My New Job

You'll have to forgive me for the excessive blog posts today, but I have a lot of catching up to do. I have a good excuse though, I swear. I got a job!

Once we finally got about as settled as we could be at this point I really got down to searching for jobs. The job field in Tacoma is a lot more blue collar than it is in Seattle so I realized pretty quickly that I probably wouldn't find any office jobs around here. I wasn't really keen on going back into the food industry so I started looking at the local companies around here. I noticed that Next To Nature was hiring so I emailed my resume on June 8. The next day was our anniversary so Glenn and I were out and about when I got a call from the manager of the store. She asked me to come and pick up an application to fill out. It worked out pretty well because we were actually picking up our foster dog from her surgery and that is right down the street.

I was scheduled for an interview on the 23rd at 2:00pm. Apparently the manager told me 2:00 when she actually meant 2:30. Of course I arrived at the store early so I had to hang around for about 45 minutes before I actually sat down with the manager and the owner of the store. It was a casual interview so I felt pretty comfortable. Thankfully they didn't ask me about any retail experience I may have had, because I have none! Glenn said that I would have an "in" because we brought our foster dog in with us earlier and of course they would love that. I was able to sneak that in to the interview as well, and obviously it made a good impression. As the interview was coming to a close the owner told me that they would be making a decision in the next week and a half or so. She said they had a lot of applicants and would not be able to call everyone individually so if I didn't hear back from them by the next week, I should assume I didn't get the job. I kind of assumed that was a bad sign. The usual good sign of "when can you start" was nowhere to be found.

I left feeling pretty good, but a little resigned. It was okay to me because I figured they had to have found a handful of people who were more qualified for the job than me. Based on my previous job searching, most retail stores will not even give you a second thought if you don't have any experience. That weekend I ended up playing phone tag with the manager. She had left a message on my phone asking me to call her back because she had a couple more follow up questions for me. I was a little surprised. Then one morning I was woken up by my phone ringing, and it was Next To Nature. Hmmm... Turns out she wanted to follow up on something I had told her during the interview about hurting myself at my last job. I'm an honest person and I felt like that was something important that I should disclose, especially since it was the reason I only had my last job for a few days. I explained to her how and why it happened and that I don't foresee it happening again, primarily because the situation would have to be identical for the injury to reoccur. Apparently that was exactly what she wanted to hear because she offered me the job! I probably sounded like a dork because I was still waking up as I was talking to her so when she said they wanted me, I stupidly respond with "Really?!" I felt like an idiot afterwards. Obviously I said yes.

I was scheduled to start after the holiday, on July 5. My training schedule for about a month or so is expected to be Tuesday-Thursday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work 12:00-7:30 and on Wednesday I work 11:00-7:30. I just finished my first week of work and I really like it! I was a little unsure of what to expect but it is really pretty cool. I can wear whatever I want, as long as it is clean, so that is pretty awesome. The people I work with are very cool and I get along well with all of them, so that is always very nice.

My first day began with me filling out a bunch of paperwork. I was given a brief tour of the store and then given little things to do, but mostly it involved observing. I was told to jump right in and greet customers and ask them if they needed any help. I'm sure it was a little annoying when a customer did want help and instead of me giving it to them I had to go and ask someone else. Oh well. The rest of the day involved taking care of the four cats we have in the store (feeding, watering, and cleaning poo) and a bit of stocking to make room for the next day's big shipment.

Wednesday was quite a day! There were three pallets of pet food, treats, and other things that greeted me when I walked in the door. I immediately got to work lifting giant bags of food back and forth across the store. It wouldn't be as tough if we didn't have to rotate our stock. Since we're dealing with food, all of the dates need to be checked, the old stuff gets moved to the top and the new stuff gets moved to the bottom. That usually involves removing everything off the shelves and then putting it back on. I was so exhausted by the end of the day. It was a lot of work! Later in the day I learned how to price merchandise and I spent the rest of my time trying to memorize the locations of everything.

Thursday was a lot more relaxed. We only got a very small shipment in. I spent the majority of the day making food samples. Something I thought would only take an hour ended up taking most of the day! I also got to put some new merchandise out on the floor and I got to put it wherever I wanted. I suddenly felt a lot of pressure to put it in the right spot. It turned out alright. I think I will actually be buying one of the toys that I put out for Rally, it was pretty cool. Later in the day we had to rearrange one of the cat cages because we were getting a new foster kitty named Foster. He is a beast. He's one of those tuxedo cats but he weighs about 25 pounds! Poor thing is so fat, but he is an absolute sweetheart. We all loved him pretty much instantly. That brings our in store cat total to 5.

