On Quitting, Callcenters for Healthcare, and Health

These last few months, I have had to do something twice that I have never had to do before:

Quit a job.

So here is what happened:  I had been working at the Burch Creek Animal Hospital in Ogden as a Kennel Technician for nearly a year, along side my job at Kohl's.  Working at Kohl's one night, I worked with a lady there that I hadn't worked with for some time.  You see, she had gotten a job at Black Turtle Services, which takes calls for the Affordable Healthcare Act website.  She liked the job, and convinced to apply there as they were taking application for the open enrollment period.  I was doubtful about a call center job (two of my sisters have worked them in the past, so I have heard the stories), but the money was a good bit more than what I was making at either Kohl's or Burch Creek.  So, I decided to do it.  I submitted my application, and the day after I was called in for an interview for the next day.  I went in, and got hired on the spot (along with many other people who had come in for interviews).  It was only guaranteed through February, but had the possibility of becoming permanent.

I all happened a lot faster than I planned.  I still wasn't really sold on the whole call center thing.  But, hey, it seemed like the best option at the time.  Of course, to work at Black Turtle full time, some changes had to be made.  My supervisor at Kohl's agreed to have me work one day a week to keep me on the books in case I didn't get kept on.  Burch Creek, on the other hand, had to go in light of these new events.  This was the first time I had ever had/gotten to quit a job.  I had hoped to tell my supervisor there face to face, but she was not there on the next day, so I had to call her and tell her over the phone.

So the two weeks passed, and I started my training at Black Turtle.  I caught on quickly, and at the end of the training, I aced the competency test, and my trainer told me that the person who did my test mock calls was impressed with how I handled myself.  The week after that, I finished my training on the floor, and survived the first day of open enrollment.

Tuesday of the next week, I was down with the stomach flu.  You probably know someone who has had it by now.  It seems to be the most popular thing around these parts since "Let It Go."  I was somewhat embarrassed to have to call in sick on the second week on the real job, but my supervisor was understanding.  Armed with a doctor's note (the doctor said that he was treating at least 5 people a day for the stomach flu), I got my week-long absence knocked down to a single occurrence.  Back on Monday, I got back into the groove, and hoped that the flu was just a speed bump.  I recovered in time to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving, and was grateful for the the fact that I didn't have to work Black Friday.  I went back to Black Turtle the next week...not really liking the job, but willing to last through Februrary at least.

Last week, the flu got me again at work.  I had to leave early on Monday.  My supervisor was still polite, but I could tell he wasn't thrilled about it. I couldn't blame him, I wasn't really thrilled about it either.  This certainly was not the way to make a good impression.  So I went back to the doctor, who seemed to agree with me that I had caught the flu again.  He told me to stay home for the week, and wrote a doctor's not saying that I should be good to go by Monday.  That worked for me.  Monday a mandatory day at Black Turtle, as it was the last day that people could sign up and have their new insurance start on January 1st.  So, once again, I stayed home from work for a week.  I was a bit concerned when I was still sick on Saturday.  The previous flu had lasted 5 days then cleared out pretty quick. 

Sunday and I still wasn't filling better.  Some symptoms had cleared up, but the nausea remained.  On Sunday evening, I had a strong pain in my stomach that listed a couple of minutes.  I don't mind saying that it spooked me.  If it had lasted much longer or repeated, I probably would have gone to the ER.  But it didn't, but duller pains replaced it.  I began to weigh my options:  I obviously wasn't better, and tomorrow was a mandatory day.  One way or another, I had to go in...whether it was to work or quit, if it came down to it.

So, Monday morning came after a long night...I think I slept about 3 hours that night, worried about what my conversation with my supervisor would bring.  I called and made an appointment with my family doctor (the last two doctor's I saw were at Instacares, as I was just after doctor's notes since I knew they couldn't really do anything for the flu).  So, I went in to Black Turtle.  I knew what was going to happen, more or less, so I cleaned out my locker (which only had a week old lunch in there at this point) just in case.  When I talked to my supervisor, I explained the situation, and that I was still sick.  We talked it out, and agreed that, at this point, it was probably best for me to bow out, as I was already have to be "talked to" for missing almost two full weeks of work already (almost half the time I was supposed to be on the floor), and missing the mandatory day would just be another strike against me.

