There's a woman who is trying to live her Best Life Ever by following Oprah's advice. I heard it yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered. She's not an Oprah Groupie - just a little research. You should check out her blog by clicking the link to the right in my blog list.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
GF's Adventures Working In The RW
So I've ventured from the lab this summer to revisit working in the "real world" (rw). Let's just say not so much...
Now don't misjudge me - I spent a good many years working in the rw until I decided to go to college and pursue a field for which I was passionate. I worked for a local temp agency for a year and a half, a mortgage company, an emphysematic elderly woman, with thirty four-year-olds and another adult in a small room, at a bar (not the same rw - but very real altogether), at a car dealership in Germany....The list goes on - let's just say I am rw-work experienced. But I digress into self-validation...
The true story is that my PI (principle investigator/boss) decided that he lacked funds to finance the rest of my stay in the lab. I cannot verify whether the funds were present or not, but that is not my business. My business is finding more business to pay the bills with. I will say that my feelings were slightly hurt that he could not seem to stretch to afford the mere two months remaining before the start of my final semester when work-study money would likely kick in. Instead I am forced into some awful position of finding degree-related employment that should last through December. It is highly likely that most other labs will seek students willing to make a longer commitment. So - Boo Hiss Bad PI! It didn't encompass the mentorship that I wanted anyhow. Again I digress...
I tell my husband I will sign up with some temp agencies in town. His eyebrows raise. No, no...they give you short-term assignments and pay weekly. It's a good thing, really.
So with the close of my summer class, I made appointments with two local agencies. The first one was quite the introduction.
I've never been there before, but there were clues that suggested perhaps I should move away slowly. It might have been the unprofessional blaring of David Lee Roth's "California Girls" in the lobby. Or perhaps the argument between the receptionist, er - Front Desk Manager, and a fellow applicant about which name was his first and which was his last. And he should go immediately to the SS administration to change his card, as they were incorrectly reflected. I think that man was Indian or Pakistani or something along those lines, but perhaps the very American convention of calling names first and last was altogether foreign, especially when the rest of the world calls them given and family names. Really!
Anyhoo, after completing a mountain of paperwork, I turn it in. Why do you ask me to bring a resume which you never collect and instead force me to complete an application that regurgitates the same information? Why? Then, after the name argument, she tells me proudly, I have more paperwork for you Miss. Yea! I've been gifted more forms. They've said nary more than hello and here, but they must really like me already. It must have been the background check that made me a keeper. I fill out the forms, I check my watch - shit! I've got to be in my last class of the semester at 10 and it's 9:50! So I turn them in and politely tell the Name Authority that I would very much like to schedule another appointment, as I did not realize that this would endure for so long. She looks blankly at me and deadpans " This is a two-hour process." Oh - wow I wasn't told that on the telephone yesterday when I made the appointment. Hmmm, well I have to be at a class so this has to be continued at a later time- Do you have any appointments later today? No well how about tomorrow? Oh you don't know? Call you later today to see about tomorrow? Ohhh....kay...... I'll be in touch - NOT! Seriously WTF?!?!?! It's called a scheduler lady. You take out your Daytimer or open Outlook or whatever calendar of choice (I lived by my Kitty Pocket Calendar a few years back) and look at tomorrow. Do you have anything scheduled? No - then write me in. Yes - ok how about the next day or so? Seriously!
In a fantasy world I might have shot her for being so ridiculously difficult and for playing stupid games, but instead I took her card and left confused about the state of employment agencies these days...
Now don't misjudge me - I spent a good many years working in the rw until I decided to go to college and pursue a field for which I was passionate. I worked for a local temp agency for a year and a half, a mortgage company, an emphysematic elderly woman, with thirty four-year-olds and another adult in a small room, at a bar (not the same rw - but very real altogether), at a car dealership in Germany....The list goes on - let's just say I am rw-work experienced. But I digress into self-validation...
The true story is that my PI (principle investigator/boss) decided that he lacked funds to finance the rest of my stay in the lab. I cannot verify whether the funds were present or not, but that is not my business. My business is finding more business to pay the bills with. I will say that my feelings were slightly hurt that he could not seem to stretch to afford the mere two months remaining before the start of my final semester when work-study money would likely kick in. Instead I am forced into some awful position of finding degree-related employment that should last through December. It is highly likely that most other labs will seek students willing to make a longer commitment. So - Boo Hiss Bad PI! It didn't encompass the mentorship that I wanted anyhow. Again I digress...
I tell my husband I will sign up with some temp agencies in town. His eyebrows raise. No, no...they give you short-term assignments and pay weekly. It's a good thing, really.
So with the close of my summer class, I made appointments with two local agencies. The first one was quite the introduction.
I've never been there before, but there were clues that suggested perhaps I should move away slowly. It might have been the unprofessional blaring of David Lee Roth's "California Girls" in the lobby. Or perhaps the argument between the receptionist, er - Front Desk Manager, and a fellow applicant about which name was his first and which was his last. And he should go immediately to the SS administration to change his card, as they were incorrectly reflected. I think that man was Indian or Pakistani or something along those lines, but perhaps the very American convention of calling names first and last was altogether foreign, especially when the rest of the world calls them given and family names. Really!
Anyhoo, after completing a mountain of paperwork, I turn it in. Why do you ask me to bring a resume which you never collect and instead force me to complete an application that regurgitates the same information? Why? Then, after the name argument, she tells me proudly, I have more paperwork for you Miss. Yea! I've been gifted more forms. They've said nary more than hello and here, but they must really like me already. It must have been the background check that made me a keeper. I fill out the forms, I check my watch - shit! I've got to be in my last class of the semester at 10 and it's 9:50! So I turn them in and politely tell the Name Authority that I would very much like to schedule another appointment, as I did not realize that this would endure for so long. She looks blankly at me and deadpans " This is a two-hour process." Oh - wow I wasn't told that on the telephone yesterday when I made the appointment. Hmmm, well I have to be at a class so this has to be continued at a later time- Do you have any appointments later today? No well how about tomorrow? Oh you don't know? Call you later today to see about tomorrow? Ohhh....kay...... I'll be in touch - NOT! Seriously WTF?!?!?! It's called a scheduler lady. You take out your Daytimer or open Outlook or whatever calendar of choice (I lived by my Kitty Pocket Calendar a few years back) and look at tomorrow. Do you have anything scheduled? No - then write me in. Yes - ok how about the next day or so? Seriously!
In a fantasy world I might have shot her for being so ridiculously difficult and for playing stupid games, but instead I took her card and left confused about the state of employment agencies these days...
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