Still haven’t found what I’m looking for… Well, I still haven’t found a job, but I’ve applied to about a dozen and I went to another interview this morning. Today’s interview was at R-Solutions booth in Sam’s Club. No, the job is not for Sam’s club, R-Solutions is a division of Radio Shack and they sell cellular phones and cell plans, DirectTV satellites and internet services. Its part time, with base pay + commissions. I know I’m capable, but I’m not sure I’d like it all that much. For one, there’s no where to sit down if my feet hurt.

There’s another job I applied to that I wish I’d hear back on. It’s a full time office job, assistant to Customer service, and doing data entry on an AS/400. I can do that. And did for several years. There’s benefits and all that other good stuff that comes with a steady full time job. And I imagine there are chairs. ;-)  ¶ 3:31 PM 2 Comments

  Job hunting Well, I had a “job interview” this afternoon in Hickory.

On Sunday, after having quit Domino’s promising never to return on Saturday, I updated my resume on Carreerbuilders.com and went job hunting. Monday morning I got a phone call for an interview, I had not applied for the job, but they saw my resume and thought I’d be a good candidate. Silly me didn’t think to ask them what the job was, I’m just that desperate. :-p

So, I get there this afternoon and it turns out its insurance sales. I’ve been getting A LOT of responses from insurance companies. Yes, I have sales experience, and took Sales & Marketing in college night school classes. Which is why I know I’m not particularly suited to doing “outside” sales. Nor do I have any ambition to drive all over hell and gone all day every day. I’ve removed most all mention of the word “sales” from my posted resume.

I’m sure insurance sales is an admirable job, its just not for me. The interviewer seemed rather put out when I said sales is not for me, and he said “is it the word “insurance” that’s stopping you?” I replied “no, it’s the word “sales” that’s stopping me”. He thanked me for coming in and pointed to the door. *snarf*

Now, had I known when she called me for the interview that it was outside sales I’d have said no thank you, not interested. But she didn’t, the word sales never exited her mouth. And a search on Careerbuilder and Google for the company name came up blank. I think its rather shallow and stinky to misrepresent an opportunity in such a way. I wonder how many people actually fill out the application form and say “Oh Yay! Goodie! Insurance Sales!” Next time I will definitely ask exactly what the interview is for.

Retail sales I could do easily. There’s a big difference in going knocking on someone’s door to say “hey, ya wanna buy some insurance?” to someone walking into a store actually looking for something specific, like a TV or pair of trousers.

Honestly, I’d rather have some comfy office job where I can sit at a desk and type or do filing or something. Mindless perhaps, but potentially less stressful. I’d like steady hours with a steady paycheque, if that’s at all possible. Is that too much to ask? :-p

I did apply for a few other jobs, none of which are outside sales. I haven’t heard back from any yet though. *sigh*

In other news today, while I was out driving to my interview, I passed by a movie theatre in Hickory that has now closed. I called James and told him to see if he can find out about buying it. He used to own a small theatre in Lenoir a few years back, and has said he’d enjoy doing that again. We don’t know why the theatre closed, or how much it would cost to buy it, but its worth looking into.

Not much else going on around here. Its still hot out, and I’m still broke. And the dogs are getting stinky again. ;-)  ¶ 4:04 PM 1 Comments

  Caualties of War from today's Toronto Star

Abandoned pets trapped in war zone
Dogs of War | Ahava Project races to save animals on both sides of border.
Jul. 23, 2006. 07:04 AM
MITCH POTTER
JERUSALEM



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They were having a perfectly good summer until the missiles came. And now it is the relentless Mediterranean sun, not bombs, that is likely to kill them.

But with so many two-legged refugees of the human variety at risk in Lebanon it may come as no surprise that almost nobody is thinking of the four-legged ones.

Nobody, that is, except the Ahava Project, a group of animal-friendly volunteers now scrambling to save the dogs of war on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.

After 10 days of dodging Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel, the Israel-based Ahava Project has rescued and given shelter to 170 freaked-out dogs and cats that either ran away or were abandoned by their Israeli families in the haste to flee danger.

For domesticated pets too frightened to be coaxed out of hiding, the group has spread an additional 2 tonnes of dry kibble and 4,000 litres of water throughout the stricken Western Galilee.

Now, if Ahava has its way, the next stop is southern Lebanon, where hundreds more animals are believed to be lost in search of water and refuge.

A non-profit group comprised of some 50 volunteers, Jews and Arabs alike, Ahava has secured a ship in the hope of sailing Lebanese strays to safety.

"We have the boat, we have permission from the Israeli navy to do this, we have the contacts with animal lovers in Lebanon," said Ahava spokesman Tamara More.

"What we don't have yet is co-operation from foreign embassies and aid groups to let people know we are ready to help. And we need it quickly, because the sun alone is going to kill 30 dogs and cats left behind in a matter of days."