I'll be honest here: I was not liking the job.  But I had worked worst jobs for longer and for less pay, so I wasn't happy at all at having to quit this one so quickly.  But I didn't have much of a choice.  Whether it was the Universe saying this job wasn't for me, or just terrible luck at getting sick so soon after being hired, it just looks like it was not meant to be.

The next day, I went to go see my regular doctor, Dr. Neville.  He is a good guy.  I told him what was going on.  Unfortunately, the symptoms "nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea" belong to about a billion different diseases.  Given the length of the symptoms, however, Dr. Neville narrowed it down to one of two things: either I had developed an infection my my digestive tract (which I have had the misfortune of dealing with before), or I had developed an ulcer, which could account for the stomach pain I'd been feeling.

Given the two choices, I'd rather deal with the infection again.  I'd never though I'd say that, but "ulcer" just sounds worst, and given the amount of medicine I was given to treat that, a lot more long term.  I was prescribed medicine to treat both, and given a diet to follow in case it was ulcers.

This brings me to today.  I'm taking it easy as I am still nauseated a lot of the time and still have the stomach pains.  I'm glad I kept my job at Kohl's, because that means I am not entirely up the creek, but they had already done the schedule for the next out, and there weren't any shifts to pick up on days I wasn't already working, so I suddenly have a lot more free time (I already told my mom that once I feel better she will have a very clean house in time for Christmas).    I've always wanted some extra time around Christmas...but this was not how I wanted it to happen.

So, that's what's been up with me for the last couple of months.  I do apologize if this comes across as a "woe is me" post.  Hopefully next time I have something to blog about, it will be a bit more upbeat.  In the meantime, I hope everyone who reads this has a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

So I Have This Blog Thing I've Been Ignoring For Awhile...

So, yeah, this blogging thing.

Seems like I force myself to write something around the 4th of July, whether something interesting is happening or not...so I guess it's that time of year.

This also appears to be the only way to convince my mom that, despite that fact that she is retired, my life is still duller than hers.

Hi, mom.

So since my last post, I have gone on to pass the Veterinary Technician National Exam, and to become a Certified Veterinary Technician.  Unfortunately, I appear to be stuck in the statistic of college grads that are having trouble finding work in their field.

  I'm still working at Kohl's, and picked up a second job as a Kennel Technician at the Burch Creek Animal Hospital in South Ogden.  It's not as exciting as it sounds; I basically go in 3 nights a week and feed, walk, and clean up after the animals that are being boarded there.  I had a really rough start because I got hired in late November, so my "training day" was on Black Friday, and I had to get used to having two jobs during the busy season for both of them. I came really, really close to quitting a few times.  But since then I've definitely appreciated having a second paycheck when the after-Christmas slow season hit at Kohl's, and having a clinic on my resume certainly doesn't hurt.

I can't really think of much more to say beyond that.  I've had the kennel tech job for almost 8 months now, so it's just part of the routine for me.  And working two jobs I don't have a lot of full days off so I haven't had much of a chance to go do exciting stuff.  However, in the next few months I hoping to have some stuff to blog about.  One of my best friends is getting married and the poor guy thinks he wants me as a groomsman (we'll see what he thinks about this when the tux person takes a look at me and either laughs or passes out), and I am trying to align things so that I can have the days off to go to the Salt Lake Comic Con in September. 

On a side note, you know the phrase "everyone and their dog?"  Yeah, turns out when "everyone and their dog" goes on vacation, people don't actually take their dogs with them.  I am finding out which holidays are travel holidays and which ones are stay-at-home holidays based on how many animals I have to take care of.

To leave off, I'll mention an adventure that me and my mom had the other day.  My poor, almost 20 year old car is starting to feel its years, and developed a problem over the holiday weekend, so I had to take it in to get looked at.  Unfortunately, I had already set-up a job interview in Salt Lake on Monday, so I had to ask my Mom to give me a ride to it.  Being the lovely person she is, she agreed.  So I dutifully wrote down the instructions from GoogleMaps, and off we went.  We decided to drop off the Sub on the way...which might have been a bad idea, because the care shop was slammed and it took us a lot longer than we had planned to drop it off.  Because of this, as we neared Salt Lake, it became clear that I was going to be late.  Not wanting to set too bad of a first impression, I called the interviewer and told them we were going to be about 10 minutes late.

