Back at work.
...
Ah, well, it's better than living in the gutter. I took this job a month ago and tonight is the end of my fourth weekend here. After a month of weekends, I can honestly say it's everything I walked away from when I left my last job. The difference between then and now is that I knew going into this that it would suck. Besides, it's a temp gig. My employers don't know that however, and I feel kind of bad about that. Based solely on their behavior, they really like me and have gone out of their way to make me happy. Well...sort of. They've gone as far out of their way as they can go without actually paying well. And the benefits are a fucking joke; shit medical and zero retirement. But then, the benefits don't really matter to me since I don't plan on being here long enough to make use of them.
When I left my last job, I swore I would never again work in the exciting world of small business. Small business is dumb. I used to put small business up on a pedestal as something we should all actively support, but I can honestly say that I've had a complete change of heart on that matter. There are, of course, plenty of small businesses we should all support, but those would be the small businesses run by people who have their shit together, and how many of those are there, really?
For example: Everyone knows that Starbucks is the devil and that you shouldn't support them because they've put hundreds, if not thousands of independently owned and operated coffee houses out of business and have homogenized that entire industry. That goes without saying.
Howard and I hang out every Thursday night at this small, independently owned and operated coffee house in San Dimas. Three cheers for us, we support small business. We're there damn near every Thursday night until closing, which is 11:00. Unless it's 11:30. Or 10:45. And every time Howard orders a coffee drink, he has to wait five minutes or more to get it, even if his is the only drink they have to make right then. And steaming milk is apparently beyond their capability. They can sure as fuck boil it though (that's a fun surprise!). Is any of this reason enough not to go there? Not really, not for us anyway. It's still a cool little hang out as well as a convenient meeting place. But it's certainly reason enough not to put them up on a pedestal as something we should all support. In this case, the fact that they're a small business only means that they don't know how to run a coffee house. Oh and I'll bet a thousand dollars that they don't offer health benefits to their employees. Starbucks does. Even to their part timers. Interesting, no?
That was a lot of words to communicate my feeling that (most, not all) small business can go fuck itself. Then again, what else am I gonna do this time of night? Where the hell was I? Oh right. So I swore I'd never go back to work for a small business. Not full time anyway, I've worked at plenty of small businesses in the last year and a half but that was as a consultant. And during that year and a half, I looked at and applied to a lot of different jobs, most of them corporate. I could probably write three or four pages just on how fun it is to look for work, but I'll save that for later. The point is, at the end of all that I wound up getting (they say I'm hired but I won't believe it till I'm actually in one of their training classes) this job at Verizon. This is funny as hell because I fucking hate Verizon. The only question is will I hate them more or less if I go to work for them? I'll be sure to let you know.
So until they have a training class scheduled and, more importantly, until I'm actually in one...here I sit. For a little while, anyway. If I find out they don't have another class scheduled till sometime in the fall then I just might go work at a Starbucks.
...
Ah, well, it's better than living in the gutter. I took this job a month ago and tonight is the end of my fourth weekend here. After a month of weekends, I can honestly say it's everything I walked away from when I left my last job. The difference between then and now is that I knew going into this that it would suck. Besides, it's a temp gig. My employers don't know that however, and I feel kind of bad about that. Based solely on their behavior, they really like me and have gone out of their way to make me happy. Well...sort of. They've gone as far out of their way as they can go without actually paying well. And the benefits are a fucking joke; shit medical and zero retirement. But then, the benefits don't really matter to me since I don't plan on being here long enough to make use of them.
When I left my last job, I swore I would never again work in the exciting world of small business. Small business is dumb. I used to put small business up on a pedestal as something we should all actively support, but I can honestly say that I've had a complete change of heart on that matter. There are, of course, plenty of small businesses we should all support, but those would be the small businesses run by people who have their shit together, and how many of those are there, really?
For example: Everyone knows that Starbucks is the devil and that you shouldn't support them because they've put hundreds, if not thousands of independently owned and operated coffee houses out of business and have homogenized that entire industry. That goes without saying.
Howard and I hang out every Thursday night at this small, independently owned and operated coffee house in San Dimas. Three cheers for us, we support small business. We're there damn near every Thursday night until closing, which is 11:00. Unless it's 11:30. Or 10:45. And every time Howard orders a coffee drink, he has to wait five minutes or more to get it, even if his is the only drink they have to make right then. And steaming milk is apparently beyond their capability. They can sure as fuck boil it though (that's a fun surprise!). Is any of this reason enough not to go there? Not really, not for us anyway. It's still a cool little hang out as well as a convenient meeting place. But it's certainly reason enough not to put them up on a pedestal as something we should all support. In this case, the fact that they're a small business only means that they don't know how to run a coffee house. Oh and I'll bet a thousand dollars that they don't offer health benefits to their employees. Starbucks does. Even to their part timers. Interesting, no?
That was a lot of words to communicate my feeling that (most, not all) small business can go fuck itself. Then again, what else am I gonna do this time of night? Where the hell was I? Oh right. So I swore I'd never go back to work for a small business. Not full time anyway, I've worked at plenty of small businesses in the last year and a half but that was as a consultant. And during that year and a half, I looked at and applied to a lot of different jobs, most of them corporate. I could probably write three or four pages just on how fun it is to look for work, but I'll save that for later. The point is, at the end of all that I wound up getting (they say I'm hired but I won't believe it till I'm actually in one of their training classes) this job at Verizon. This is funny as hell because I fucking hate Verizon. The only question is will I hate them more or less if I go to work for them? I'll be sure to let you know.
So until they have a training class scheduled and, more importantly, until I'm actually in one...here I sit. For a little while, anyway. If I find out they don't have another class scheduled till sometime in the fall then I just might go work at a Starbucks.
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