Ahava volunteers were in contact with their Lebanese counterparts about the latter-day Noah's Ark mission until Friday when all direct phone links between Israel and Lebanon ceased.

Several kennel operators in southern Lebanon were in need of help as they prepared to run, More told the Star.

"We know one Lebanese man with 10 purebred German Shepherds and no idea what to do. Of course we are not asking that resources be diverted away from human needs.

"But let's get the word out to the Lebanese people that we have a solution."

An added urgency, said More, is that family pets have been excluded across-the-board from the mass evacuations of foreign nationals fleeing Beirut.

"Embassies are telling people, `No animals.' But they're not bothering to tell people we are ready to help. We are ready to take anyone's cat or dog, care for them and return them when this mess is over," said More.

"Even if you don't care for the animals, it should happen for the souls of the people. It is bad enough that people must flee their home, but imagine having to leave behind a dog that you love, knowing he will probably die."

For the 170 cats and dogs in Ahava's care, many will need a new home. Like the 250 family pets Ahava rescued last summer during the flight of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, many of the abandoned will never be reclaimed.

Some of last summer's animals ended up with adoptive families overseas, including Holland and the United States, with Ahava handling the complicated paperwork.

More said Ahava would happily arrange the same for any Canadians willing to take in the displaced pets of this latest conflict.

"We like to think we live in a modern democracy here, but the attitude toward dogs and cats is still very third world," said More.

"Some of our volunteers have witnessed dogs being tossed out of cars stopped at major intersections as people rush south to stay with friends and family in southern Israel.

"They are just dumped on the side of the road," More said.

"So we're looking for families everywhere, including Canada. Email animalsavers@gmail.com and we can send you pictures."  ¶ 11:11 AM 0 Comments

  Drenched Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed, around 2am or so, Bruno was pacing the house, doing his pee-pee dance. Y’see, it was thundering and lightning and pouring rain of monsoon proportions and he just did not want to go out in it. James tried to get him to go out, even went with him. As far as the front porch. But Bruno wouldn’t leave the porch, so James brought him back in. And Bruno continued his pacing, pee-pee dance. Then he finally looked at me and said “I can’t hold it anymore Mum!” his tail was between his legs, it was rather funny!

So I got him and George on the leashes and went out the front door. James held onto Bruno’s leash while I took George to the front lawn. She quickly peed so she could get back inside. I handed her off to James and took Bruno. He took a lot longer to finally getting around to emptying himself. We stood in the rain getting completely drenched, while Bruno jumped at every lightning and thunder crack. He then decided to walk over to the car port to investigate there and peed on the pole.

James dried Bruno off and I went in to get myself a towel. George followed me into the bathroom, I was dripping from everywhere. Then I shook my head and sprayed her. *snarf*

Anyhoo…we’re expecting thunderstorms all day today again, but at least the temperature has gone down slightly. The high today is only about 82F/28C. That’s still too hot in my opinion, but not nearly as hot as it has been.

I told Kenny last night that he’d better start hiring some new CSRs because I’m looking for a new job. His only response was “oh, ok” and then about half an hour later he asked if I can work next week because he’s making the schedule. Wonder of wonders! This week’s schedule never did get put up, and next week’s is already done. That never happens!

But then later her tore it off the board and stormed out the back door, slamming it. Wonder what crawled up his butt? :-p

The only one there who seems concerned that I’m leaving is one of the part time shift runners Mike (the former driver now shift runner). He asked what it would take to get me to stay, I said at least 30 hours per week like I was getting when James was GM.

I still don’t get it. How do they justify 2 of the employees getting into over-time hours while I barely get to 12 hours most weeks? My paycheque yesterday was only $115.55; that really doesn’t go very far at all. We went grocery shopping after my shift, and the grocery bill was $109. I have $6 in my pocket to last me til next pay day in 2 weeks time. James is only working these days to cover his insurance premium; his paycheque was about $19 this week. That’s not even half a tank of gas these days.

My shift last night was 5pm to volume. Which means til the rush is over. I left at 9pm, and the idjit that took what should have been my job, was still there. She opened yesterday. So by the time I left at 9pm, I had 4 hours. She had 10 hours, and probably stayed til close. She gets more hours in one day than I get in an entire freakin week! And remember, every hour after 40 hours in a week, she’s getting paid overtime. How does this make any kind of sense? Unless she’s polishing things that ought not be polished, if you follow. *shudder*

Ah well…maybe I’ll get hired at Best Buy and then I can get employee discount on plasma TVs ;-)

I just hope I can find something else soon. I seriously hate working at this Domino’s.  ¶ 1:09 PM 0 Comments

  Keeping Up Well, just to keep up with what’s going on around here…

Yes, I’ve seen Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest. Three times actually. Twice in Canada while I was up there visiting, and once since I got back here. I could have seen it again yesterday, but James didn’t want to. :-p

I wish I could buy a tall ship and sail off into the horizon.