A fun detail about my new job is my employee discount. I get any food I purchase at cost! AND I still get to use the frequent buyers card. How awesome is that! It also just so happens that the food we buy for Rally is also the cheapest food we buy so my normally $37 bag of food cost me $26. I am not going to complain about that for seriously high quality food. I also get 20% off everything else. Pretty sweet setup if you ask me. Anyway, if you would like to know more about our store, check out the website. It really is an awesome store that Glenn and I had frequented long before I got the job and I am really excited to be working there.

My First Day!

As you probably have already guessed, today was my first day at my new job! It's so fun and exciting yet completely nerve-wracking at the same time. Sleeping last night was like the night before Christmas for me. I slept well, but I was constantly up every hour checking to see what time it was. I couldn't be late on my first day! I wish I could turn that feature off in my brain, especially because it's not like Glenn wasn't waking up at the same time! Well, actually, he wakes up 15 minutes later because taking the dog out is my responsibility. Yay!

As a completely random side note, I would like to point out that fresh papaya does not taste very good. We we were at the market the other day and I thought they looked so pretty. Glenn bought me one. Since I had lunch kind of early today, I thought it would be a yummy pre-dinner snack. I cut it up and put it in a bowl and as I sat down to write this, I munched on a few pieces. Bleh. It tastes like feet. Or something equally appetizing. What a shame too, because it really is a beautiful looking fruit!

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming... It was really quite nice to be able to get up with Glenn and get ready, ride down the elevator together and then kiss goodbye on the sidewalk all at the buttcrack of dawn. My walk to work is quite interesting. Seattle, particularly downtown, is really quite beautiful when the sun is just making it's way up the horizon. The sky is a gorgeous deep blue color and everything has a romantic hazy glow to it. I just love it! I walked past a theatre and then walked right back and stared at how beautiful it was. It's funny, because I have passed this theatre a couple times before and never gave it a second look until now. I think one of these mornings I might give myself a few extra minutes just so I can take some photographs. Maybe I will wait until after Glenn's birthday and he might let me borrow the fancy new camera I'm buying him :o) The picture at the top of this post is the ridiculously tall building I work in. I work on the bottom floor. I thought it looked really neat looming above the street in the not-quite-daylight.

When I got to work, exactly on time, I was a little confused because it was all caged up but there were people behind it. I stood there like a dork and waved until I got someone's attention and they told me to go through the door on the side. After a very brief introduction to the people who were at work this early, which was surprisingly a lot, I sat down and filled out pages upon pages of paperwork. It wasn't really that bad though, it was mostly just reading.

Next I was acquainted with Dakotah, the former PM Production worker and my trainer for the week. He's a really nice guy and he is quite hairy. We have a lot of the same tastes in things like music and movies, so we get along pretty well. He quickly showed me where stuff was and set me to work. Right away I was making huge batches of bundt cake batter. First was orange poppyseed and then triple chocolate. Yum. Then I made some individual coffee cakes followed by a batch of triple cheese quiche muffins. There was almost 15 pounds of cheese in it! After that I started making the muffin batters. There was carrot raisin bran, apple cranberry, and something else that I completely forgot. I had to make double batches of everything because another one of the stores downtown is out a production member and needed the help. What a way to start my first day! Usually I would only make single batches which ends up being about 12 quarts of batter.

Another interruption: Rally doesn't like the papaya either.

I also learned how to do a bread pull, which entails go into the freezer and pulling out the next day's par for bread. That way they can sit out all night to proof and get nice and fluffy. The freezer is so cold that every time I walk in there I get short of breath and start coughing. It kind of makes me laugh. In case you were wondering, I am not technically a baker. I do all of the production work, like the job title says, so that all the baker has to do is pull my dough or batters out of the walk-in and scoop and bake.
Here is a picture of the shirt and hat I wear at work. I also have to where khaki pants (or shorts) along with an apron. I don't know if you can tell but my shirt has binary code on it. For those of you that aren't complete nerds, it's a computer language that consists of 0's and 1's. I don't know what it says, but Glenn probably will when he sees it. The back of it has some dorky saying on it that has to do with computer programming. Only in Seattle right?

I really think I will enjoy this job. The hours are pretty good, the people I work with are extremely nice, it's a positive environment, and it keeps my skills sharp. The only drawback is that it is very physical work with lots and lots of lifting. There is one bowl that I use that I could literally sit in if I wanted to. Imagine trying to pick that bowl up when it's full of batter. Not fun. I am really happy to have found a job that I think will make me happy and keep me occupied. I am also very excited that I am on my way to earning money to finish up my education. About a year or so of work and I will have saved enough money to completely pay for a year and a half, maybe even two, of college. Yay!

