Saturday, July 21, 2007
Where's Little Carole Ann When You Need Her Voicebox?
I'm baa-ack....from vacation, that is. As I had no vacation time left for the final week of my vacation, and wanted to attempt to get the majority of my paycheck this week, I was living at work for a while. (Note to self: after spending 2 and 1/2 weeks on vacation, working an 80 hour week just isn't going to happen. Because, self, you really don't fucking care about work anymore.)
Vacation was fabulous. I'm going to go through the highlights (with bullet points).
- United Airlines suck balls. After arriving at Dulles at 4:30 am on a Thursday morning, I found the line to check-in for my flight. (No e-tickets for me--the only two airlines that fly into WY only issue paper tickets, so I was stuck with paper for all of my flights. All 7 of them. Combine this with the TSA regulations that you must have a freaking boarding pass to go through a security checkpoint and you end up with jaime standing in line for a very long time.) The ticket counter opened at 5 am, but the line for check-in had already filled the cattle chute ropes. And, yes, everyone was flying out at 6 am to somewhere. Come 5 am and the counter opens--only to have the 2 slowest reps in the universe working. I didn't get to the front rope section until 5:30 and didn't reach the ticket counter until 5:50 am. I missed my flight. It was probably a good thing, as it meant that I missed O'Hare airport for a layover and was instead put on a direct flight to St. Louis. But it was piss poor planning and deserved a letter of complaint to United.
- While waiting for the airplane to St. Louis, I actually had a conversation with a child or child-like creature. There was a 10-14 year old boy sitting next to me in the terminal, and he was complaining about all of the delays in the airport. He mentioned that he wished he had his gameboy; I almost offered him a book to read. I was very proud of myself when I realized that Beam Me Up, Jesus and Cosmo are not appropriate reading material for a 10-14 year old boy. For me, that's a whole lot of progress for a day. I spent the rest of the afternoon sacrificing goats to our lord and master Satan to atone for that.
- St. Louis was awesome. Heather, Ben, and I had a fabulous time--we went to the Art Museum (the Napoleon exhibit and Chinese textile exhibit were awesome), the Botanical Gardens, City Museum, Tiffany, and Soulard Market. We had other wanderings as well, tons of great food and company, and I found a vintage Rolodex from circa 1920. I blame this Rolodex for my stop through security later on in my travels, but the coolness of it was worth it. We also found the ring, which may be my birthday present to me when I turn 27 in 2010 (they make it with rubies also, which I like better).
- Also, sometime in 2010, I'm going to have to have a fabulous party to celebrate being 27 and fabulously single. To hell if I have a boyfriend then or not; I'm not getting married, so why not celebrate that?
- Wyoming is awesome! Liz and friends picked me up from the airport at 10 pm on the 1st and the craziness began. The Chevy Aveo hatchback is like a clown car. It's tiny, but magically, can hold 4 insane adults, plus luggage. The turning radius is also amazing, as we discovered while making illegial U-turns on the entrance ramps to I-90 and business I-90.
- We spent July 4th in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We drove up the night before to Deadwood, SD (where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried), gambled and drank and had fun. I've decided I need a motorcycle, as that's the preferred vehicle (Sturgis is nearby). Spent the next day at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse before hitting Deadwood again and heading back.
- That weekend was Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was incredible. I don't have any other words for it. I do have a huge love of bison, mud volcanoes, and geysers, though.
- I got the keys to the City ATV--I got to drive up and down Main Street watering plants. It's more fun than it sounds. And a great way to meet the townsfolk.
- Followed by--RODEO!!! Giddy-up! I want to learn how to ride horses and bulls and broncos. Or just ride a cowboy. Mmmmm, cowboys.
- Street-dance after rodeo. The main street is blocked off, bars open their doors and set up additional alcohol stands, and people come out and drink and dance 'til dawn. It's like Mardi Gras without boob flashes and beads. But with cowboys, which are infinitely better. My Friday night ended at 8:30 am Saturday morning. I saw the sun rise over Main Street, walked down Main Street in my pjs, and kicked a naked guy out of my bed (he was creepy). Saturday night was a little less intense, as I had to be at the airport at 5 am for a 6 am flight. It was a much earlier night (in bed by 2 am), but still crazy fun.