We took the dogs to Pet Smart for a bath yesterday. They’re all shiny and distinkified. They were totally exhausted when we picked them up. Which is nice, they don’t run around the house so much when they’re sleeping. ;-) They were there for 5 hours, and they didn’t tell us about them mis-behaving so I will have to assume they didn’t attack any little dogs! George is actually white, not orange! Whodda thunk it? I’d upload pics, but I forget where I put the camera USB cable.

I’m trying to find a new job. It looks as tho we’ll be staying here for quite a while now despite things, and I just can’t stand working for Kenny at Domino’s anymore. When James hired me there in February, he trained me to be a shift runner (equiv. of Assistant Manager basically), and I was working about 30 hours a week. To no detriment of any other employees I might add! Since James quit and Kenny took over as GM, my hours are cut down to about 12 per week, and I’m mostly in there as a “phone girl” (CSR). Occasionally he asks me to run a shift, but mostly only when he gets bored and doesn’t feel like working himself :-p. A few weeks ago the other shift runner Brittney quit and went to work at another of the franchise stores, so rather than move me up to her full-time position, Kenny moved up one of the UN-TRAINED CSRs who had been hired After Me! And who takes 5 minutes to take an order, and makes more mistakes than is cost effective, and not once since she started as shift runner have I ever gone in for second shift and seen everything been done that’s supposed to be done. If you follow. I usually end up washing HER dishes, and prepping things that should have been prepped hours ago. She’s even left food sitting out on shelves and such because she “didn’t put it there, don’t know who’s it is”. I should call the health department :-p

So, the other day apparently Kenny got wind that one of his driver’s wasn’t going to show up for shift. He had a shift runner scheduled who used to be a driver, plus me as CSR, who is trained as a shift runner. He could have had me run the shift and the former driver/shift runner do deliveries. Rather than do that, he called in a FREAKIN DRIVER with aspirations to be shift runner, who WASN’T EVEN ON THE SCHEDULE, it was his day off. So here’s the dickhead driver with aspirations complaining about being called in on his day off, who gets about 60 freakin’ hours per week, who’s girlfriend it was who got MY freakin’ job who also is well into over-time hours every week, and HE’S complaining! I barely make enough money these days to buy groceries and put gas in my car for pete’s sake! I was so angry and frustrated it was all I could do to hold it together until I got home. In tears I might add.

How do these dickheads justify having 2 ass kissing employees work OVERTIME, when there are others who can’t even eat on a regular basis? This is the state of things here. Its VERY difficult to adjust and find anything to like about here when I keep getting abused by employers like this. 3 jobs in just over a year and every single one of them has been pretty much like this. The labour laws here in NC are geared toward the employer, rather than the employee. At least the state is considering raising the minimum wage by $1, but that’s not going to help me any. Unless the only other job I can find around here is minimum wage. :-p I’ve complained to the franchise owner about things going on at the store, and he doesn’t seem to care so much. He just shakes his head and says something stupid like “yeah, that’s never been one of Kenny’s strong points”. Ugh. If even the owner doesn’t care, why the hell should I? I give up. I just have to find another job first.

Which means I probably won’t be able to get back home anytime soon. Employers don’t dole out vacation time very easily around here, and I won’t be eligible for time off for a few months at least. I guess depending on the employer, but as previously mentioned, labour laws here are not what they are back home. And vacation time is an exception rather than a rule. There goes the plan to see Wicked in the Fall. *sigh*

James is trying to figure out how we can make a living without actually having to work, but of course he’s having a heckuva time with that! ;-) With some of his investments he can be paid a monthly dividend, and there is a monthly income (once settled that is) from one of his inherited properties, but all of that won’t be enough to live on. Even without a mortgage payment. So, I still need a job :-p Damned if I do, damned if I don’t yanno?

And then of course there’s World War III brewing. I guess we’re lucky enough to be too old for the draft, if the unlikely event were to occur. I doubt it tho. Bush would be lynched if he called a draft.

Can you believe the stupid driver with aspirations doesn’t even know what the word “lynched” means? And he’s a southerner!

My brains are boiled. Its hot here, and the A/C hasn’t been working in the store for a few weeks now. It gets up over 90F/32C most days, which is really too hot. And if I’m working at the oven, its even worse. The oven temp is about 498F/258C. I go into the walk-in refrigerator to cool off. The temp in there is about 32F/0C, I stay there til I start to shiver ;-)

Could be worse I suppose. *sigh*  ¶ 2:00 PM 3 Comments

  Well, I’m Back To borrow a line from Sam Gamgee ;-)

I feel so much better after having spent just over a week back home with family and friends. Sadly I didn’t get to see everybody because of scheduling conflicts, but got to see enough that I’m regenerated for a while anyway. I hope to be able to get back in the Fall because “Wicked” is re-opening and I’d like to see that!

