keljonma's Front Porch - Settling in and adjusting

[keljonma]

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[poppycat]

Love the chickens!

Finding the right job is SOOOOOOOO hard. Keep your chin up and enjoy being at home for the time being!

 

[keljonma]

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[Henrietta23]

Gorgeous birds! Seems like quite a few of us are looking for work. Good luck in finding what you want!

Thanks! I wish I knew what I was looking for..... no one seems to be hiring around here. I applied at a local temporary agency 6 months ago and they still haven't had any jobs for me.

I would love to get back into customer service, as that was my career focus (20 years). I held various positions with the same company during that time. I started as a temp and after being hired, moved to positions of increasing responsibilities. I was the manager responsible for a call center for the last 4 years of that career. I hated being on call 24/7, but the money was terrific. I quit to move back to Ohio to be closer to family. Ironically, a portion of the family [the dd, sil and the grands] have since moved back to Texas.

I am on the waiting list for a work at home call center position, but have been told that employee turn over is rare.

For a while I worked at a cooking school. Only part-time, it was 95 miles daily commute. The pay was awful, but I loved the job. However, I couldn't continue to keep it up once they started cutting my hours. They called me in to work for another employee twice before I gave notice. Both times, the employee showed up late, so I ended up with 1/2 hour pay each time. Then they were surprised when I gave notice, saying they were hoping to make me full time "soon". ha!

I had a job last year through May of this year that I really enjoyed. I was the kitchen manager/chef at a private school. I quit because gas went over $4/gallon and the daily commute was 90 miles round trip. Most of the food for the school was ordered from an industrial food service. Unfortunately, because the budget was very strict, I was also required to do some shopping locally. However, the school board was not willing to either up my hourly pay or pay for the additional fuel spent going to various stores to get the best prices. When I left, they gave me a bonus $50 because I had been $200 under budget each month. I heard through the grapevine that they have already hired/fired or lost three people since I left.

This summer, I was a barrista at a local coffee house for one week. The pay was well below minimum wage, and I got half the tips for the day. Somedays, that took me up to minimum wage! However, I am only 5' and found it a bit scary to climb a stool to climb on the counter tops to reach items used repetitively through the day. So I quit. This job was less than 10 miles round trip from home, so I was kind of sorry it didn't work out.

I have gotten some really strange responses for why I wasn't hired for the jobs I have applied for since moving back to Ohio. Some include.....
--I was over-qualified (then why call me to interview? You had my resume!)
--I made too much money in a previous life (again, why call me to interview? My salary history was required with the application!)
And my favorite.....
--I was over-dressed (In my opinion, 'black slacks, white blouse, black blazer and black flats' is not over-dressed for a job interview for an office manager position!)

The things I like about not working - free time for volunteering; I was able to help homeschool my dgd and dgs#1 for a while; and I have been home when each of the pullets laid their first eggs. I have pics of each one and can still usually tell who laid a specific egg.
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My DH works for the local school district as a sub ('special ed' para, bus aide, and custodian). It costs us a minimum of $75 every time he sends out a packet to a new school district, with the fingerprints and FBI background check. Sometimes it hardly seems worth it, as there is no guarantee they'll call after they have been sent a packet.

I've heard a few of those reasons myself. The last time it was, "You are somewhat less overqualified than the person we chose." Um, what?? This posting that I'm going in for on Monday has been there for three months or more. I'm hopeful.
It's been warm here too. But rainy today. That's okay, I need to be working inside today anyway.
Hope it goes well for Martha!

 

[keljonma]

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[keljonma]

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[tfpets]

Yay Martha!

Your baskets sound wonderful! Thats what I'm planning on doing, on a smaller scale, for my family members. I dont have that many to make for either.....How do you make the Rice Warmers? I would like the instructions, to add to my baskets too! That would be awesome!!

Your church group is wonderful to do such nice things....I cant tell you how wonderful it is when the organizations donate to our closets for the children we have to take into custody at my work...
Recently there was an event that refurbished old suitcases into really cute cases by using wrapping paper and paper mache stuff on the outside, a childrens group gathered at a local nursing home and together they worked on the suitcases to be given to our kids who often have nothing else with them when they are detained....this way they get to chose clothes, and toys, and any other necessities that we can give them, and they get to pick their favorite case to put them in........

Your house temps sound like ours! We have an all house heating system that very rarely sees use! We use a little radiator heater in the living room in December/January/February, unless it gets below 50 Degrees! We prefer the cooler temps, and my kids are hardly ever sick, even the sniffles! I have a theory that hot inside and cold outside shocks the system too much, and encourages bad colds to take over! We are hardly ever sick, compared to every one else around us! Knock on wood!
Tina/tfpets

 

[keljonma]

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[keljonma]

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[keljonma]

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