I thought calling you "urbandictionary" was a compliment.

so much for ... nevermind.

Thank you for your help. I didn't know that particular idiom, so I looked it up and made that conclusion based on the context and what I saw from the urbandictionary I linked to. I appreciate the help, really. :)

UPDATE

I am still working at the oil change outfit.

Yesterday I got an email, an unsolicited email, from a local recruiter seeking to fill a position at a locally headquartered, globally dominant coffee company! The recruiter attached a copy of the job description and a brief paragraph asking me for my contact information so we could talk about the position, if I was interested. I was caught completely by surprise. Stunned, really. It appears that the recruiter got my information from Indeed.

I replied this morning with my contact information and a clear indication of my interest and an invitation to call me. We shall see.

The job description matches what I've done several times, setting up new stores and remodeled stores, making sure the LAN and WAN access is in place as well as the POS systems. Plus solving all the problems along the way. Easy peasy. When I worked at the cruise line, I set up several sites like this at our hotels and gift shops.

I'd really, really like to be making more money. I'm not against my blue collar work. It's honest work, and there are lots of things about this job I like. Some aspects of this job I LOVE. For example, working local is unbeatable. I can get from home to work in less than ten minutes and never get out of second gear. No toll bridges, no freeways, no HOV lanes, no hassles. Priceless. And I did recently get a raise of $1.50/hr, which is not nothing... but still it's just minimum wage, $11/hr. It's not enough to float my boat.

Back to the coffee operation, it's been an hour and three quarters and still no answer to my reply. **sigh**

Cool beans.

Beans. Coffee. Get it? See what I did thar? Didja? Huh?

I hope it work out for you, V. In the meantime, patience.

new interview with new company in ten minutes.

think hiring thoughts, willya?

I thought you liked your job, are you looking for more money?

Good luck V

Did you get the job V?

xoB--I do and I am. $11/hr just ain't cuttin it, esp with a 37.5 hr *HARD* limit on hours, and overtime is forbidden. They'll just send you home, and work with a short crew.

Griff, thanks!

fargon, she said she'd call me today. during the interview I got zero "no go" signals from her, it was all interested, enthusiastic, leaning into conversation. We'll see.

Yeah, sounds like the present job is severely limiting. You're not even making enough to buy a gun so you can rob a bank. Good luck

H/T Winning!

Woo Hoo, Happy Dance, BigV's buying.
:band::folks::celebrat:

Yay V!

Great news! Congratulations.

Go go Big V!

:jig:

I've just formally accepted their offer! I'm stoked!

Their offer came in at the highest end of their advertised range, and they offered it right away and in their first offer. And I accepted.

We're still getting acquainted, and one of the things I learned was that when they said the shift began at 7:00 am, what they mean is show up at 6:30 am for the safety meeting, *then* everyone starts working at 7:00. I'm just fine with starting early (really, more of a lark than an owl), plus it gives the remains of the day for anything, from more work/overtime to weekday chores since I'll be out and about when things are open (like the doctor's office or credit union and other things not open late). Starting early is great. But I probably need to start going to bed earlier.

Very good, knock 'em dead. Starting that early you can catch 'em off guard. :haha:

Congratulations V.

UPDATE

I've been at the concrete company for just over two weeks now. I got a message late yesterday saying I was to come into the office (distinct from the shop and the yard) to meet with the GM. I thought it would be so they could issue me my own keys and codes and cards, etc., stuff the drivers use to do their job. Nope.

I sat with the GM and he said they've found someone else they like better to do this job.

It's being recorded as a layoff so no impediments to my drawing benefits (lol, how much benefits will I have accrued after 12 days of working ffs.).

I got *zero* actionable feedback on why this decision was made. Zero. And that upsets me. I thought I was getting the hang of things, driving the big truck (a Freightliner FL60 flatbed), getting to know the crews, the jobsites, the routine. I wasn't ever late, I didn't dent anything... No feedback. Well, there was that one time at band camp where the superintendent thought I was slacking, but I was really sitting on the ground pulling nails out of the stakes around the below grade forms for an exterior slab. I talked to my project manager about it (and at least three other people) and the upshot was that that superintendent is super picky, not to worry, "I only trust what my people tell me", etc. Ooookay. So I tried to get some learning from it, and I learned that it wasn't that big a deal. And then a week later, they've "found someone else they like better for the job". Whatthefuckever.