First things first, my baby niece Amelia is the cutest thing you ever did see! She doesn’t know me of course, except for my photo on the wall. I hadn’t been home since she was a month old, last March. Mum and I went to my sister’s house and waited for them to all get home from work and daycare. James (brother-in-law…kinda creepy my sister and I each married a James!) brought the kids in and put Amelia down and said “go see Aunt Becky”, so she crawled across the floor, hauled herself to standing next to me, then I picked her up. She proceeded to start bawling and howling as if being tortured of course. So I stood up to take her to my picture on the wall. I said “where’s Auntie Becky” she pointed at the picture, and I said “I’m Auntie Becky” she pointed at the picture again and started to howl. I gave her to Gramma :-p I still don’t think she’s figured it out, but she’s only 16 months old, maybe by the time she’s 4. I need to get home more often is all!

Then the next 4 ½ days were spent at the Lord of the Rings – Tolkien fan gathering . We stayed at Mum’s house, but took the train into the city every day. Friday was just registration, so not a particularly long day (I did manage to get myself a Toronto street meat hot dog!). Saturday we were up at 6am to catch the bus & train, and not home until 1am. The same on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Long long days, but very enjoyable indeed!

Craig Parker who played Haldir the elf in the movies was there, along with Bruce Hopkinswho played Gamling of the Rohirrim. Both of these guys are hilariously funny, and I suspect would be very easy to get along with in real life. They seem rather down to earth, and probably more than a bit surprised by all the hubbub. Of course I could be completely wrong, and they’re really assholes, but I really don’t think so. They’re really super nice, tho I didn’t get any time to talk to them; they always had swarms of people around them or were rushing to their next session.

Unfortunately the organizers had some financial problems with the gathering (not well organized these folks) and there was quite a bit of things gone wrong. Then apparently one of the organizers insulted the movies, during a session with Craig Parker on the panel. Mum and I missed it, as we were in a different session, I think that was when we were at Fellowship of the Ringo, with Ted Nasmith, his brother Bruce and Mike Foster, a Tolkien scholar from Marquette University. These guys got together at the last gathering in 2003 and wrote some parody songs to Beatles tunes. Apparently the Beatles had wanted to film the movies way back in 1968, but were told it was “unfilmable”. Anyhoo…at the session with Craig Parker, apparently one of the organizers trashed the movies, being rather nasty, and of course insulting Craig Parker. Honestly, some people just don’t know when to hold their tongue, Craig was an invited guest at their bidding, why on earth would she then insult him? We’ll be lucky if he accepts any invitations from this group ever again! Which is a shame really, he’s such a nice guy. I hope he doesn’t hold it against the lot of us.

Bruce Hopkins hosted a session called Bruce Hopkins New Zealand Music Party. He played us some snippets of his favourite music from his home in New Zealand, most of the musicians are friends of his. Brilliant most of it, and I need to go look up a few of them to get some CDs if I could just remember the names! Transcripts from the sessions are supposed to be up on the gathering site sometime, so hopefully I can find them there.

Now I really can’t give you an account of the Gathering without mentioning a band that played for the opening ceremony, and did a couple of concerts for us over the weekend. They’re absolutely brilliant, from Italy, and totally Tolkien inspired part time musicians called Lingalad I DEFINITELY must buy one of their CDs (they sold out at the gathering before I could get one). I just loved these guys.

Another of the memorable sessions was put on by a professor from Germany named Marcell Bulles. The session was about his paper called Putting intoxicating substances to proper use in The Lord of the Rings (or not!): How Tolkien managed to sneak in some nasty habits of his. Marcell is sooooooooo funny, I wish I’d had teachers like him in school, I may have continued on to university! Also very cute, and has a tattoo almost like mine and James’ on his arm. ;-)

We also got out to see the Lord of the Rings musical at the Princess of Wales theatre in Toronto. Beautiful show, the set, the stage and the cast were all amazing (tho we went to the Sunday matinee and of course got half the second string actors rather than the principle actors). I spent way too much money on souvenirs, but it was well worth it. The show is moving on to London’s West End starting January 2007, and finishes up in Toronto as of September 3, 2006. Despite the bad reviews from critics it is well liked by anyone who has seen it. I wish more would ignore the critics; it may have stayed in Toronto longer. I urge everyone to get out to see it if you can, it is awesome! I told James we have to go to London next year so he can see it ;-)

Well, I’m off for now. Will post some pictures of my adventures later, right now I want to go watch our Firefly DVDs that got delivered whilst I was away.  ¶ 3:52 PM 6 Comments