Nicole’s life

I'd just like to say that Andrew Maloney of Cybercoders is a liar.  He advertises jobs that aren't in the cities he says they are.  In the ad he says the job is in a much more desirable city, when in fact it is in a shitty city about 60 miles away.

People like Andrew are the reason why people have a bad impression of recruiters.  He is the reason many decent recruiters can't get the best candidates, because those people don't trust recruiters. 

I just wanted to get that off my chest.  Now that it is out there in teh internetz I feel better.

So this past Monday I got the official, "Thanks, but no thanks" email.  I was bummed, but not surprised.  I figured those personality tests were going to be my downfall.  My personality is somewhat different at work than it is outside of work - while I prefer to be a face in the crowd outside of work, in the office I don't mind at all speaking in front of groups or making calls to strangers to ask them for something - so when I take those tests and it asks me what I'd do in a party situation and then in a conference situation, they aren't going to jibe. 

Then this week we had 2 open houses at the office to get more candidates in - personally, I felt it was a clusterfuck and no one is looking at what is going to happen AFTER the open houses because now we have to get most of those people to come back in a second time, which, good luck.  Of course, if this isn't a big success, my customer will blame me, just like they blamed me when we went to a job fair and we got a load of pre-applications filled out, and when I tried to call people to come into the office to fill out a full application over half of the phone numbers given to me were either disconnected or the person who answered didn't speak English, and then when I finally got people to make appointments to come in, only 2 managed to make it in, and then only 1 came to the facility tour and was hired. 

Yesterday I was part of a conference call with my manager, regional manager, and people in corporate.  Starting Monday, we have to completely change the way we do business with our customer - it is basically like starting a whole new job, just with the same old employees.  It made me upset because I felt like I was the only one who was looking weeks and months out and could see that things weren't going to work, and I was bitter that a customer could come in and change the work procedures that our company has in place for every office around the country.  So as I'm fighting back tears of frustration my regional manager finished up the meeting but asked me and my manager to stay on the line.  At this point I thought I was going to be told how my customer hates me and what I needed to do to get back into their good graces.  I really did.  My stomach started turning and I felt like I was going to throw up. 

Regional manager then starts off with "I don't know what [manager] has said to you about this, and I think he knows what I'm about to say." And my manager said, "There are a few things I think you may be saying right now..." which made me just sink into my chair, ready for the 1-2 punch to my gut.  Then regional manager says, "We think you are doing a fantastic job, and when we hired you last year we had every intention of putting you on full time, but then the economy got all messed up, which I think you know all about, and things got put on hold, but I have finally been able to get my manager to approve your hiring full time, and she is going to corporate now to get them to hire you on full time.  I'm hoping that this will get approved in the next week or two." and then my manager chimed in with, "And until that happens, we've given you a $2 an hour raise."

!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god, what a wonderful way to end such a craptastic week!  Seriously, this had to have been one the worst weeks I've had at work, where I've actually had to take sleeping pills because my mind couldn't stop racing, thinking about all the shit going on in the office.  Such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!  I stopped off at the store on my way home and bought some sparkling wine to celebrate.  I left work early, like I usually do on Fridays, and was home by 4:30, when I got a call on my cell phone from my manager.  He wanted to start off my weekend with even better news - corporate just approved my full time hiring!  I should be getting all the hiring paperwork early next week! 

Everything worked out!  Now I feel like I can do all this stupid stuff my customer wants me to do with a better attitude, since I now know that I'm not just going to be dumped with no notice. 

And tomorrow is my 12th anniversary - what a nice way to celebrate!

Well, I had my phone interview this past Monday.  I was then asked to do some online personality evaluations, and I thought I would hear back later in the week about whether they will move on to the next step with me or not. 

I'm not getting my hopes up.  I mean, I thought the phone interview went really well, but I have no idea what the evaluations showed about me.  Personally, I think those personality tests don't tell whether someone will do a good job or not.  Someone may not like being the center of attention, but it doesn't mean he/she couldn't be a good salesperson if she believes in what is being sold, you know what I mean?  So, as soon as I took the evaluations I figured I probably don't have a chance because I don't have that "make money/make sales/business business business!" mentality.  My life doesn't revolve around my work. 

