Oh blah dee oh blah daa Life goes on...ohhhh la la la la life goes on

Yeah a little weird I know but that is exactly what came into my head when I started typing this post...safest bet...don't ask.

Anyway, I am in Akron...yeah you read right...been here since Monday. My job sent me here for another training, even though I was just here for 3 days last month. I have yet to understand their theory on the order in which they train us. In fact, I'm just now being officially trained about what my specific responsibilities are as a Program Sup.

Honestly, though, I am hoping not to be here much longer. I just can't take the hours...working between 11 and 12 with no real break to speak of and only getting paid for 10...with no overtime. Plus...I have decided I am definately more of a morning person and this job is from 12:30 to 12:30...doesn't work much. The company seems to be nothing like what I was told it would be and when I recently requested a transfer to a different position with more reasonable hours...they pretty much turned me down without even considering my qualifications and said that I wasn't qualified. ARGGH. So needless to say, I have been putting out tons of resumes. I've had a few people call me back and gone in for a couple of interviews. One is with yet another call center, except they deal solely with inbound calls for claims and such. Another position is in Downtown Dayton and I have an interview with them on Monday. The gentleman I spoke to on the phone seems very nice and I think he is a Christian. I was talking to him about some of the reasons why I am seeking a different position and essentially he summed it up for me and said..."you just don't want to have to be married to your job...and I feel the exact same way" He was talking about how he went through the same thing as me when he graduated and he prayed about it and God put him right where he needed to be...he also mentioned how there is no way you could simply call that a coincidence. I'm pretty excited about where this one might go. Honestly, the quicker I can get out of my current position the better. Although I want to make sure I make the right decision...I just can't take the stress of this position much longer.

As far as wedding plans and such...I'm excited to announce the PC finally has some dates laid out in stone as far as settleing this financial stuff that needed to be taken care of before we got married. What that means is that we can set an official date. Honestly, though I don't know what we are going to do. We just don't have the money on either side of the family to do anything major even though we would love to have a celebration that everyone could be a part of. But I guess what we have to decide is whether its more important to go into our marriage having had a big party of free of as much debt as possible. I really want to get married in a church, and I know that the wedding itself doesn't have to be that expensive to be special...but we've waited this long I feel like I just want to be married. And as far as a reception is concerned...I have absolutely NO idea where to have one. I mean...we thought about having a party to celebrate regardless...but I can't even begin to think of how to work that out...especially if we have a private ceremony for our wedding.

Since PC isn't much into a lot of dancing, I thought maybe it would even be kinda cool to have tables set up with board games and stuff. I know it sounds cheezy, but that is something we both enjoy. But like I said, we may end up just doing something really really small...despite the number of people I will probably end of disappointing.

So, anyway, my lunch break it almost over so I have to head back to class/training soon. Hope everyone else is doing well. And if you've made it this far in my journal entry...you must be good at reading and interpreting jiberish.

TTYL,
Stacy

Exciting Updates

I almost forgot to mention that I got the job I was talking about in the last post. Yeah it has been a super quick process but they only offer the training I was going to need a couple of time within the next month so I put my "notice" in at Sam's 2 days before I was done...one of them being Thanksgiving and the other black friday. Anyway, I accepted the position and there are a lot of perks to it...once you ignore the fact that I am going to be supervising in the only division that does sales
1/ They are sending me to Akron for a 3 and a half day training that deals specifically with my postion...never had that much preparation
2/ They are providing me with my own hotel room, rental car, and a debit card to pay for food while I'm there
3/ Once I get back I'll pretty much start getting benefits immediately
4/ Past all the training, which is approx. two weeks, my normal schedule is 4 days on 3 days off
5/ NO MORE RETAIL

So I was saying that I'm in the one department that deals with sales in this company. Sucky...I know because no matter what I tried everyone who is looking for a person in human resources wants someone who has experience in managment. So this will definately get me experience in that and I have definate potential for growth. The guy who is going to be my boss has only been with the company for 4 - 5 years and he started off in what my position will be just for an example.

I can't remember what I mentioned in my other post but I really like this company because within all of its other divisions it does a lot of work with conservative political campaigns, non-profits, volunteer recruitment, and religious organizations (specifically christian). I felt like this company aligned much more closely with things I supported and for that simple reason I could pass it up to stay in my dreadful position at Sam's which continued to get worse day after day.

