Thursday, November 02, 2006

In which our heroine applies for a job

Okay now no one faint because I do not have any smelling salts and since all my references for fainting spells come from the golden age of cinema I would have no idea what to do to revive you. The truth over here at Casa de Cedar is that funds are tight. Okay, they are practically nonexistent and we have a lot of mouths to feed and amazingly cat food is not that cheap it turns out.

The Purple Beast (PB) is still not running reliably, so even if the county was to turn up a client for me, the job depends on a vehicle.Of course in the ultimate of Catch-22s, I need to fix the PB so I can work, but I need funds to fix the PB, and without a job, which requires the running PB there are no funds.

I have seen this posting before on Craigslist. In fact I have seen it from time to time and I am
not exactly a frequent visitor to the list or jobs specifically because 1 – I sort of, kind of have a job, and 2 – I don’t like working per se especially when trying to complete eight grad classes in a semester. I’m funny that way. The relative frequency of this job posting does concern me, but only slightly. I don’t intend to work anywhere longer than necessary and necessary is rather arbitrary in my world. It does mean that I am not worried that they won’t be able to fill it whenever I were to leave. I really am qualified for the position in that "candidates must have a college degree or proven experience in health education". Hello? I’m in graduate school; hence I have a college degree. Hello? I was a doula for nine years and taught childbirth preparation. About the only I don’t have that they would prefer is that I speak Spanish. Good reason to finally start going through those 32 cds of “Learning Spanish” that I have. I have time to add that in, right? Sure I do. Anyway.

I suppose you want to know more about the job, well so do I that’s why I emailed a resume a few mere hours ago. The Sperm Bank of California is looking for a health worker. The ad says a lot of the job is via the phone, so I figure I can wear one of these fancy headphone jobs and knit at the same time. Bonus! Especially since I signed on for Lacevember. Get paid, knit, pay bills. Excellent.

That it is also a non-profit totally works me because I tend to work only for non-profit and other entities that are poor, thus my personal state remains aligned with theirs. However, I must say that the hourly rate is quite decent, more than my agency job. I could walk or bike to it, and they offer {gasp} benefits! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I had benefits via a job I held, versus being the covered partner? Well do you?Actually I’m sure none you do, except possibly Greg – who by the way NEVER comments on the blog despite being able to do so anonymously. "October 1996 is the answer we were looking for folks", (a la Alex Trebek). A paid holiday? Madness I tell you. A sick day? What is this thing you speak of? The idea that I could get my asthma medication with less shall we say slightly underhanded machinations. Sheer insanity. Yes I am getting ahead of myself. Far ahead but I am delirious with the idea of these things.

2 comments:

wen said...

i loved that post. it totally resonated with me. i've had my own healthcare and vacation days for over a year now, and yes, it's good stuff. (things aren't always covered, but hey, it's better that there's a *chance* it will be). plus, i quite enjoy living indoors, as i'm sure you do as well. and the hungry kitty mouths...well they need some tuna delight, eh?

good for you for applying for the job. you can always leave it if it's bad, and if not, hey, you will have some decent money and that is sure to decrease your stress level! decreased stress level = better productivity...

yay! yay! yay!

Breena Ronan said...

I went back to grad school because I could make the same money working half-time as a TA as I was making in the non-profit world and get much better health coverage.