So...how many people does it take to find a road?

The answer: 2.  But it takes us a half hour.

You see, I often hear that Utah has a weird address system.  I don't see what is so weird about it.  If anything, having it based on a grid-system makes more sense to me than having a bunch of randomly named roads.

However, GoogleMaps seems to be on the side of people who agree we have a weird system.  According to said website, we were supposed to turn off of I-15, and then turn onto Commerce Drive.  What it didn't tell us is that Commerce Drive starts as 300 W and then becomes Commerce (at least according to the lady that interviewed me for the job  Mom and I did not investigate this claim).  So cue me and my poor Mom driving down the road looking for a street that doesn't exist.  It should be noted here that while I wrote down the directions, I neglected to write down the actual address for the place where the interview was at.  Finally, we decided that we must have passed Commerce, and decided to find the other road we were supposed to turn on (4800 S), and go from there.  We chose poorly, however, and ended up be detoured by construction.  My Mom is a trooper, however, and she dutifully found 4800 for us.  Once on the right road, we eventually arrived at our destination...a little more than a half hour late.

The person doing the interview was very nice and understanding, saying that the same thing had happened to her once.  But let's face it; you don't want to be remembered as "the interviewee that was late".

Still, it was worth a laugh, more or less.  I won't even go into the story about how GoogleMaps dropped me in the middle of the north part of Salt Lake City once instead of a address in North Salt Lake.

In Regards To My Last Post

Sorry.  This time I have no fancy metaphors for what Han Solo represents in all this

So, yeah, after a few really long days of studying (and today, which was sort of half studying, half freaking out), I finally took the final today.  Honestly, it was nice just to get in there and get on with it.  However, the stress wasn't to stop there.  Class started at 6pm, I got done with the test around 7:30pm, but I didn't find out the results until 9:30pm!  My teacher waited until everyone was done taking the test, then went through them to see if there were any questions a lot of people got wrong, and then went through those questions to see if they were badly worded/answer key had the wrong answer/etc.  Turns out she did find one question she thought the wording was confusing on, so she gave all of us that one as a freebie.

Anyways, long story short, I got 74% on final (had to get at least a 70% to pass the class), which gave me an overall grade of 76% in the class.  I will admit, after long years of schooling where my parents pushed me to get As and Bs,  this is maybe the happiest I've ever been to get a C.  But as far as this class is concerned, I will gladly take it.

My graduation ceremony is Saturday morning.  I don't think the entire idea of "BJ: college graduate" has really sunk in yet.  Of course, this is only part of it.  This just means that I am now qualified to take the VTNE (the Veterinary Technician National Exam) to get certified...but I guess that's a Death Star for another occasion.

Almost There...

I am about to make the ultimate nerd move here.

I'm about to compare my life to Star Wars.  Namely, I am going to compare how my schooling these last few months compares almost painfully well to the Death Star battle in Star Wars (Episode 4).

A few months back (October-December), I was in what should have been my last quarter of school, and it was a hum-dinger.  I was taking what is easily the hardest class I have taken at this school: The VTNE Review.  The VTNE is the Veterinary Technican National Exam, and when I graduate, I will be eligible to take the test.  The VTNE Review class is designed to get you ready to take the VTNE.  It does this in a pretty punishing way: to pass the VTNE and get certified, you must get at least 70%.  As such, the review class is made up of five 50 question "mock exams" that you got 3 attempts at (a different test on the same subject each time) and one 200 question "final", and you have to pass all of these tests with at least 70% to pass the class, and therefore graduate.  

At the same time, I was also doing my externship/internship.  Basically, I had to work as a vet tech at a clinic for 270 hours over a 10 week period.  I was lucky enough to do mine a the Kaysville Veterinary Clinic, under the tutalage of Dr. Neil Moss and his techs.  If any lives in the Kaysville/Layton area and needs a vet, I would heartily recommend Dr. Moss.  He is a nice guy and knows his stuff.

Anyways, back to the Star Wars analogy.