On another note ... wedding plans. Yes PC and I are still getting married and yes, March 10 is still what I call our goal date. I haven't done hardly any planning though because we've been back and forth about size and style. Mainly, it seems we keep falling back on having a very private intimate wedding and a big celebration later. However, I have no idea how we could make that work. Plus right now, with his financial issues not being settled yet, we don't talk about it much because he wants to make sure that it is all settled before anything moves forward so that I don't end up being effected as well. (And in case you were wondering, none of this financial stuff was going on before we got engaged, so it wasn't a "you should have waited longer to get engaged" sort of deal...in fact we thought everything was over...but we had another thing coming). Right now I'm also going through this weird thing with money. I get supper stressed when I spending anything more than your averaged total sale at a walmart store on myself or if I know that someone spent any certain amount of money on me. Yeah, I get super upset and start flipping out and end up returning it eventually. However, when it comes to getting stuff for other people, I'll spend money at the drop of a hat if I know its something they really want or need. So right now, I definately wouldn't be able to spend that amount of money on a wedding. Hopefully things will get better on that end eventually ...and sooner rather than later.

Thats all for now...
I"m gonna go watch some TV

Well I had another interview

Yeah, this one seemed to go really well. I had an interview with a place called Infocision Management Corporation. I was a little leary about it, because its a teleservices industry. But I was applying for a personnel coordinator position so that was ok. Anyway, I went in and luckly was able to fill out everything ahead of time because I was doing this on my lunch hour. Anyway, the people there were really nice. The facilities are cool (a gym on site and they are working on adding a day care if I were to ever need that in the very distant future). Well I went through the interview and once again the lady says ...honestly there are a lot of people applying for this position...apparently personnel is popular...she had already had 4 interviews that morning and had several more scheduled for the day. Anyway, she looked at me and said I really think you'd be better off with this other supervisor postion that we have available as well...if you think you might be interested would you mind talking to this guy over here for a bit about it. So I thought I might as well check it out...so I talked to him for a bit and he seemed really confident that I would be a good match for this position. He explained the concepts of it and even talked a little salary (which wasnt as high as I was hoping but he said there is definate potential for bonuses depending on how my team that I would manage does.) He said he wanted to talk it over with his boss and possibly bring me in for another interview. Well he called me later that same day and we are already planning another interview. The only down side I can see is that I'm going to have to be a "telemarkter" for a full week during the training process...however it isn't much differeent than what I'm doing now so I could pretty much put up with it for a while. Also, once I get past that its mainly managing my team, monitoring their calls and working with them to reach their potential. Another cool thing is that they do a lot of work with non profit organizations like American Cancer Society, Lukemia and Lymphonma society, Salvation Army, Campus Crusade for Christ ...etc...they are some of the people who call and request donations. Also, when those telethons are on tv or they have those christian speakers with the number flashing on the bottom of the screen...some of those calls go into this center...They have what they call a "religious department" I guess and they have even prayed with some of the people on the phone who call in for some of these things.

So we'll see if the second interview actually pulls through and if they like me past that one. They guy I talked to seemed pretty confidenta bout it though and he is the acting call center manager right now. If I get it though I'm going to have to go and buy a pretty much brand new wardrobe...dress at this company for everyone (including the callers) is very professional. So much, in fact that If the women wear pants (which is pretty much all I own)...you have to wear a suit jacket with it...their claim is professional dress at work leads to a professional attitude on the phone.

Ok...enough with my babbling...

It's what you call a downward spiral...

Well, work hasn't gotten any better. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. Now i'm being ridiculed and scholded for spending too much time organizing and following the instructions of the wrong person, and caring too much about my job...just to name a few. Plus, the few leads I've had with new jobs recently have only lead me to..."well we aren't looking for someone with your qualifications at this time". On top of that PC is going through some financial stuff...well this has been going on for a while...and we cant' really think too much about getting married until that is settled. Also, my grammy passed away this week...I was able to see her in the hospital while she was on life support. I was planning on going up the next day to see her before they took it off...well she passed away about 10 minutes before I got there. At least she didnt' have to struggle for breath as they were taking the tubes out...she just went on her own.

