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!
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
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.
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.
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