So after I did the evaluations work got a little crazy, and Clint and Daisy each had to go to the vet, so I put the interview in the back of my mind.  It wasn't until I was home last night that I realized that I never heard back from the agency this week.  I would at least like to know that they're not interested in me - I'll probably send out an email sometime on Monday just to see what is up.

Okay, so I have been having these big highs and lows at work.  One moment things are going great, the next moment my customer is making me want to tear my hair out with outrageous demands and false accusations.  I'm doing everything everyone wants me to do, and I'm still getting the runaround from my corporate office about getting hired on full-time with benefits. 

Monday night I was in a bad mood about work, so I updated my resume and searched for jobs.  I found one job as a recruiter working from home.  It paid well, and, you know, I could work from home!  So I decided to apply and send of my resume. Since the job posting was a few weeks old I thought to myself, "I'm sure these people have gotten hundreds of resumes from people who have been in this industry much longer than I have, I doubt I'd even get a call."  Well, I didn't get a call, I got an email this afternoon from a woman who wanted to schedule a phone interview!

Red flag #1 - I got the email around 1:30 this afternoon.  She asked me to choose 4 appointments from a list of days and times for the interview.  Two of the appointments I chose were for tomorrow morning.  I emailed her back about an hour later and gave her the times that were good for me.  It is now 7:30, and I still haven't heard back.  If I have to lie to my coworkers about needing to leave the office tomorrow, I really needed to know about this soon.  I made a preemptive lie around 3pm and told my coworker I may need to run to the doctor's in the morning, but the appointment wasn't confirmed yet.  So I've got an out if I need it.  But I shouldn't have to be wondering at 7:30pm if I'm going to have an interview at 9:30 in the morning though.  I'm finding this a little unprofessional.

I would like to have a job that pays better and has benefits.  But I like the job I have now and I love my coworkers - the support system I have in them I've never had before and I don't know if I ever will again.  And I don't have to learn how to do a new job.  And I honestly believe that I will get a raise and benefits, I just don't know when.  And I don't know if I would make as much even with the raise I would get by going full-time as I would with this new job.

You know, I shouldn't even be worrying about this now.  I don't even have a phone interview scheduled yet!

I'm sending out an early Happy Easter because I suck.

This past weekend I went to Rockville, MD to go to a Beijo Spring Line Launch party.  I could not believe that the company planned this big launch, with a webcast and sponsored parties across the country, and then DIDN'T SHOW ONE NEW BAG.  They were all old designs, but now they come in a crocodile pattern!  I couldn't believe it.  WTF???

But I got to meet a bunch of other reps, which was nice.  I met one woman who has been around since this company was in it's infancy, about 5 years ago.  She said most reps here have only been around for 2 years or so, and I'm beginning to see why.  I'm getting really frustrated and am giving myself one more year to make things happen or else I'm getting out.  There are so many things I feel are hindering my ability to make sales, but I'm afraid to say anything online because they have people that scour the internet to make sure no one is selling the bags online and I don't know if they would get mad at me if I don't do anything but praise the company. 

Okay, I've had a few glasses of wine and I feel I've said too much already.  Don't want the Beijo police after me.  Later, taters.

Yep, I was right about not posting for a while!

Things got very busy with work from 8-5, and then doing all sorts of stuff in the evening with Beijo and getting ready for Christmas.  I drove up to NJ this past Friday after work so I had to have all my stuff ready by Thursday.  The whole Christmas weekend was a whirlwind - driving 3 hours each way to my aunt and uncle and grandmother in upstate NY on Sunday, going to a cousin's house Monday afternoon, having a rushed Christmas morning and early dinner and leaving NJ at 2:30. 

Now my husband will be going to Nags Head tomorrow and I'll be all alone until the new year.  I need to figure out what I'm going to do for New Year's Eve.  I know what I'll be doing the weekend before - getting new kitchen appliances!  Yay for me!

Maybe this week since I'll have time to myself I'll be able to post a little and give more details about my December.

I had my second party on Friday, which was actually part 2 of a party I had a few weeks ago at my hostess' office.  We put all the sales together after Friday's party, and I had over $1400 in sales!  Yay!  I also scheduled another party in January, and a woman wants to get together with her coworkers tomorrow and will hopefully schedule a party in December.  I've got a party the first week of December as well.  I really hope these parties will give me more leads for more parties, and I will soon reach my goal of 1 party a week. 

