11:49 PM - 14.02.05
Interview
So there is a "pointy-haired boss", aka Dilbert, cartoon or two now up an the walls of the cubicle that is mine by default. Some of the cartoons by Scott Adams, and a couple of the other writers I read on a regular basis like Lynn Johnston, have been so close to my reality in their different ways that it was just too difficult to resist. They are placed discreetly of course. One has to be standing and facing the computer I use in order to see them. You know, the computer that has it's own wardrobe malfunctions on a regular basis. Happened again this morning. Less than an hour into the day and all of a sudden no response from the keyboard, no juice, nada. Unplug it and the mouse from their respective ports in the back of the tower then reconnect them a couple of times, just for good measure. Just 15 minutes before I had asked the in-house tech if company policy would allow me to use my e-mail account to do some Elections Canada work - affirmative - but now I couldn't tracked down either young man. Called and left voicemail. While I was waiting for one of them to arrive (we can't fix it if we don't see what the problem looks like), I worked with all the stacks of data sitting all over the desktop, sorting it into discipline and likely recipient. Me included of course. An hour later, no tech in sight, I finally did the act of last resort - I unplugged the beast from the power bar. Rebooted, and sure enough the keyboard was working again. Logged in waiting for the long string of tests and checks to filter through.
I was being a bit impatient maybe, but I had done as much as I could manually and was beginning to lose valuable time again. I also wanted to get into that e-mail account. I was hoping my supervisor had responded to any of my emails from the past few days. Also, the realtor's, whose services I had used last time, boss called me to let me know that that agent had moved to our sister city to the north. Could he be of service. I explained what I needed and he was very happy to offer assistance - could I email the specifications to him. Well actually, yes. I had forwarded them from home hoping that I would be given permission to use the work PC and intending just to delete them if not. He asked if I could get them to him immediately, so he could begin his search. Yes as soon as I could get the computer rebooted and operational. I also needed to remind my supervisor that I would be taking an early lunch to go to an appointment/job interview - one of the things I had emailed him about last week asking him to verify the end date of this contract and also wanting to know whether the agency could call him for a reference. Kind of dicey I know, given the stuff that happened last week, but I've worked under his supervison for the past four years and he is the one who assigns me to these tasks. Obviously he wouldn't do that if I wasn't doing a good job, would he? With all that in mind, I logged in to that account and began working on sending out the two communiques I felt were necessary. At that point, the second tech came by with a new-to-me keyboard. He said something about the port maybe being the problem and that he acknowledged that keyboard issues had already cost me a lot of time. He had one that used the ISB port instead - another socket on the back. Fine by me. Ergonomically this new keyboard is easier on my wrists, so that is a bonus too. Sent off the one email to the realtor then the reminder to my supervisor, right after he was done.
There was still no response to me, but I heard my co-worker answer his phone not long after, because I hadn't got round to putting my headphones back on after talking with the tech. I heard him say "Yes she's still here - I'll let you know whether she does or not". And then responded that our liaison didn't appear to have arrived at the office yet. Such a tummy ache at that point. The co-worker walked by not long after, but ignored me completely - could have been thinking of other things I suppose. When the time came for me to leave for the interview though, I found him standing and watching my station as I walked away. I was already nervous about the interview and this just made it that much worse. Arrived at the correct reception desk with five minutes to spare. Two women interviewed me and that part of the day was very pleasant. The interview was interactive in that I was asking as many questions about their process and philosophy about their data as they were asking of me. No point jumping out the the frying pan and into the fire at this point. They knew one of the people who had supervised me at one of the longer assignments and we had always gotten along really well. That's a good sign right? After the formal part of the discussion I got a tour of their domain and was introduced to some of their staff. About a dozen women altogether. Quiet industry everywhere I looked and a lot of attention paid to efficient comfortable work areas. Not fancy, but filled with natural light which is even better. They even made a point of setting aside a "quiet room" for staff for personal use. Wow. When can I start?
On the way back to the office, I grabbed a sandwich from one of the little deli stores across from my building. The woman there is of Asian heritage. She has always stopped and made certain to talk with me as if I were a friend of hers. I think its impressive she would even remember me, given that the last time I had an assignment down this way that meant I was in her store, was three years ago. She was wanting to ask a lot of questions today and we got to talking about each of our experiences of being single moms trying to raise our children well and yet still earn enough to keep the wolf from the door too. I had been in a hurry, but sometimes people are more important than schedules. I'll make up the time during the rest of the week. Besides the empathy and mutual support was something I also needed at that point. I was feeling very isolated and excluded by work events. I know, whine with cheese.
Back at the office I grabbed the paperwork from the weekend that I had produced for my tech from the election and popped by his office, when I found I had to go to the fileroom next to him to check some data. Just intended to drop it and run, but we ended up talking for about five minutes. He had received a call from Ottawa and is booked for training the beginning of March. Given my last AC's travel woes at the last training session I suggested some preventive action to ensure he had a good experience. He asked me to put together a list of questions he could raise on my behalf. How many days will he be there - one just for my queries alone would be possible.
Got back to my station to find a message on my cell phone from the agency that had sent me to the interview. Could I give them a call. Funny thing was, as I was holding the phone another call came through and went dirctly to voicemail instad of ringing. Guess I'm going to have to try and figure out which programming buttons got pushed by mistake - maybe while it was in my pocket, or on my desk or whatever.
Called the recruiter back. "How did it go?" I was a bit cautious. I actually had felt really good about it by the end of the interview, because they were already asking if I would be willing to stay longer than the three months originally cited even after I had explained the election issues I would likely deal with during that time. After I had described the amount of time I would have to be away - about six weeks - they said they were fine with that and didn't see it as a loss of time for their project. That's good too - right? They had also asked for references and they had called the recruiter before I had returned to the office to ask her as well. She said they had told her they really liked me and were eager to finish the process so they could discuss hiring me.
Then the recruiter noted she had also left voicemails for my supervisor and hadn't had a response from him. I told about what I had experienced with his lack of response to me too and said I expected that meant he was trying to negotiate more work at this client's office and didn't want me to be unavailable. I just explained that even though that was encouraging, I couldn't afford the luxury of not having income coming in - that two months between jobs last fall really hurt me financially. Besides, given the way he's been acting, I don't understand why he wants the relationship to continue anyway. I feel as though he has been treating me as though he was really angry and wanted to punish me. If I really wanted that back in my life I could invite the boys' Dad back. Don't want that treatment in any venue of my life ever again. In fact, one of the promises I made myself as I was trying to survive after the boys' Dad began getting so abusive, was that once I was free I would never allow anyone to do that to me again. I haven't changed my mind on that. The recruiter seemed to understand what was happening and we just agreed that she would talk with the other two references by the end of tomorrow. Boy, I hope it's works out and that my supervisor doesn't actually sabotage this chance for me. Since he seems to be so angry with me, I don't see why he'd want me to remain under his supervision anyway. I'm certain he can find someone else to replace me. Just ask the co-worker, right? Stayed late tonight to make up some time and I'll do the rest tomorrow. Time for bed now, I think. Good Night dear diary.
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