- Flight out was delayed, as the last inbound flight the night before was delayed, and federal regulation prevented the plane from leaving until 7:30 am. I had to move my flight from Denver to BWI due to the domino effect. At the Sheridan airport, I was stopped for a bag inspection because of the Rolodex in my bag. No cavity search or anything weird, but everyone on that plane saw my underwear. I should mention that I didn't check anything for this flight--this confirms that I am Superwoman, as most women couldn't go on a 2 and a 1/2 week vacation without a gigantic suitcase.
So, I arrive home safe and sound. Unpack, snuggle with the fur-kids, and start to think about things. I've had offers to move to St. Louis and Wyoming, which is why I went where I went. The desire to move didn't go away when Ian and I broke up, but I wanted to visit and enjoy myself and then think about things after vacation.
Wyoming clicked; I definitely want to move there. I'm hitting the job search hardcore to find something that can pay me decently. Hell, even if I find something that pays me what I make here, I'm going to go for it. I can always go for more once I've got my foot in somewhere out there. It's different out there, and that's what I need. Everyone in Sheridan is committed to making Sheridan an awesome place to live, and that civic pride shows through. But there's also a very independent spirit about the town and the west; I feel like I can do my own thing out there for a while. There's so much pressure here to do more and more for my job with less and less benefit to me (where the fuck is my pay raise??), pressure to afford an apartment and not live with parents, pressure to date. I need to be on my own, somewhere where I can explore and grow for a while. I need the time for me, and I can spend it selfishly in Wyoming. If I were somewhere else, I'd just get sucked back into the cycle of things.
As added incentive to move, and to do so as quickly as possible, I give you the latest raft of shit that my employer is sailing straight at me (again, with fabulous bullet points--can one of those bullet points shoot me in the head?).
- Ellen, our customer care manager, is leaving the company. Her last day is the 27th of July. Rather than hire and train a new customer care manager (or anyone else for customer care), they're throwing me back into customer care. I should explain that officially, my title is Corporate Office Trainer, but I haven't done any training since May. I was needed in our warehouse office to clean up outstanding return requests, most of which were generated from customer care. To clean this up required that I also clean up old customer service issues, so I really never left customer care. I just stopped actively talking to customers.
- I was offered a raise to be the new customer care manager; however, this would be a permanent position. There would be no hope of leaving, moving into a store management position, or going back to training. I am completely burnt out on customer care and our customers, and do not want to be in this position. Add to that the fact that I was the entire fucking department for at least 2 months, and I did so without a raise pretty much took the raise off the table.
- So, I'm the stopgap for now. I'm getting thrown back to customer care without a choice (what choice do I have if the other option is unemployment?). They aren't looking for a replacement customer care manager, because, well, see above.
- Add to this that our accountant's last day was Friday--she's on a medical leave. I also need to devote at least 3 hours a day to the corporate accounting stuff that I have to do. I get to reconcile invoices with receiving, enter and post invoice information from manufacturers, code and enter and post all operating expenses, and file all of the paperwork.
- Did I mention that they're not hiring anyone for customer care?
Wyoming is looking mighty fine right now. Hence the statement that I will take a job at a similar pay rate to what I make now if it means that I get to live there and not here. I do not receive adequate compensation for all of the shit that I deal with at my job. Given that customer care management is at least a 60 hour a week (or more) job, plus the accounting work is an additional 20 hours a week (minimum), and I'm not getting any more money to do any of this, moving is a great option. Hell, working at Taco Bell is more appealing than what I'm doing now.
In good news, I did get information about 2 job openings. One is for a communications officer position with the police department (dispatch work, fielding 911 calls, fielding press inquiries, etc)--they wanted me to fill out a second form so they could do a complete background check. Two is for an office manager position with the Chamber of Commerce--they want to speak with me on the phone about the job (they pay what I make now, but it's a foot in the door). The ball is rolling, and in the right direction. West!!!
posted by jaime |
5:59 PM
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