Talked to Twil, commiseration. Talked with former boss at the car lube outfit and my exit paperwork was to be completed today. I got there in time to keep that from happening, so I'll be back in the pit as soon as Friday. The pay will still be inadequate by about 50% or more, but it's better than nothing.

More later... I guess. I hope. Now I've got some daylight free time to rerestart my job search.

*sigh*

That sux V.

Concrete?

What happened with the coffee thing? If it's any of my bidniz...

Coffee company.

The recruiter was very enthusiastic, we corresponded, then, nothing. Crickets. This of course is not uncommon. But coming after exchanges and acknowledgments, that's kind of unusual. So, I finally got in touch with her again, and asked, hey, wtf? I probably used my indoor voice and vocabulary, but that was the upshot of my query. She said, sorry, the project has been suspended, (don't call me) I'll call you when it is restarted. *sigh*

That's believable, that's typical. An idea for xyz calls for some logistical organization, some resource gathering, some data analysis, etc., etc. It maaay be that the resource gathering was what I experienced when the toe-bone said to the foot-bone and the foot-bone said to the leg-bone and then I got a call. But by the time the project rose to the hp bone, bzzzzzzt. Stoppage. No backbone, no project (or whatever). Regardless, those resources that had begin to be assembled are now superfluous. So communication with me was stopped. Nevermind that *I* was counting on it, pfffft.

Aaaaaannnnnnyway.

I have a friend who works at the coffee company and my friend did get me the name and contact info of the person at the coffee company who was/would be likely to be the person heading up the (suspended) program and I will now contact him. Seeing as I'm free and all these days.

Sorry, V. That sucks. Especially when they won't tell you what you did wrong. You probably didn't even do anything wrong. Just one of those things. The guy's nephew needs a job or something.

Somebody they liked better, sounds like somebody with suck, like wife's, cousin's, nephew's, kid. Otherwise, wouldn't it be, somebody better suited, or somebody we feel can do the job better? But if so, why couldn't give you a reason why they feel you weren't doing the job as well as expected?
Sorry V, but at least you have a safety net while you keep looking for that fortune 500 CEO position. ;)

guy's nephew needs a job or something. . . . wife's, cousin's, nephew's, kid.

WTS^

sorry bro.

Oh geez, sorry to see this, V.

I'm scheduled for a 30 minute phone interview this morning.

It's with a privately held networking business, installing and maintaining computers, networks, services, etc. I'm excited and nervous, as usual. I've thought about telling you guys about this ahead of time, or after the fact... there's a thought that telling after lets only congratulations or sympathies follow on, rather than the (unavoidable) setup of telling in advance and then ... and then.... and then!!!

Yeah. I'm overthinking it.

This position is for a technical support specialist. I can do that, I've done it professionally for years, I've done it as an avocation for even longer. I've done it for some of my friends here on the cellar. The actual things they've listed in the rather extensive job description are aaaaalmost (only two of them are meh, not much experience on my part) all things I've got on lockdown. The actual work (I believe) is right in my wheelhouse. They've described the job and I think I can do it. Now, I need to convince them of the complement, that this job they know about, well, I can do that. And I'm confident they are open to being persuaded, since they've read my resume and have invited me to an interview.

What comes next is the personal connection. (I realize this works both ways, I have to decide I like them as a company, too). I have to convince them I'd be a good fit in their workplace.

**deep breath**

Here goes!

Good luck!

Best of luck!

Good Luck

Thank you!

It's all over now.

After a fifteen minute late start of a thirty minute interview. :rar:

He apologized, I accepted, we continued.

He asked me about my current gig and why I wanted this job (his advertised opening). This was an easy question and I segued from the first to the second easily. Then he asked me about my current manager, who figured in my first answer. Another easy question. This led me to believe that he was listening to me, not just reading a script of questions--a good sign I believe. Then a (stock sounding) question about how I handle(d) difficult customers. Another easy question. And a final question about what happens when my technical solutions don't work. Another easy question.

Then, the end of the interview was ... unfortunate. He said "I have three problems--no, one good thing and two problems. First, I've enjoyed talking to you. I'd like to schedule some more time to talk again. Are you available for about ten minutes today? And my battery is literally dying as I'm sitting in the parking lot of my next customer. Which is my appointment now. <pause>".