Think back, if you will, to when Red Leader is flying down the trench.  The first wave of fighters is already destroyed, so he and his two wing mates are flying down the trench.  Laser bolts are flying around him, and Darth Vader is closing in behind.  However, he is confident, looking into this targeting computer, and focusing on his target, even as his wing mates are taken down.

It quickly became apparent that this was not going to easy.  Between my externship and my actual job, I was putting in anywhere between 40-55 hour weeks, on top of trying to find time to study for the review class.  The stress was amazing.  The time I wasn't at work or at the clinic was spent dreading the next test.  I managed to pass the first exam on my first try.  That put a bit of wind back in my sail, which was quickly taken out two week later when I failed my first attempt on test #2 by 2 questions.  However, I wasn't too worried, as I still had two more attempts.  A week later, I missed attempt #2 by a single question...a question I seconded guessed myself on and changed to the wrong answer.  The very real possibility of not passing the class loomed ahead of me, increasing the already considerable stress load.

With how stressed and tired I was, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it was around then that I caught the stomach flu...twice...in back-to-back weeks, forcing me to miss class, work, and my externship.

Red Leader chants "Almost there," to himself and his squadron as he nears the exhaust port of the Death Star.  Finally, he's with range, and he triumphantly shouts "It's away!" as he fires at the port.  However, his joy turns to disappointment as he misses.  "Negative, negative," he reports dully, "It just deflected off the surface."  Shortly after, Darth Vader hunts him down and destroys him.

I went into my third attempt at the 2nd mock exam with only the faintest bit of hope.  With the flu and everything else going on, every time I had opened my books to study I had fallen asleep with them still open. My illness had already made me miss the first attempt at the 3rd test, but if I failed this time on the second mock exam, it didn't matter much anyway.  

I missed it by 3 questions.  I failed.  Honestly, at the time, it was almost an relief.  It was one less thing on my plate as my hours at work were going up as the Christmas rush hit full swing.  As it was, I finished the 270 hours of my externship with about a half hour to spare on the last day of week 10.

My externship done, the Christmas rush behind me, all that stood in my way was VTNE review class.  This time, I knew what I was getting into.

Luke Skywalker and his wing mates fly into the trench.  Learning from the mistakes of the others, they barrel down the canyon of metal at full speed, ignoring the incoming fire in the hopes of outrunning the Imperial fighters long enough to make the kill shot on the Death Star.  However, Darth Vader pulls up behind them, and one by one works his way through the rebel fighters.

This second time through the class has been much better.  I was met with a few familiar faces, those whom, like me, had been unable to pass the VTNE review class before.  However, my experience from the previous quarter has served me in good stead.  Counting the mock exam I took tonight, I passed each and every mock exam on my first attempt, albeit by the very skin of my teeth in some cases.

So, all that stands in my way is the 200 question final.  I know at least one student in the past has made it all the way through the class only to score less than 70% on the final.  However, I got a week to study, so I'm pretty sure I will be ready for it.

Luke closes in on his target, and the destruction of the Death Star.  However, Darth Vader zooms in behind him, ready to blast him.  All that stands between victory and defeat is one last shot.

Almost there...

Okay, all that was probably a bit melodramatic, but it's past midnight.  Whadd'ya want from me :)?

And I start blogging again with the video I started this blog with.

So, for those of you who can remember back to the glory days of 2009 (3 years ago...geez), my very first blog post was around the 4th of July.  Once again, it is around the 4th of July, and here is that video again!

So here we are.  What has happened in the past 2 1/2 years?  Well, most notably, I decided to go back to school to become a veterinary technician (a nurse for a vet if you want the layman version), and to afford that (or to afford it better, I guess.  Hello students loans) I moved back home to save money.  Mom and Dad have been very nice to me even though I came back to cramp their style.  I know people have been bugging me to tell them what I do in school, but please...don't ask me that.  Every time someone asks me that, something happens that I really don't want to share happens...I want to give examples, but people may be eating while reading this so I will abstain.  Maybe I will have some non-disgusting stories to share in the future.  I've even managed to not come home with any animals yet (which I'm sure Mom and Dad appreciate), despite the fact that , on top of being one of 4 or 5 guys in the program, it also makes me the only vet tech student that doesn't have above the legal limit of animals at home.

