Goodbye debt collections, Hello youth justice!

Last Wednesday was the second interview/training induction day for working with Surrey Youth Justice. I wasn't sure if being invited back to the second day was a guaranteed job offer but as it turns out it was! They were looking to create a bank of staff to run a variety of projects under the umbrella of Youth Justice. Including taking youth on community service projects, running day time programs and filling in where needed. This is not a full time post but its a big step in the right direction of at least working for an organization that I'm interested in and that run all of the programs that I would like to be involved with.

I left the training day on Wednesday with mixed emotions. On the one side I was really happy that pending my criminal record check, I will be formally hired by a great justice organization. On the other side I had to make a decision about working at the debt collections agency. Both managers had separately approached me and offered me a permanent position. I had managed to deflect the offers with non-comittal responses so I wouldn't burn any bridges or blurt out a rude comment about how much I hate working there. The people in the office are nice and have been friendly towards me but the actual work I can't handle.

I had an intense internal struggle where I knew that the responsible, mature and logical move would be to stay at the debt collections agency until I heard back that my criminal record check was clear. What I wanted to do was call them and say I was never coming back! My compromise was to offer to stay until the end of the month. It was very odd that me as the temp was in the position of power.

Through Matt's coaching I managed to get an extra 3 pounds 50 per hour for my last two weeks. I negotiated that at my current rate it wasn't really worth it for me to stay. Translation: you need me more than I need you. My manager called me an opportunist but agreed. And now I only have 9 days left of working there plus I'm training my replacement.

Once I've finished working there I will be concentrating on driving lessons and proving to Matt that he can safely hand over his car keys to me!

It seems like things are slowly starting to fall into place here and I will be able to get job experience in my field and continue applying for jobs within Surrey Youth Justice since I already have one foot in the door.

Cautiously Optimistic

I had the job interview on Friday and it went really well! The only potential obstacle is the driving issue but if they offer me a position I'll be signing up for intensive driving lessons and getting put onto Matt's insurance asap.

When I was leaving work (debt collections agency) on Friday, one of my manager's wished me good luck but also said he hoped I didn't get the job because he wants me to stay and what if he offered me a permanent position. He said to think of the company as my family and I was always welcome.

Earlier in the week I had been offered a permanent position by the other manager when I told him about the first interview.

A very nice sentiment that makes me feel slightly guilty for hating the company so much. The people that I work with are, for the most part, very nice. How do I tell them that I find their company and debt collections in general morally reprehensible? I've been avoiding any direct responses to them. I've also been trying to leverage my position to get paid more for the last weeks that I'll be there. Its nice to have a job but reading angry letters all day is not for me.

Matt left for France on Saturday morning to go skiing for the week. Yes, I was invited and not abandoned. I made the decision not to sign on for the trip last summer because I did not know what my job situation would be, my money situation or most importantly because I don't ski! Turns out that because Matt and I met in Whistler (and by virtue of being Canadian), everyone just assumes that I'm a skier or snowboard. I'm trying not to be a wimp even though I really miss Matt and its been 4 days.

I'm obviously fine on my own but its very strange being on my own in the flat. I tried to organize some social events for last weekend and this weekend but as I've begun to learn when you only have weekends to hang out they tend to book up quickly. I did have a small movie marathon on Saturday. I don't know why I always choose to watch the most emotion provoking movies when I'm by myself. FYI - Rachel Getting Married - bring the kleenex.

I've also been having many lovely skype/phone chats with some of my favourite people at home! Getting to see people over skype makes such a big difference (Holla Mandy, Christine and Teresa!) I also managed to briefly connect with my very busy friend Alexxa who fit in our chat as she made her way to downtown Vancouver yesterday.

Every day that I'm at the debt collections place I feel a little bit nauseous. I'm not sure if its the poor ventilation, staring at the computer for 8 hours or the general office environment but I think I'm allergic to that building. I'm not used to life on a hamster wheel where no matter how many hours I work, the work will never get done. I have to leave each day knowing that it will be waiting for me when I get back. I am more task completion oriented - maybe its from being a student and having assignments and deadlines.

I really hope it goes well tomorrow and that I can give my notice and be done with debt collections.

The Universe is Against Me Today

At the place that I work, because I am trying to clean up the work mess of the previous temp, I have trouble locating many files. Customers write in very angrily asking why I haven't responded to their previous correspondence. Occasionally I have to re-request that certain documents be re-submitted to me. In the letter that I send out I play the dumb receptionist card and say that I spilled water on my desk and a number of files (including theirs) were destroyed.

So what happened today? A glass of water ACTUALLY spilled all over my desk giving my keyboard and mouse a shower.