I said, "I work today until seven, so I don't think we can do it today."

He said "Can you hear me? V, helllo? Can you hear me? Hello, hello???"

aaaaand that's how the interview ended. :facepalm:

So I immediately called his office and left a message with his office manager outlining the circumstances of the end of our call, emphasizing that I did not hang up on him (yikes) and here's my contact info, yes, let us please reconnect sometime soon. Thanks for passing my message on to him.

So. Once again, I'm in the position of waiting for a company to call me. *sigh* I don't know what I'm doing wrong to be in this situation which I find so uncomfortable so frequently.

Anyhow, thanks for the well wishes. I think the interview went as well as it could have been expected to go, despite the unfortunate ending. I think I'll hear from him again, I think we'll eventually meet, and I think he'll offer me the job. Then I'll have a whole new basket of problems to solve, good ones.

And now, he's just called back as I have to leave to work.

...

We agreed to finish the call, but not EXACTLY RIGHT NOW. He did say that I was not in danger of losing the position because I can't talk right now, that I deserve to get to work on time too. Nice touch.

And another nice touch... I told him that I also liked talking with him and that I'm looking forward to being part of a well-functioning team. That I liked what I'd heard from him, that A, the office manager, sounded like a very nice and organized person, a good team. He replied thanks, and that he believed that no customer will ever have an experience with the company that is better than the employee's experience.

*blink* *blink*

Wow. That's a very appealing thing to he from the lips of the owner. That the employee's experience is something that matters... Wow. I've been lots of places where the attitude was completely different--where there was opposition between management and labor, hostility even. This is not that.

As I predicted, we'll be in touch again. And y'all will hear about it here.

c-ya!

Glad to hear it went so well!

sounds good

Here's hoping...:beer:

Yeah V.

second interview commencing in five minutes

goddammit.

the first phone interview (he was to call me) started fifteen minutes late.

this phone interview (he is to call me, again) is now eleven minutes late.

...

Not happy about this.

He called.

Twenty-five minutes after the scheduled start time.

*sigh*

so.... all in all, it was a good conversation. If either of us has to be chagrined by being late, twice, I'd **much** rather it be him than me. We talked, and the upshot was that I got invited in for a face to face interview. This interview will not be with the whole company (it's small enough though) but just for a meal this Sunday.

I was pleased to hear a couple things from him. He said he hadn't asked me much in the way of technical questions, and that's a boon to me. Those kind of questions can be very tricky, like a test, and I sweat them. My thoughts on much of that kind of question, like a word problem for tech support geeks, is that I might know it off the top of my head, but I might not. And if what I think I know and try doesn't work out, in the interview, I've gotten it wrong. But in the tech support *real world*, it doesn't work and I simply try the next thing, even if I have to look it up.

He said he'd rather have someone who's a good fit with the team, someone who was interested in learning and documenting what's gone on, rather than someone who knew a lot of stuff but was hard to work with. THAT'S when I felt I had the job.

I'm pleased, kind of excited, and looking forward to the next step, this dinner meeting.

Congrats V! Next step is a good thing.

Sunday's meeting turned into a Friday afternoon interview. It was probably an hour long, pretty casual, and included positive sounding notes like "do you have any benefits requiments?" and "presumably, you'd need the accepted two weeks?" and stuff like that.

I asked when he intends to make a decision and he said he wanted to talk to my references, first. I took this as a good sign.

I got the job.

Well Done!

Hooray!

Excellent, hope you live long and prosper. :thumb:

Very good news!

Excellant

Congrats. You certainly earned it!

Frikkin awesome, V !

Well done. Hope it's fun and lucrative.

Good for you, sir.

Well done!

Great news!


Sent by thought transference

This is awesome.

:cheerldr:

The job starts in twelve hours. I am moving right now, literally changing my residence.

Remember back in the day when moving meant you would be without internet service for a couple of days? This world is so strange.

Wow, BigV moving is a huge change. You've been there for a long time.

What is your new home like?

Good luck buddy.

All the best, V - moving and a new job, lots of change. Good luck with all of it.

Good luck in both the new positions ;)


Sent by thought transference

Wow.

How big a move are we talking about, V?

I don't recall anything about where this new job is.