Other than that...eh...I only have 6800 songs left to rate in my music collection?  Yup, outside of school, my life remains duller than yours.  I'm still at Kohl's, though hopefully with school the end of that is in sight.  I abused more lumber in the form of helping to re-build my parent's fence after that windstorm back in December.

I'm currently enjoying my summer break from school (3 weeks off), though the last quarter was hairy enough I still find myself wondering if there is homework I should be doing from time to time.  About the most exciting thing I've done with my time off was that I went and saw a movie (The Avengers!  It's pretty good!) in a theater for the first time in a long while.  I think the last movie I saw before that in a theater was Inception, and that was, what, 2010?  I wanted to see it in the theater, and I figured I was running out of time (it's been out for two months), and I'm glad I did.

With that, I'm out of things to write, so I'll mention my other blogs.  I'll probably throw stuff that BJ's Reviews from time to time, but BJ Walks the Dogs is pretty much dead, partly because the Ogden Animal Shelter no longer exists, and with school I don't really have a lot of time to volunteer at a shelter right now.

So there it is.  I'll try to keep this blog a bit more up to date due to popular demand (and by popular I mean my mom.  Hi Mom!), but it's not fault if nothing blog-worthy happens for weeks at a time.

Until then.

Random Stories, Random Photos

Really, nothing much as happened since my last blog post. Well...at any rate, nothing much worth blogging about, as I'm sure you guys don't want to listen to me complaining about work.

So, instead, I'll keep this a little more light-hearted by throwing out some random photos I've taken. My cellphone camera has turned me into a bit of a shutter bug.

I took this one at the local rec center...the subject line being irony.




Somehow, combining "Repo Car Sale!" and "Tickets 'It's A Wonderful Life!'" just seems a little...wrong.

Anyways, on to the less ironic, and the more awesome:



Santa playing bagpipes. As seen on Saturday when Mom, Dad, Amanda, Matt, and I went down to SLC to see the lights in Temple Square. All I had was my cellphone camera, but I got a few good pictures. I may put them up later.

That's pretty much it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.

The "Joys" of Black Friday

The bloggery has been a bit slow lately, mostly because my life has been living up to the title of said blog.

However, working in the wonderful world of retail, I get to experience the yearly event known as "Black Friday"...a phrase that conjurers both joy and dread, depending on which side of the counter you are on.

So, after spending Thanksgiving with my family (thanks again to Chrystie for hosting!), I went to bed around 9 pm. I know that doesn't sound all that early, but it is for me, who usually doesn't go to bed until around 2 or 3 am. I am such a night-owl. And I also knew from prior experience that if I tried to go to bed much earlier than that, I'd just wouldn't fall alseep.

So, anyways, after catching about 4 hours of sleep, I wake up and make the drive down to Layton. I remember the first time I worked a Black Friday, I figured the traffic would be bad, so I gave myself a lot of time...only to find the roads empty.

I know now that the roads are empty because everyone is already at their store of choice come 4 am.

One thing good I can say about my store is that we are not Wal-Mart. That isn't to say that there wasn't a lot of people at the store (some people actually camped out over night), but we don't get the same kind of trampling and stampeding that happens at bigger stores. I suppose the police car that was lurking out front to prevent such things might of helped.

The crowd was actually a little smaller this year...probably because they opened a Kohl's in Clinton, people up here had two stores to go to instead of just one. Not that I could really ntoice from where I was standing, as they line never ended, anyways. I can't really complain about the length of my shift, as I got a "short" shift...only 10 hours intead of 12. Not that I mind at all, 'cause 10 hours of bending was about all my back could handle.

Still, it could of been worst, according to stories I've heard about happenings at other stores. I guess the Toys R Us in Layton had to stop letting people in because the building was loaded to capacity. And I'm sure Best Buy had a 3 hour long line, as always.

Really, if I ever get out of retail, I'm never going near any kind of store on a BlackFriday.

Well, at least it's a short shopping season this year. Less than 30 days to Christmas already.

...I guess that means I need to get my shopping done.

Ah, the joys of internet shopping...no lines, no crazy people, just my computer and a comfy chair.

The only way to Christmas shop, really.