On Jobs and Peculiar Events

I haven't blogged in a while...so...brace yourself...

I seem to have hit the job jackpot. I’ve needed a summer job since I got back for summer, and now I have 4 of them lined up, potentially. I had an interview yesterday at Old Navy, I will be babysitting for an entire week in July and possibly longer for a new family, I will be helping at a baby shower, plus I have my regular babysitting job every Saturday.

Here’s the thing: I hate work of any kind. I have yet to find a job I actually enjoy, though I should say that my weekend job is easy; I get there when the kids are asleep and I get paid for sitting around for a few hours, almost literally babysitting. But if anyone’s ever talked to me about my past jobs, they’ve heard me grumble and complain about that horrible department store, Kohl’s, as well as the ungodly amount of time wasted just traveling to my tutoring job at U of I. I try not to let anyone at my workplaces catch any trace of my discontent, which seems to work. I usually get comments like “You’re always so upbeat and positive. How can you continue working like this?” to which I reply “I dunno,” with a big, dumb smile on my face while on the inside I scream, “are you kidding me?! I’m such a phony!” It makes me sad that they can’t tell how unhappy I am working, but that’s not the kind of person that gets hired. Besides, I need the money. No use complaining to other people doing it for the money. Hopefully working at Old Navy will be better than at Kohl’s.



The day I went for the interview was strange. I couldn’t get to sleep until 3am the night before (er…morning of) because interviews always make me nervous. Waking up later on, I was put in a bad and bleary mood with the help of the pitter-patter on my window and angry, black clouds outside. Not a good day for an interview that I had to somehow manage traveling to. Not wanting to be soggy on top of groggy, I decided to take the bus. Which was 15 minutes late. It would only take 7 minutes to drive to Old Navy, but it was supposed to arrive 2:05, and my interview was at 2:30. So I’m standing there, in the rain and wind with my flimsy pink umbrella and some guy dressed in typical white-collar work clothes and funny, pointy-toed shoes, my watch (which no longer ticks too loudly, fyi) telling me that it is already 2:20. I called and rescheduled my appointment for 3:00, and as soon as I got off the phone, the stupid bus came in sight. I was upset, but also relieved since it meant I didn’t have to walk.

After that, the day seemed to completely turn around. I got to the store at exactly 2:30pm, to my chagrin, but I was glad. The hiring manager was ready to take me, anyway. My mood lightened, which made it easier to calm down for the interview. I hated the questions because they all asked me to talk about specific situations that exemplify such-and-such of a skill. I knew the only reason I was there was because I have previous retail experience, so I pulled some answers out of you-know-where since I really didn’t feel adequately experienced after working at Kohl’s.

I think it went well. I'll know by the end of this week.

I walked out with a skip in my step (not literally, but I would have if people weren’t around) which is when I ran into my old debate partner from freshman year in high school! I just couldn’t believe it!

It turns out that she's been working there for about a year already. I hope I get the job now that I know I already have a friend there, but seriously, what are the chances? Then I stepped outside to catch the bus only to find the storm all cleared away and it looked like a totally new day. I decided to walk the mile or so home, it was so beautiful out. I walked down one main, busy street almost the whole way back, and although it was very busy, every time I had to cross the street, there weren't any cars around. It was very strange. It was as if the world was making up for the bad start I had earlier that day.


The only thing that could have made the day better was a rainbow. And maybe a free XBOX 360 with a copy of GTAIV, but I'm not complaining.