Monday, January 11, 2010

Learning to Lube

It's official. I blog.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I do know that I haven't been writing enough (or really at all) for the past few years, so... here we are. Me and you, gentle reader. Off on a journey through the recesses of my brain and, where applicable, my lower intestines.

Bon voyage.

Today we'll begin with a brief recap of my recent employment woes.

June, 2009 - I end my tenure as an English teacher at Archbishop Spalding High School.

August, 2009 - I receive my final paycheck from my teaching job and have yet to find other employment. Brief salvation comes when my friend, Christine, offers me a job pre-screening applications for Baltimore City Schools. The job pays well, but is only temporary.

October, 2009 - My temp job as a pre-screener ends. Other than doing odd jobs for my parents, I have no income.

November, 2009 - My brother's friend offers me a temp job working as a researcher for a company in Canton called Prometric. I research public speakers for their upcoming client summit. It's supposed to last 10 days. I try to do a good job and work quickly and accurately with the hopes of being hired on a more permanent basis. This, however backfires as the job I was performing was nothing like any jobs they had available, they had no way of knowing if I was a good fit for their company. And as I finished my task early, I lost two days worth of pay.

December, 2009 - My temp job ends after 8 days of work. Again, other than the occasional odd job for my parents and some Christmas money, I have no income. God bless my parents.

January, 2009 - Birthday money helps a bit. My uncle offers me a job for 8 bucks an hour in his warehouse. I don't think he had any room for me there, but offered the job to me any way. Something would be better than nothing. I'm not sure how I will pay rent this month. My parents are nudging me in the direction of moving home. However, I convice powers that be to pay me for coaching earlier than they normally would. Thus rent is covered! And a better job offer comes on my birthday!

Tomorrow, I'll begin working at Jiffy Lube. I'll be attempting to sell things like radiator flushes, tire rotations etc. to people who came to get their oil changed. As my brother noted, I'll be putting that English degree to work! I begin training tomorrow and hopefully things will work out ok. It doesn't pay a whole lot, but it's more than nothing.

Actually I will be putting that English degree to work. I'm helping (for pay, I'm no saint) a young lady with her doctoral thesis, making sure her references and bibliography are on point. Should be a few hundred extra bucks which would be ridiculously helpful. Things are starting to look up for little ol' Philbertun.

So the Good Lord has taken care of me. I've made it through some pretty lean times of late and just when it's seemed like I've gotten into impossible situations, something has come along and helped me out, be it my family, friends or work associates. Whatever it was, I doubt it was sheer luck. And really, through all of this, I haven't had to adjust my lifestyle all that greatly. Things have been good. Nerve-wracking at times, but good.

So, this is where I'll end for now, hoping and believing that 2010 is already looking better than its predecessor. Well... my lips to yours!

Philbertun

1 comment:

  1. Do you get a cool shirt with the name above the pocket?

    I think if you did put that fancy degree to work at your jiffy lube job, you would do very well in sales. Writing arguments should come in handy when trying to persuade people to buy services they don't need. Work those words baby!

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