Work

The past week has been a down and up week work wise. Tuesday, I received news that the company I was hoping to go to work for (the one I took the March 6th test for) may have dumped me and didn't even have the decency to tell me. I was absolutely floored. Dealing with civilian employers this past year has been a real eye opener. I never knew companies treated prospective employees like crap. I feel more and more that I was fortunate to serve in the Air Force. You may work some crappy and LONG hours but, the Air Force does take care of its people. I can't say the same for civilian firms.

I did get one nice bit of news. I have an interview with the Post Office this Thursday. The job pays $16.24 an hour. The drawbacks are I would only get one day a week of work. I would have to work for them for at least a year before I could have a chance of being hired on full-time and permanently, and I won't receive any benefits. Still, it would get my foot in the door with them. Supposedly, once you get hired on permanently, you have to really screw up to get fired by the Post Office. The job security is very appealing. One of the requirements of the job is that I must be able to prove that I've had a spotless driving record for the last five years. Back in September, I changed my drivers license from Florida to Maryland. Unfortunately, I forgot what my Florida drivers license was. I've been searching high and low since. I finally found it this morning and requested a copy of my Florida driving record. I received that this afternoon. Now all I have to do is fill out the rest of the forms. That promises to take a while. Still, a job with the Post Office might be a very good thing. We'll see if it happens.

My job at Medieval Times goes well. I'm finally getting the hang of it. I now know when to do various things like turn on and off the air conditioning in the arena, set out trash cans, and store chairs and tables. I continue to find the job a real challenge in dealing with the customers. Today for instance, a customer came back to see about what could be done about something they'd bought today. The particular item fell apart and they wanted to know if they could get a replacement. I had to figure out to handle the problem. I ended taking them to one of the sales people in the gift shop who did replace the item. Another problem I encountered today was people wanting to look around the gift shop. The problem with that was it was closed. The gift shop people were busy selling items to people who were watching one the two shows today (we do two shows on Sundays). I had to nicely tell them that the gift shop was closed and gave them what I hoped was an accurate time when the gift shop would reopen. Lastly, I found out what my work schedule will be like this week. To my delight, I'll get to work 37 hours this week. With the 41 I put in this past week, I should receive a decent paycheck in a couple weeks. The money I'm earning at Medieval Times is helping. I'll be enrolling at the University of Maryland for the summer semester. The paycheck I earn from Medieval Times will help me pay for the class I'll be taking. Tomorrow, the castle will be having an auction where employees can use Medieval money they've earned to win various prizes. While I won't be able to win anything, I plan to attend to see what they auction off. It should be interesting. I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers for now!