hopefulI was on the phone with Jon this afternoon (essentially, I need to have him over here, then he can have me over at his place - hey, that doesn't sound right... =) and he told me that Tanya got her job at the McDonald's on Spring Garden Road. I first thought that was great for her and I still do (and we were 99% sure she'd get the job), but then when I realized that that would probably mean she'd be at work whenever I came to see Jon - that part nearly put me to tears after I said goodbye to Jon. (It did not help that I had to help Paul pick out a Valentine's Day card for Mom this evening! =) I know I'll see her again, but it's already been a month since I last saw her. Of course, I could pop into that McDonald's and see if she's there, but I think I ought to keep up appearances and get a respectable job myself first.
That's where my ex-brief-girlfriend Jen ("H." no longer) comes in. She's working at Teletech and said I should use her as a referral, which gets her money and might even help me get hired. Let's not mince words here - I think I'd be a great call centre employee. I have excellent computer skills and a very good telephone voice. However, my employment experience (or lack of, I should say) does not play this up very well.
My backup plan, which I will engage as soon as it becomes apparent that Teletech won't bite (they had the courtesy to send me a letter that last time they turned me down), is to go back and volunteer at the QEII, but this time in Retail Services. Much as I enjoyed Patient Moblie Library, Retail will help me gain more employable skills on paper. And after that, maybe I can get my Dream Youth Job in Porter Services. That would be totally up my alley. I find running errands and helping people very fulfilling activities.
What bugs the crap out of me is that it doesn't seem to matter that my diners when I was a waiter kept saying things like: "We see great things in your future," or, "J.'s a nice girl, but the finishing touch belongs to you." No, all the chef saw was that I'd forget she was out of the ingredients for the roast pepper and beef sandwiches ("WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?!?!"), or that I'd forget that I had a kettle on to boil (the hot water machine was broken all summer, and all we had for hot water was a tiny kettle, which meant a constant shortage of boiling water whenever more than one table wanted hot drinks) - I admit that multitasking is not one of my strong skills. When I'd have one or two tables going, I could do almost everything perfectly. Give me five and things start going wrong. Never disastorously, mind you (unless you listen to the chef) - I think the worst blunder of mine was leaving a woman and her daughter without their completed desserts for ten minutes (!!) after they were ready, but at that time I had so many people wanting so many different things, and of course they were all at different stages of the dining process. See, if like 30 people came in at once to like 7 separate tables, that would be easier than doing 15 people at 4 tables that come in ten minutes apart. That would be pure Hell, because you can't just go step 1, step 1, step 1; step 2, step 2, step 2... you have to mix it all up and make decisions while the chef, although a very good chef, is a paranoid schizophrenic manager. Well, we were all having problems, and she only took one afternoon off that whole summer, which she spent on a boat with her husband and their friends, calling the backup chef by cell phone every 30 minutes to make sure everything was okay.
I use the experience as employment history in my résumé - my PEI relatives think that's a good idea, while my NS relatives think I'm nuts for doing so. But it's really all I have; I don't have any choice. And I can't call her up and ask her what kind of a reference she's giving me. Actually, I'd be suprised if anyone ever phoned her. My character references all tell me that they have never been contacted.
Speaking of work, I can't believe I'm listening to "Fakin' It" right now. That's too funny.
On a sad note, I got a card from Grandma Matheson today that said my Grand Aunt Winnie (her sister) has been diagnosed with liver cancer. That's really sad. Aunt Winnie has lived a really long life, but no one wants her to leave us so full of pain. I last saw Aunt Winnie at Grand Uncle Neil's (her brother's) with her son Alan (my first cousin once removed) near the end of August. She looked as chipper as ever, though she was making use of a walker at times. Good luck, Aunt Winnie.