I GOT A JOB!

It's no secret that I was absolutely miserable leaving my job at Sunnyslope in Phoenix. My last day was pretty heart-wrenching for me and a few other people. I really grew to love the people I worked with, and I still miss them every day. I can honestly say that I had no idea I would love a place to work as much as I love Sunnyslope.

Because of all that, coming to Seattle was scary. I had to start all over again. Pretty much the first week after we settled in our apartment and had internet, I was fervently searching for jobs. Ideally I wanted to return to the school system. I definitely love all the awesome breaks. I applied at literally every school that had a position I was qualified for. I waited and waited to hear from them. Any of them would be fine. I got mostly nothing. A couple schools were polite enough to email me a stock rejection letter, but for the most part I heard nothing.

Fast forward to two months later and you will find me still searching for a job. I had branched out a bit by now, applying to every administrative assistant job that seemed legitimate, but still I was getting nothing. It was clear to me that no one was even looking at my resume. Not to toot my own horn here (toot toot) but I am a good catch. Just ask Sunnyslope. It was also clear that my references were not being contacted. If they were, I probably would have had at least a couple interviews by now.

So I decided to switch gears. I started looking around at food service jobs. I enjoyed about 3 out of the 4 years I worked in that industry, so I figured I could give it a shot. Lucky me, I even found a position in a bakery called Specialty's that was involved in production. I applied for that job on Tuesday, August 2. Later that night I got an email from the general manager telling me that she really enjoyed reading my application and wanted to interview me. We set up my interview for the next day at 1:30.

I was really excited for my interview, it's been 2 years since my last one, and I was ready to go and out the door at about 1:00. I got to the store at 1:20 and since it was so busy, I waited outside for a few minutes so I didn't look too eager either :o) I walked in and told them who I was and I got a confused look. The girl told me that the person I was interviewing with was at another store. She got on the phone with her and straightened things out. Turns out I am an idiot and went to the wrong location! I asked directions and the girl I was talking to had no clue. She just started saying these random things and pretty much gave me directions to nowhere so I made a guess and started walking in a direction. Luckily I picked the right direction and I am getting pretty good at navigating the streets of Seattle. The other store was only a quarter mile or so away so I was there by 1:40. The manager and I had a laugh about it and began our interview.

I definitely got good vibes from this place, it felt a lot like Paradise Bakery, and I really loved working there. After 20 minutes with the general manager, the kitchen manager came out and talked technical stuff with me. She was pretty impressed with my knowledge. I guess that baking class I took at Phoenix College paid off! Anyway, the kitchen manager said she wanted to give me some assessment called a BHI and then said goodbye. I took the weird personality test, handed it in and said goodbye to the manager who told me there were a few more interviews scheduled for that day, but she would let me know the decision either way.

Wednesday rolls around, I took the dog for a walk and had lunch with Glenn, and then I came home to do whatever it is I do all day. Almost as soon as I sit down my phone rings. It's a Seattle number. I'm almost positive it's the bakery. I stare at the phone for a few rings and decided I was too nervous to pick up. I didn't know what to do! I am such a dork. I kept my fingers crossed that they would leave a message. They did. They offered me the job! I was so excited! After about 30 minutes of acting like this has never happened to me before, I called the store back and accepted. YAY!

Here are the details. The store I work at is called Specialty's Cafe and Bakery. They have a bunch of locations here in Seattle, a bunch in California, and some in Chicago. They bake everything in their store from scratch daily. They serve sandwiches, salads, soups, and lots of baked goodies. Like I said earlier, it was very similar to Paradise Bakery. The location I am going to be working at is 1.1 miles of walking from the house, so just like Glenn, I will be able to walk to work every day! It is also located in the Columbia Tower, which is the tallest building in the Seattle Skyline, at a whopping 937 feet! My shift is Monday through Friday from 6:00am to 2:00pm. It will be nice to wake up with Glenn every morning now! I start work on Monday.

Aside from getting some Khaki pants and some comfortable shoes (I refuse to wear my super nice and expensive Nike's to work) I needed to get my food handler's card. Back in Arizona all you had to do was study, show up during business hours, take a test, pass the test, and pay your money and you got a card. If you were prepared, it would only take you about 20 minutes for the whole process. Here in Washington, it's a different story. To get a food handler's card here you have to show up at one of three class times on specific days, attend the hour and a half long class, take the test, then get your card. This ordeal takes like 2 hours because they tell you to arrive early. The test is only 32 questions, so it goes pretty quickly. In case you were wondering, you can miss up to 6 questions. I missed zero. It was really annoying because it was eerily similar to a driver's education class where there is always one person who insists on asking stupid questions, making a painful experience even more painful.

Well, I got out of there as soon as I could and all I got was a crappy piece of card stock. At least in Arizona you get a hard laminated card with your photo on it. Oh well, at least I am now licensed to work in the food industry in the state of Washington.