:: Searching for Puck... ::

:: Thursday, January 13, 2005 ::

Hello again all!

Well, good news. Not only did I *get* the job at Barnes and Noble, it's *full time*!! That means I will have a "real" job for the first time in like, two years, and after two months I will also be able to get healthcare and tuition assistance up to a grand.

I'm...well, I'm still waiting to be psyched. I'm not sure why I can't muster up the excitement I was sure would come with news like this - maybe my brain chemistry is off again or somesuch. I guess I'm just frightened at the prospect of a real job - you spend enough time in the realm of ghetto working conditions and cash in an envelope, you get this way, I guess. I have to dress up here - no more jeans, t-shirts, or sneakers - so that's an adjustment. I'm going to be head cashier, of all things, and in charge of the front and accounting for money each morning and night (depending on what shift I get). It'll be five days a week, she told me, and the shifts are 8 1/2 hours (quite the change from the 5 1/2 I'm used to), with two paid 15 minute breaks and one half-hour one you gotta clock out for. Two of those days will be Saturday and Sunday, which kinda sucks, but I have to make concessions for a job like this. She's going to pay me $8.25 an hour, which is great because I had been expecting the $7 an hour the Asst. Manager had told me booksellers get starting out. It's like, $13 a week for my health care, but that has dental and vision, and maybe I can finally get these damn cysts taken out by a doctor. I get paid holidays, which is a totally new concept to me - apparently, if you have a 5 day a week schedule, the week of that holiday you only have to work four days, but your check will be the same. And if you *work* the holiday, you get time and a half (!). The holidays are something like labor day, memorial day, 4th of july, some other one, and xmas and new years day, which they are closed for. The schedule is made 2 weeks in advance, and there are two other people in my position that could potentially cover me if I need it. I told her about my AWP convention already, so at least that's on the table. Truthfully, I mean, I'm torn about AWP. Sure, it'd be great for me, but it's expensive, the plane ride is really freaking long, and we're only staying for like, 2 days. I'll end up going anyway, I'm sure. I'll miss Joey and it'll be a hit to the paycheck, but how often does one get these chances, really? Maybe I can even get my portfolio together by then.

Saturday, I'm tarot card reading at a place called New Age Insights, filling in for, ironically, my Aunt Sharon and Rick-from-English-Club's sister Sandy, whom I became good friends with on the Chicago trip to AWP. So, I dunno. Maybe I'll be able to pick up a little extra cash on my day off. It'd be nice.

Uhm...that's about it. I gotta start getting ready for one of my last days at work. Woo.

~Fox

:: Fox 1/13/2005 09:18:00 AM [Say what?] ::
...