Shop-n-Smile!

The J-O-B situation is slowly getting better.

I started working at the university. It feels real real good to be on a university campus again, and the University of Montana is very pretty. At least, I see its potential to be pretty. We are just crawling into Spring and Montana does not leave winter too willingly. It will still snow here, totally unexpectedly (to me), in the middle of the day. And not necessarily snowflakes that I am familiar with, but these tiny little pellets of snow, similar to hale,...but not.

Anyway, it's no wonder it feels so good to be here since I spent such a large chunk of my life on two university campuses. Of course, this time it's different. I'm not an undergrad or the youngest student in my graduate program anymore. I'm just a 30-something temp who isn't wearing jeans and sneakers or carrying an enormous bookbag anymore. At least it's a temp with the university and not another agency!

Oh, and I got ANOTHER call from another university department, but I told them I'd already made a commitment to the department I'm in now and I couldn't do it. It was kind of a bummer since it was a pretty nice job, but despite what happened at my PREVIOUS temp job, I don't really like doing things like that. And there will be other jobs...I hope.

These temporary positions feel like you're always at the casino rolling the dice. It's all about timing and impressions. You're trying to do a good job so you can make it to the NEXT job with a favorable recommendation, and of course, the NEXT job has to start right around the time your present job ends. It's maddening. You feel like you're gambling with your own life, which you kind of are, since it's your rent, fuel, and cat food that are on the line. You don't want to piss off your present employer with your new job search, taking off for interviews and such, but you don't want to wait TOO long since nowadays so many positions require long application processes and multiple interviews.

The job I'm at now only lasts until June (with the "possibility" of an extension). I know how it goes...funding and the "we'll see if we really like you" factor kicks in. And this university, though a state school, seems to really struggle with funding in a way that surprises me. Back during my time at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison, the university itself always bitched about not having enough money and needing to raise tuition, but if you spent some time at the university and used its wide array of splendid services, you'd see that they were doing very well. I guess each state is different in how they treat their universities.

What I think I haven't mentioned either, is that about two weeks ago I started a job at a retail store. Not Target again, but let's just say it's a VERY similar place. How 'bout we call it "Shop-n-Smile." I work there nights and weekends. It's a LOT less intense than Target, but it's also a lot less structured and polished, which can be annoying. And they make me tuck in my shirt, which I HATE. *cough* Anyways...

It was a weird experience, because I got to the interview, and I was asked to sit in a row of chairs facing three supervisors. There was one from apparel, one from hardlines, and one from the cashier section. There were already two other applicants sitting in the row with me -- an attractive high school student (female), and a somewhat shady-looking male with a bald head and tightly folded arms. The three interviewers would ask questions, and we'd have to answer them in turn. It was an odd experience, especially since the three of us couldn't be more different. I think each of my answers was about 3x longer than theirs. I try to be talkative in an interview without turning into Gabby McChat.

I thought the teenager did a good job, though she was very obviously nervous. The shady male kept making comments about his disgruntlement at his past jobs. Idiot! Don't you know you to ix-nay on the riticism-cay during an interview?? When they asked me where I would prefer to work, I quickly said "hardlines" which basically consists of anything that is NOT clothes/shoes or the registers. I learned from Target how un-fun it can be to work apparel, especially working the infants/kids department *vomit* And though cashiering can be fun, a shift where you just stand in place hour after hour can be excrutiating.

After a few more questions, they asked the three of us to go and sit in the breakroom while they conferred. Of course, they gave us the 5-minute "even if we don't hire you now, we'll keep your application and maybe we'll hire you later (yeah right)" speech, so I knew at least one of us didn't make the cut. After an astonishing 20 minutes cooling our heels (what could necessitate ALL that conferring?), they called us back in, each directed to a different supervisor. I sat down with the hardlines guy who said, "What area do you like to work in best?" So I told him honestly, housewares and domestics (furniture, bedding, kitchen stuff, basically everything for the house). I think it's one of the more interesting and least frustrating areas to work. I would work anywhere, but I was praying he wouldn't tell me "Toys," since that section is just about as nightmarish as you can imagine.

He smiled and said, "That's exactly where I have an opening." Score! So, all he had to do was wait for my background check to come back (do felonies count against you?) and then I could start.

So, a week later I was sent to training. Though the trainer was a very nice woman, it was one of the absolute worst training sessions I have ever been on. I felt myself appreciating Target more and more, despite all the things that had annoyed me about them. The majority of the training consisted in us watching fantastically boring videos. The trainer would often push play, and then go and disappear for awhile. Often the tape would end and the four of us would all stare at our shoes for several minutes in polite embarrassment. There were three other women in training with me. A pharmacy student who would intern in the pharamacy, a woman who would be a cashier, and the teenager from my interview who would work in apparel. Apparently Joe Dis Gruntled didn't make the cut.

So, here I am a couple weeks later. The job is easy, and Shop-n-Smile, though a nice store, gets very little business, though of course I'm comparing it to Target during Christmas, which was INSANE. But all the biggies are here in town (Wal-Mart, ShopKo, Target, K-Mart, Stein Mart), so there's lots of competition. I spend hours and hours each shift very.....slowly.....walking through the aisles straightening candles and picture frames, re-rolling the rugs people lay out on the floor to try, and folding aisles of puffy bath towels. It's hardly brain surgery, and sometimes I think I'll go mad from the boredom, but it's a job, it's easy, it's inside, and we could damn sure use the money.

Of course the only drawback is working all day at my temp job (8-5ish) and then racing over to Shop-n-Smile to work from 5ish-10pm. Since I'm one of these freaks who needs like 9 hours of sleep a night to feel even remotely functional in the morning, I've been waking up as a cast member from Night of the Living Dead. I know I can't keep this up forever, but who knows what will happen with the day temp job? I need this night gig to keep some checks coming in for awhile.

Ohhhh Missoula, one day my ship will come in, and I will feast and feast upon that fat bounty!

Until then, I'm knackered.