shoulder and say she was sorry, but I just kept walking and told her, "I'll see you later. I still bank here, you know."

And I walked out. I couldn't stay. I would have cried.

Ugh. This has seriously been the worst month of my entire life.

Out

And PS. I hate to be bitchy, but it's really a bummer that a post I put so much work into yesterday didn't get ANY attention. So...whatever.

Anger Management...

Yesterday, at one point, I was screaming at my printer at the top of my lungs and smashing my fists on the desktop like some kind of giant baby throwing a tantrum. No, really.

My day went like this:

Me: I would love it if my camera worked again magically.
Camera: Okay! Done.
World: Oh, no...we can't have that.
Crap: We're on it!

And the floodgates opened.

Before I left for work my packages from Amazon showed up. I waited all day to get home and play the game I bought for my Wii. I was short $19.01 at work. I got home and popped said game into my Wii and it wouldn't read the disk. I tried and tried, to no avail, getting angrier all the time. That's what I do when inanimate objects malfunction...it's my rage trigger.

So I tried another game, and it worked perfectly. It was definitely the disk.

I called Robb to vent, and our conversation was sort of like this:

Me: I need to vent or I'll die.
Him: My phone's about to die; I'll call you later when I can plug it in. I'll call you later.
Me: Don't bother. I'll be at church...or lying in a heap because my head exploded. Bye.

Out of sheer hope, I cleaned the disk and tried again. No luck. So I threw it back into the box and got on Amazon. Their return policies are wonderful. I chose to print my own prepaid shipping label. I hit print after installing our printer driver on the new computer, and it started. Here's how it went down:

World: Ready, printer?
Printer: Ready! Ready crap?
Crap: Ready!

Out of ink. Paper jam. Flashing light that wouldn't go off no matter what I did. Print job that wouldn't cancel.

My printer was in dangerous territory, because NOTHING makes me angrier faster than printer malfunctions. I wish I were kidding, but I've been known to beat the shit out of a printer that won't stop being an idiot. I once punched a printer in the face and it spit out a handful of gears, and from then on it worked perfectly. It was so odd...

I have anger issues. I've always been a person with a terrible temper, but I've mostly gotten it under control over the years. It only comes out once in a while (mostly when printers are involved).

So...I did what any sane, logical, rational, calm person would do. I screamed," CANCEL THE FUCKING PRINT JOB!!!" at the top of my lungs and slammed my fists down on the desk top, scaring the cat out of the room.

I'm sure there were other choice words, but I was in a fugue at that point. I raised my fists at the printer, and then I put them down, unplugged it, emailed myself the link to the shipping label, and said I'd do it tomorrow at work.

I think that's progress. Don't you?

Out

Worst Book Ever? Quite Possibly...

Let me start this post off with a disclaimer: I am easy to please. Okay. I'll let you get all those perverted thoughts out of your head right now. Take your time. I'll be here. ... ... ... All done? Good. What I meant by that is this: When it comes to books, I like everything. Seriously. Most likely, if I read it, I'll find SOMETHING good to say about it or some redeeming quality.

Let me tell you something. When I finished reading THE MYSTERIOUS FLAME OF QUEEN LOANA by UMBERTO ECO, I threw the book across the room. No, seriously. Threw it. It was worse than Jurassic Park 3. I treat my books with dignity and respect without fail, but y'all? I threw it across the room.

"Why did you hate it so much?" you might ask.

Well, on its surface, it seemed like a good premise. A guy owns an antique book shop. He has a stroke. He loses his memory. He goes back to his boyhood home to try and jog his memory, sifting through a whole attic of books and comics from his childhood. And the dust jacket said something about those things taking on a life of their own. Uh-huh.

Dusty attic, possibility for adventure, a book about books. It can't fail!

Oh...but it did.