Then I had a meeting at 3:00 p.m. to find out more about the computer codes that are involved in recording everything. This system is the master at work. After an hour and 20 minutes this is what I learned

1. I've been doing at least 3 times as much work as I had to because there are computer codes that will do the work for me.

2.Essentially all the training that I have had has been wrong because they didn't know the right procedures

3. I may have to re-do most of the work since I got there.

All through the meeting (all day really) I kept thinking - I have this job interview on Friday and its going to be my ticket out of here. I can survive anything knowing there's a chance that I'm about to get a job in my field.

On the train home my phone rang. Turns out that having a valid U.K. license and car is an essential part of the job. CRAP! So she told me not to come in anymore. I was SO keen to sell my car before I left Canada. Little did I know how important being able to drive and having a car would be!

Overall a rough day.

Ground Hog Day

It's been an interesting past few days...

Last Friday after work I took the train into London to get a haircut and to meet Matt and some of his work friends for dinner at a really nice Thai restaurant (Mango Tree). The reason that I was getting my hair cut in London and not locally was because I had signed up for this sort of promotion to get my hair done at a salon in Covent Garden. I maintain that I was an easy mark for the smooth talking salesman who approached me on the street in London pre-Christmas. The basic deal is pay money up front and then get a discount on haircuts at this salon for the whole year. You can also have a makeover and photo-shoot (unlikely).

I had an awesome hairdresser in Vancouver so I was nervous to trust my hair to a stranger. When I arrived and she tried to confirm with me that I would be having a full colour and I said no just a cut was not the best start. They found a junior stylist to cut my hair since I hadn't actually been booked in for a haircut originally. How do I know she was a junior stylist? Well for thing I used to work at a hair salon so I had a sense about it but the biggest clue was when she called over the receptionist to check if she had cut the back of it straight!! I like it now but I was really uncertain at the time.

After the haircut, I got on the tube and had my google map in hand to find the restaurant. I have a horrible sense of direction and can get very lost even with a phone. As I wandered around outside Victoria Train station I kept thinking how useful an I-phone would be at this time. I completely played the girl card and made Matt leave the restaurant to come and meet me and walk me back.

The dinner was great. There were eight of us including Simon and Clare (Matt was the best man at their wedding), Neil and Emma (Clare's bridesmaid and her boyfriend) and Adam and Sarah who work with them and are Australian. It was an extravagant dinner with drinks, bottles of wine, appetizers, mains and desserts and more drinks. The food was so good! The servers were wearing authentic thai outfits and our server had a small bag with a jamaican flag and pot leaf on it. I thought it was funny.

After dinner we went for more drinks but I had reached my limit as a non-drinker. There's only so much sitting around while everyone drinks that I can take. I'm also like a small child and get very cranky when I'm over tired. I practically stamped my feet around 11:30 and said I wanted to go home.

Saturday morning I was up early because I had a very important shopping date. My shopping mission was for a great pair of boots. I decided I couldn't avoid the skinny jean boot trend forever. I enlisted Amanda (girlfriend to Matt's best mate Steve) to help me out for the day. She has great clothes and loves to shop! It was a marathon shopping trip that was side tracked by a beautiful $300 dress that I just couldn't justify purchasing even if it looked amazing!

By 3:30 I had new work clothes but still no boots. We had been to almost every single possible shoe store but I knew what I wanted in my head and hadn't seen it anywhere. There was one final store - Russell and Bromley - that Amanda said was a really expensive shoe store. I wanted to check it out anyways and of course the perfect boots were there, on sale! One woman knocked over another pair of boots while she was staring at me wearing the boots. My first experience of boot envy. I wore them back to start breaking them in. I'm not usually a big fan of smart clothes and boots since I'm more of a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl but clearly living in England is forcing me to expand my fashion horizons.

Matt was nice enough to come and pick me up since I had so many shopping bags that I didn't want to take the train home.

Sunday I decided that I wanted to bake muffins. The recipe called for unsweetened applesauce which I hadn't been able to find in the store so I decided to make my own. How hard could it be?? It wasn't that hard just very messy. Now I need to find recipes that require applesauce since I have a freezer full.

Monday was back to work. The job is getting a little better and I can see the top of the paperwork mountain. Hopefully very soon I will be able to coast down the other side.

Today, groundhog day, might mark the start of a new job in the direction that I want. I received an e-mail asking me to come in for an interview at the end of this week for a job working in youth justice. This interview came about through persistent e-mails to the head of Youth Justice in Surrey. I thought he was ignoring me since I hadn't heard anything in a few weeks but he passed on my information to another woman who I will be meeting this Friday.

The best part about this is that I did apply for this same job through the proper channels and my application was rejected. It seems that I have managed to get in through alternative means proving that it really is all about who you know.

I'm hoping that this interview will finally help me crack Surrey County Council which has all of the jobs that I want.