Needless to say, I don't know whats going on. PC is being great with his encouragement. Reminding me that we should praise Jesus in the storms. He also said I must be doing something right to be going through so many trials right now...I just don't know what I'm doing right since everything feels like it is going wrong.

Just in case you are interested here is a link to my grammy's obituary.

http://www.snyderfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/obit_view.phtml?id=5380

Talk to you later,
Stacy

HELP

I am in desperate need of a new job. My current job at Sam's Club is really starting to push me over the edge...literally. It feels like things just keep getting worse and worse...I get stressed out, my supervisors lie to me straight in my face and there is no way that I can prove it to anyone above them, it seems like I've come home crying 2-3 times a week...the list could go on and on. I know when I took this job I wasnt' planning on it being my career...but since I've been looking and looking for a new job (monster, careerbuilder, quickhire on wpafb, etc. etc.) I keep getting more and more scared that I'm going to end up there much longer than I wanted...and that makes me want to just walk out more and more.

What's even more frustrating is that I feel as though I've wasted 4 years of a college education. Honestly...I haven't even started paying it off yet but I havent even begun to use it essentially. Its almost as if I would have been much better off just starting out with an associates degree, so I could get a real career focused job and then work on my Bachelors later. I got that one all wrong. Instead, No matter what position I apply for with any company I am only ever considered for Sales positions. I feel like I totally "locked myself in" when all my employement experience through school was retail for the most part since thats who offered flexible schedules. No one wants me for my education and that really stinks.

The other day I got so mad at work I came home and immediately started calling random businesses in the Christian Blue Pages. I thought surely someone in there is hiring. Turns out, the blue pages are hiring for a position right now which I have an interview for on Friday. I also got a call back from another company who is hiring and asked me to send them my resume.

Needless to say, I'm desperate for an actual career...not a job...a career. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to take the Club...as much as I need the income...I need my sanity and peace of mind knowing that I'm working for a company and employeers I can trust and respect.

Please, please help me. If you have any idea of a place that could use someone with a degree in Organizational Leadership and a minor in communications...let me know. I've been looking and looking and no one is responding. I just need something other than sales...I don't want to spend the rest of my life trying to sell something to people that I can't even assure them of being able to use.

GRRRRRREAT News!!!!

Ok so I can't just leave you all lingering on what the great news is...I'M ENGAGED!!! I've never felt so happy and giddy in my life. The ring is beautiful and the way PC did it was perfect.

You see, we had this thing going on when we first started dating that we would drive around everywhere. Every time we drove around we would go to Best Buy and just sit in the parking lot and end up talking so long we wouldn't want to go in. Well we pulled up and he parked in the back of the parking lot yesturday and we sat there for a few minutes when I just randomly brought up the whole thing about how funny it was when we didn't even go in to the store for like the first month we were dating ( and now we go in at least once a week) . Then he stretches really big and casually steps out of the car and leaves the engine running. This whole time i'm getting really suspicious. He walks around to my door which I've already started to opening wondering what is going on and he gets down on one knee and pulled out the ring and without going through everything he said specifically word for word...he asked me to marry him. It was wonderful. And I was definately suprised. I was expecting it on like one of our "monthaversaries" or something. We both just couldn't stop smiling it was great...and ironically on my parents anniversary...so thats pretty cool. I wish I could go on and on about how awesome the weekend was before and after but I really can't take the time to write a book right now...

Just believe me this weekend has been awesome. I had had a pretty rough week at work with stress and all but PC was doing pretty good cuz he got the good news that his contract extended which means he still has a job and that took a lot of stress off of him...which I can tell now what an amazing difference that has made. And to top it off with this new step in our lives its just so fun. Now I can have fun planning my own wedding.

Well I hope everyone else is doing well.

Bad News

Well some depressing news today....Both of the really good job leads that I had turned out to be flops. The one company that I was called twice from...after talking to a few different people...turns out to be a scam. I guess several people have had some issues with Primerica and their part/full time options and the fact that you work independently and try to sell life insurance to all of your friends and family. Not my thing...so I canceled that interview.

Then this other one I was so excited about because they had called me the day after I submitted my resume and asked me to come in for an interview. Two days later, I've already got a letter in the mail saying the "thanks but no thanks" line. What a bummer.