What I got was pages and pages and pages about Italy before and during WWII, about the comics of the day, the newspapers, the music, etc. I kept waiting for it to get better. I kept waiting for SOMETHING TO HAPPEN. He worried about his blood pressure. He made a phone call. He discovered a chapel hidden in his boyhood home that was full of old writings of his. NOT EVEN THAT WAS EXCITING!

No, no.

And then he finds Shakespeare's long lost First Folio. "Ah," I thought to myself, "Here's where things get interesting."

Then the section is over, and in the next section of the book he's in a coma or dead or something He doesn't even know. We live through 150 pages of his memories coming back. We get to see where pieces of his findings gain relevance. We get to read over and over again about his obsession with some girl in his life whose face he can't remember. And just when he's about to see her in his dream/coma/whatever?

Spoiler alert.

HE DIES! End of book.

I slammed it shut and threw it across the room. It never got any better. I just kept reading because I thought, "Well, it's going to get interesting here shortly. He's going to find something." And when he does, hundreds and hundreds of pages later, he goes into a coma. And then when he's about to find something there...HE DIES!

Seriously. Worst. Book. Ever.

Has anyone else read it? Did I miss something?

Someone reviewed it on Amazon and said, " The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana was not only a very accessible book but, more importantly, it was at once both immensely enjoyable and thought-provoking. "

Qua? Have you ever left the house before? I mean...really...

Out

Sort of an Update...

I was going to post a little getting-to-know-me post, seeing as how a lot of people who read my blog have no idea who I am aside from what I post.

But.

I don't really feel like it at the moment.

My manager just told me I might want to start looking for another job, because the chances that I'm keeping this one are slim.

So there's that.

Out

So Much For That...

Well, all good things must come to an end, and shortly after I read that post back to myself I thought, "Uh-oh. That's a lot of good in one small space. Where's the big bad to offset it all?"

I know I made a resolution to be more positive, but after 26 years of thinking like that, its a hard habit to break.

Well, I found it.

A woman came in a few days ago and deposited a check for $25,000. She's had an account with us FOREVER. She's ANCIENT, and she's MEAN! Oh, and senile...blah blah blah. All those reasons were taken into account when I bypassed the 7 day hold on the check and made it available the next day.

Turns out the check is fraudulent. And guess who the $8,000 she's already taken out goes against? Yeah...I don't know what the heck I'm going to do about that.

I used my best judgment. I was trying to be a good customer service rep. And yet...I'm going to get slammed for a nonpolicy loss. Because while they cram customer service down our throats and punish us for not getting ABSOLUTELY PERFECT scores (on random customer service calls), we're apparently not supposed to do what's best for the customer. So. Damn.

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Out

Dirty Laundry List...

So, which do you want first, the good news, the bad news, or the ugly news?

Well, I'll let you pick, but they're all here.

The Bad News:

Our computers were updated at work. Now the comment section in 80% of your blogs doesn't work for me. I haven't stopped reading, and I'd love to leave you comments, but I can't do it while at work anymore. It's mainly pages that have the comments section built in (Tearing Up Houses, The Gay Gamer, Back of the Cereal Box, etc. I'm looking at you all). The ones you have to click and open up work fine, but the embedded ones never load for me. It's odd.

I hear you asking, "Well, why don't you just do your blogging at home?!"

That brings me to my next point.

The Worse News:

Robb's computer, the one that connects to the Internet, is officially dead. I went to work at noon two days ago and it was fine, and when I got home after 6, it was dead. Wouldn't turn on. So...we're in the process of shopping for a new computer or getting that one fixed, but until that's done, I can't even blog at home. Suckity-suck.

Now, the Good News:

My mom is buying me new glasses for Christmas. I know, it sounds lame. She think it's SO lame. But I think it's awesome. Best idea ever. Of course, I'd rather if she was spending $300-$400 on an XBox or PS3, but I really need the glasses. I've had the same glasses for at least 5 years, probably closer to 8...it's been a really long time. So...I'm EXCITED! My appointment is on Saturday, and I should get my glasses before Christmas. Suh-weet!

So there's that.

Out