I thought I would update my situation a bit. I went from being somewhat desperate to being happy as could be. Thanks again to everybody who took the time to read and post in this thread!
[QUOTE=Equipoise]
Hey! I got a job! Ok, it’s nothing special, but the appointment I had netted me work with a firm that staffs conventions. My first job will be scanning some (stinking) badges as conventioners come into the hall. The lady at the agency said that they’d be working conventions all summer long and she could probably keep me busy.
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I did that, and it was fun! It was some kind of marketing convention called “GlobalShop” and I did indeed scan badges with a small PDA-type device as people went from the main hallway onto the convention floor. There were 4 main entrances and another woman and myself were assigned to one of the entrances for all three days. For the most part, I had a ball, because it was pud easy work, and it was fun seeing where all the people were from (one from Los Angeles, the next from Argentina, the next from London, the next from Cleveland, the next from New Zealand, the next from Boise, the next from Paris and on and on), and it was fun interacting with some of them (“You look like a person who needs their badge scanned” or “I’ll bet you’ve already been scanned once today, am I right?”) and it became very easy to tell who seemed to be in the mood for a momentary interaction and who seemed in kind of a sour mood and would just want to be scanned and on their way without any small talk, those who would cheerfully welcome an interaction with a convention worker and who would find it hard to deign to interact with a peon.
Best of all, much to my astonishment, was the pleasure I got in just being nice and friendly to people, without having a fake plastered smile or seeming insincere, the way some workers I saw came off. I was genuinely nice to people and had a ball doing it, which surprised the hell out of me because I’m a very very very insular person, not really used to being around other people, especially large groups of people, but it was fun smiling at people and saying '‘morning’" and “hi” and “how are you” and “thank you” after I’ve scanned their badges. The vast majority of people were nice and friendly back to me. Not one person, out of the thousands I interacted with over the 3 days, was actively unfriendly. The worst was just a few people who walked by without seeing me. I was surprised that didn’t happen more often. It’s what I expected, since workers are usually invisible. But no, most people gave me eye contact and smiled. That pleased and surprised me, and made me want to be even more nice.
The downside is that I’m old, fat, and a computer-using desk jockey, and being on my feet for 8 hours a day for 3 days was torture. The afternoon of the first day was just awful, by the end of the afternoon all I wanted to do was cry. The last hour and a half was the worst hour and a half I’ve ever spent on a job. The last half-hour seemed to last 3 hours. I think it would have been better if I’d been moving around, or constantly working, but by then hardly anyone needed to be scanned so it was just standing there doing nothing that made my feet hurt worse. The whole 2nd day was, pain-wise, just about as bad as the last half-hour of the first day. The 3rd day was the pits of hell, because on top of my poor, pitiful aching feet, I developed gout in my big toe from not drinking enough water the first two days, so it felt like my toe was broken.
As bad as I felt physically, I never once let my pain show to the people I was interacting with. It was the interactions that made the pain bearable so I welcomed any and all. Still, by the end of the day I was in such bad shape that I had my husband bring me one of his canes to use after I got off. I wouldn’t have been able to make it home without it because I could barely walk. Luckily, the gout and the pain went away very fast through rest and drinking LOTS of water, and by the next day I was almost back to normal. I’d do it again, because pain or not, it really was fun.
Someone at the staffing company said they got compliments about “our” entrance and I don’t know if he was just saying that to be nice or if he really did, but they did say that they wanted me to work more conventions. They know that I got a full-time job after I signed on with them, but I told them I’d be glad to work on my off days if they needed me.
[QUOTE=Equipoise]
I GOT THE JOB I GOT THE JOB I GOT THE JOB! It’s a full-time Receptionist/General Office position for a small, interesting business, that starts on the 24th, so I can still do that convention job next week and won’t have to leave them in a lurch.
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I’ve worked there several days now, in training and by myself, and I am so in love with this place and the job I can’t even express how thrilled I am everything worked out timing-wise (that I went looking at the right time and they needed someone at the right time, that I put my ad in Craigslist* at the right time and that the boss looked and saw it at the right time). For the most part the job fits me like a glove and I couldn’t have found anything more perfect. Happy days are here again! I want to be there for years and years and years!
*speaking of the ad I placed in Craigslist, I got another firm job offer that pays more, but the company is nowhere near as interesting, it’s in a weird location for me (entailing 2 trains and a bus rather than the one train I take now) and it would have been stressful, compared to the breezy easy job I have. I would have taken it if I hadn’t gotten this other one first, so I’m very very glad I got this other one first.
