Girl Meets Brazil

Work Woes

Posted by Elena B. , Sunday, June 6, 2010 10:11 AM

Lately, both dear bf and I have been having work issues. Mine being that I had no work, because I had no job! For months I've been planning to be a Nanny for the summer (U.S. summer that is, June-August). I became a member of several babysitting/nannying websites, and often sent messages in response to job postings. But I received hardly any responses, despite the fact that I am highly qualified! Yeah, degree in education, years babysitting, time spent in many many classrooms, but still people didn't respond! It was also tricky because I'm taking a photography class two nights a week (more on that later) in New York (I live in New Jersey, but very close to NYC), so I'd have to leave work at 4pm two days a week, which is tricky when you have two working parents that need someone there with the kids. Then there were a lot of people who wanted a long term commitment (1-2+ years), which I wasn't willing to do. There were others who only wanted a couple days a week, and I really needed as much work as possible to save up some money because I'm broke right now. Then, there were those who were offering practically nothing for pay, and with my qualifications I wasn't willing to settle that low. Maybe I was being picky, but hey, I think I'm worth something, and I don't think I was expecting too much!

So starting the beginning of this past week, I still had nothing set for the summer and I was getting anxious. I was stressed. I had called a summer camp/family center/daycare I had previously worked for in High School to see if they had any positions open (even with the lousy pay, I figured it would be better than nothing), but they never called back. So I decided to check out craigslist for non-childcare related jobs, and found a couple office jobs that looked promising. On Monday, I called and set up two interviews for Tuesday. Not ten minutes later, I get a call from a woman about a Nanny job! She wanted to meet right away, so I set up an interview with her on Tuesday as well! So yeah, I spent monday night refining my resume and making a few different versions, printing directions, and just feeling nervous. I ended up running around the whole day to these interviews, and they actually went well! One was really intense because the company was expanding and they were interviewing around 30 people at the same time for several positions. I ended up getting offered a full time position there as a marketing trainee, basically going to people's houses and selling them products. I originally went there to interview for a part-time clerical office position! I was pleasantly surprised. At that point, I didn't know yet whether I was being offered the Nanny position, but had a good feeling about it. The family seemed wonderful.

Long story short, I have a job! I declined the marketing position, because it wasn't something I was all that interested in, and the family for the Nanny job seems wonderful and the pay is good, although not as great as the other position. Plus, I wasn't looking for a full time position, just something for the summer (more on that in another post). I'll be working mostly with a 1 year old girl (she is ADORABLE!),and the 9 year old girl when she's home in the afternoons. The mom is also expecting another baby in 6 weeks, so she'll be home, but obviously busy (I don't have to care for the newborn). I'm not worried about the Mom being home because I really like her a lot, she seems great. So that's a releif! I start tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

I'm taking this photography class though, and it's cool, but way harder and more time-consuming than I expected! It's film photography, so we process and develop our own film, which is awesome, but really complicated and takes such a long time! It's going to be tricky trying to fit that in with the job because I need to go into the lab (in NY) separate from class to do some of the work. So I think my sunday afternoons and evenings are going to be spent there every week! Once I get some good prints, maybe I'll try to scan them if I'm feeling confident. We have a critique on Tuesday (yeah, this is serious), so wish me luck, I'm so nervous!

Now for the second half of the work woes, which doesn't have such a happy ending, unfortunately. So, aside from being tired of his job as an accountant and kind of bored there, dear bf is having other issues with his job. For months now, we've been hoping that he could come visit me here in July. You see, he works full time and goes to law school at night, so he's busy, which makes it hard for him to come for a visit. But he has 'winter' break from school in July, so he figured he could get time off from work and come then. He works for a state government agency, and apparently after working there for several years (which he has) you get the right to up to 3 months leave. So he applied for leave for just one month in July, and they denied it. He went and talked to them, and they basically said that they didn't have anyone to replace him, so he couldn't leave. Ridiculous! First of all, they owe him that leave, he has a right to it! And second of all, he's an accountant. Now, I imagine he's probably good at his job, but it's not like he's a rocket scientist or something, can it be that hard to find a replacement accountant?? So he appealed the decision, and they ever so nicely replied with, 'well, ok, you can have off in August.' Great. He starts classes again in August. There's a reason he chose July! He told me that it was really unlikely he'd be able to come in August. Big bummer. Ughh, so now he had the visa appointment all the way in Recife (a flight away), and payments already made for that. He was supposed to have the visa interview on Thursday, but we've both been so busy and out and about that I haven't even had the chance to talk to him to see how it went! Not that it matters anyway...

So basically, they're jerks at his job, and I'm bummed that I don't get to see him and that he doesn't get to come here and visit, meet my family and friends, and just get to understand my life better. I can explain as much as I want, but there's nothing like being in a place to be able to understand it. Hopefully someday he'll get here, but at this point, I don't think it'll be anytime soon. So yeah, that sucks.

I'm not totally distraught though, because I do have a little something up my sleeve, and will probably be seeing him in a few months, but you'll have to wait to hear more about that until things are set, I don't want to jinx it!

Posted in travel, visa, work