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.

Scammers

It seems as though everyone's favorite Nigerian scammers have infested the birthplace of Craigslist. Of the 7 jobs I have applied for, two of them have revealed themselves as scams. It is really annoying! Ugh. Anyway, I figured I would post the two emails for everyone's entertainment. In case you have never actually seen one of these, you'll notice they both follow the same format. Both emails are overly detailed, grammar and spelling are terrible, and they both ask for fairly detailed personal invitation. As a side note, if you ever get something similar when you are trying to sell something on Craigslist, IGNORE IT! These offers always have the same "too good to be true" look, and trust me, they are.

Email #1 (all spelling/grammar errors have been left in for humor):
Our Company Name is Kalibre,We are a Swiss based trade association that deal in the sales and distribution of wrist watches.The primary goal of the Administrative Officer is to provide local customer assistant to our clients within North America. You will be assisting our clients within North America, the assistance to be provided will include: payment collections and customer service.

Your duties will include:
- Collecting Local Payments
When a buyer in United States decides to purchase an item through an online auction from our sellers he has the following payment options: paypal, Money orders, international wire transfer, international check, or local wire transfer. The quickest option of these is local wire transferring. Local wire transfers are the option that the sales support representative will provide to the clients.

- Managing Data
Along with the payments received from buyers you will be receiving details for these sales. These details will include items sold, price, and buyer's information. You are to file and maintain these purchasing records and transactions.

- Forwarding of the Payments
Once you receive each payment you will be keeping 10% as commission and forwarding the rest to the seller or representative, whose information will be provided prior each transaction. It is crucial to complete forwarding of the payments in a time efficient manner.

- Fees, and Transferring Procedures
All fees are covered by the company. The fees for transferring are simply deducted from the payments received. No client will contact you during initial stage of the trial period. After three weeks of the trial period you will begin to have contact with the buyers via email in regards to collection of the payments. For the first three weeks you will simply receive all of the transferring details, and payments, along with step by step guidance from your supervisor. You will be forwarding the received payments by wire transfer.

Additional Information:
Salary:
During the trial period, you will be paid 2,000USD per month while working on average 3-4hours per day, plus 10% commission from every payment received and forwarded. The salary will be sent in the form of wire transfer directly to your account. After the trial period your base pay salary will go up to 2,200USD per month, plus 10% commission.

Taxes:
You will receive a monthly invoice stating your total income. All applicable taxes are covered by the company.

Your First Primary task (Collection of Payments):
1. Receive payment from our Customers or Clients.
2. Cash Payment at your Bank or any cashing facilities near you.
3. Deduct 10 % which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to, you'll have a lot of free time doing another job, because this job schedule is flexible, you'll get good income .But this job is very challenging and you should understand it.

In acceptance of this job offer .Please kindly fill your details below and email it to jtxadservice@gmail.com , so that you can get started.

Personal Information

Full Name: ________________
Address: ________________
City: ________________
State/Province: ________________
Postal Code: ________________
Present Occupation (if any): ________________
Age: ________________
Resident Phone Number:________________
Mobile: ________________
Please note that your information is not for public use but for our records.

We request that you email us back to let us know if you can begin your first task on June 21, 2010

Regards.

Head Human Resources Dept
Robert Williams

Email #2 (all spelling/grammar errors have been left in for humor):

I'm Dorothy brentford, originally from Australia, but I have spent a whole lot of my time here in United State. I'm an Architect by profession and I have been pretty successful in a handful of ventures I get involved in; from the Angel Investment Network in Canada and United State to various welfare and community service programs, I most very often get my hands occupied, so it is imperative for me to have a worthy assistant who can monitor and keep me up to date with my activities.

As my assistant, your activities amongst other things will include;

*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring.

*Scheduling programmed, flights and keeping me up to date with them.

*Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence when I'm away.

*Making regular contacts and drop-offs on my behalf.

*Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities.

Basic wage is $500 per week

This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following them, my only fear is that I may come at you on impromptu sometimes, so I need someone who can be able to meet up with my irregular timing.There is also a very sensitive issue on trust and accountability which I believe will resolve itself as time goes on. This is only an introductory e-mail, as time goes on we should be able to arrange a proper meeting to get things started officially.

I'm currently in south London Area of the United Kingdom(England)for a project am handling here, however I do have a number of things you could help me to start with if you will be available for me. This can act as a stable foundation to our working relationship.reply me back with your contact address as follows if you are intrested in working with me

Your full name

Contact address

State,Zip code

Cell phone #

Age

Present Ocupation

I look forward to hearing back from you soon

Regards.

Dorothy brentford.