Hello friends. My sincerest apologies for being so absent! As I mentioned briefly, I have been very preoccupied and haven't been in a very bloggy place the last few weeks. Where have I been? I've been here, same as always, but I've been more anxious and nervous rather than the ho-hum I usually am. I particularly regret my state because I neglected some very fun and special photo opportunities to post about. Namely, Christmas stuff! I was all set to post pictures of my home decor, like my candy cane chandelier that I fashioned, and my so-very-sparkly tree. Heck, I was all prepared to post an Ode to Tinsel, but my brain cells jumped track during the end of December. Now it's too late as everything holiday related is packed up and back in the attic. Oh well. I'll have to have some real fun next year.
So let's get caught up here! Christmas was a little bittersweet this year. It was a lovely holiday and we spent it with my in-laws. My brother and sister-in-law and nieces were not able to make it this year, so we were a little down. Then a few days later, David's grandfather passed away. He was in pretty rough shape and in a nursing home, so in some ways his passing was probably a blessing to him, but of course it's always a sad situation for everyone involved who will miss him. It was certainly a bummer of a way to end a year and begin a new one.
In the midst of all of the holiday madness, a friend of mine alerted me to a possible job opportunity. She's been keeping her eyes peeled for me looking for the first signs of openings at the company she works for. I haven't been aggressively looking for another job, but as you've all read in previous posts, the situation here is pretty bleak. We've laid off so many people in my office in the last few years that we're practically a skeleton crew these days. It's only a matter of time before the big boss has had enough and throws in the towel. My nightmare situation is coming to work and being told we're closing down and have X number of days or months to close. I knew that I needed to start seeking new employment before unemployment decided to seek me.
So, in mid-December, an opening that looked like a pretty good fit for me became available and my friend called me right away. I got my resume together, submitted an online application, and got all set up for an interview. Talk about nerve-wracking! I hadn't thought about it till that moment, but it had been a good nine years since I'd been on a job interview. Needless to say, I was scared out of my mind...
The interview went well, with me twisting my wedding ring like a crazy person underneath the table the entire time. I actually interviewed with multiple people, which I wasn't expecting, so it was a lot to take in. Once it was all done, I scooted over to my friend's department to thank her for alerting me of the position, when she had even more news for me. Apparently, during the span that I was being interviewed, a woman who oversees another department saw me and asked my friend what I was there for. She told her how I was there to interview for the such-and-such position, and she looked at my resume. Unbeknownst to either of us, this woman who saw me had a position open in her department that I was a good fit for as well that, woohoo!, paid even more than the job I was interviewing for that day. So my friend suggested I apply for the job so I could double my chances that I could at least get hired for one of the jobs.
So I applied for the second position, submitted my resume, and got called for an interview. And here I thought that yucky part was over! In I went for yet another interview. Sadly, I was just as nervous as the first time. Luckily though, this was only one interview with two people at once. So once I was out of there, I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. At that point I could at least know that I did my part and the rest was out of my hands. All I had to do was wait for either a phone call from Human Resources offering me one of the positions or an email telling me, 'Thank you for applying, but you suck and we don't like you.'
I didn't hear anything for the second half of December or even early January. I have literally been on pins and needles waiting to hear something--anything--so I could stop worrying about it. This is a lot of the reason why I haven't been blogging. I've just been so wracked with anticipation that I just haven't been able to really concentrate on blogging about new year stuff...
FINALLY, I got a phone call just last week from Human Resources offering me, dun-dun-dun...the higher paying position!! I couldn't believe it. The whole process was beginning to take so long that I was wondering if I was ever going to hear anything, good or bad, at all. But somehow, some way, I managed to charm my way into a new job with a much higher salary than I'm currently making, with better benefits and an extra week's vacation than what I receive now. Oh, and it's closer to my house, which means less gas. Oh, and I get to choose my hours, which means combined with the fact that I will work much closer to my house, I will actually get home almost an hour earlier than I do now, which pleases me to no end. All around, it's a win-win-win situation, which is why I was so anxious about getting this particular job. It's a warm beacon of light at the end of what has been an often chilly, murky road the last year or so. At last, something very hopeful and exciting is happening.
I put in my notice last Thursday. Luckily, it went very well and nobody's feelings got bent out of shape. Heck, if anything, I'll be saving them some money, so they're probably happy! So for the next two weeks I'll be up to my ears in nit-picky work, getting the office set up to take over my workload. Yay. Fun...Friday marked my first goings-on with my new job. I had to head over there and sign all my paperwork and visit the health department. I had to take a drug screen--yay, I love peeing in cups!--and get poked with needles to have blood drawn and take a TB test. Yeah, this place is no joke...So now I get to sit back and finish up work here and just be nervous in general--it's what I do best after all--about my new job.
Of course, I'm sad in some ways. I've worked here for over six years and I do genuinely enjoy working here (minus the miserable salary cut we were all forced to take). I experienced some of my life's most important milestones while employed here--I got engaged, planned my wedding, got married, and built my first house. Not only that, but I work with my mother-in-law, and she and I often go grab lunch together or go mosey around Target on our lunch hour, and I'll really miss that. There is definitely something to be said for working in a smaller office environment. The rules are pretty lax and you're not on a time clock, so if you're a few minutes late coming back from lunch, no one's the wiser. You can also get away with "tasteful" capri pants and cute slingback wedges in the spring and summer and nobody cares. Sadly, those days are numbered for me. Soon I will be punching in a time clock and having to adhere to a dress code. I'll be wearing an ID badge at all times and will be far, far away from Target (oh God, I so want to cry...). Gone are my days of picking up my groceries during lunch so I don't have to stop on the way home. I'm going to have to join the rest of the human race and do those things on my own time. Boo!!
But ultimately, the positives outweigh the negatives by far. It's going to be a huge change in a lot of ways, and I'm one who most absitively-posilutely does not like big changes very much. But these changes are going to be a good thing in the long run. And when the day comes that my mother-in-law tells me she's retiring because the office is closing, I'll be extra grateful that this opportunity came my way and that I didn't get so scared that I let it pass me by.
So gather 'round friends and raise your glasses with me. Here's to new beginnings...
CLINK!
No comments:
Post a Comment