I really hope to soon start making a profit, because it seems like every time I make a sale, I end up buying more inventory with the money I make.  The hardest part is figuring out what to order - what styles, what colors.  And it never fails - if a bag comes in 6 colors and I have it in 5 of them, someone wants that bag in the one color I don't have and I have to order it. 

And I hope more people in my city go to these parties - my friend who has had these parties lives an hour away, and all her friends live around there.  Fortunately, her sister in law lives where I live, and she is the one who wants to have a party in December - if I can get sales leads from her and be able to stay in town, I won't have to spend so much $$$ on gas to get to the parties!

Okay, I need to enter my sales into the Beijo extranet.  And then start working on a Thanksgiving menu.  Thanksgiving is coming so early this year!

You know why I changed the look of my blog to Christmas already?  Because I'm a lazy ass and haven't posted in over 2 months and missed out on the cool Halloween designs, so who knows when I'll be back here!

Update on my business.  I had my first party a few weeks ago.  I know, I've been at this since April, what the hell took so long?  Well, I made the beer and wine festival over Memorial Day weekend my "coming out party" so to speak, and didn't realize that the business goes dead in the summer.  I got no sales leads from the festival, but I sold a few bags to individuals over the summer.  Then in September I ordered some new styles of bags, and a couple we are friends with were over the house when the bags came in.  The wife loved the bags, bought one, and then scheduled a party for her coworkers.  The first party wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either - I sold 7 bags, and 10 people showed up for the party - I'm happy with that.  My hostess then scheduled a second party at her house for close friends and family, and two women from the party are going together to host another party for their friends and family.  And then my mom decided to host a party, which blew me away because I asked her to host a party over the summer and she would have nothing to do with that. 

I'm hoping to get out of the red with these parties, but I feel like any time I make any money I'm immediately spending it on more inventory.  It is a vicious cycle!

My office job has been crazy busy.  My work literally doubled in September, so I've been running around town every day, with two permanent offices and a third location I show up in at least twice a week.  I'm expecting a very nice Christmas bonus.  I've earned it!

Okay, I need to refill my wine glass, and then eat some dinner.  Have a great night, y'all!

Well, so far I've lost 10 pounds.  Woot!  I hope I don't get bored with the calorie and fat gram counting.  I don't want to look HUGE anymore.

Anyway, I've decided to write about something that I've been obsessing over for the past few months.  My friend (which I'll give the pseudoname Martha) blew me off this year, and since June I've been getting myself into a tizzy about it.  Martha announced her pregnancy to me in December, just before Christmas.  Between January and June, I emailed her a number of times, telling her about my life and asking how she was and how the pregnancy was.  If I got a reply, it was something quick, telling me that everything is great and that she'll try to give me a call.  A few times I tried calling her and just got her voicemail, and she never calls me back if I leave a message so I didn't leave any.  At the end of May I mailed her a package of baby stuff and stuff for her and her husband, and I emailed her work address (because she never gave me her personal address!) to let her know.  I got an automated reply saying that she was on maternity leave until October.  A week or two later I was part of a mass email from Martha's husband letting me know that their baby was born.  A few days after that my mother (who is best friends with Martha's mother) told me that Martha was having problems with the pregnancy and had to be induced early. 

A week after the baby was born I got a call from Martha.  She said that she had been too weak to call people until that day, and I was the first person she called.  She thanked me for the gifts, and when I tried to ask her why she didn't tell me about the complication with her pregnancy she got short with me and immediately changed the topic.  The only thing she wanted to talk about was the baby, and I wanted to talk to her about her health and the state of our friendship.  It was a really awkward conversation, because it was clear that she only called so that I could fawn over her baby with her, and I was so hurt over her lack of communication that I didn't care to fawn over anyone in her family at the moment.  After a few minutes she said she had a number of calls to make and as soon as she was feeling better she would call me and have a long talk with me.  After we hung up I knew I wasn't going to hear from her until my birthday, in August.

And I was right!  Didn't hear a thing from Martha the rest of June or all of July.  I asked my friends what I should do about her birthday (hers is 2 days before mine) and all of my friends said, "Fuck Martha.  She obviously doesn't care about you anymore."  but when I asked my husband, he suggested I take the high road and send her a card.  So I did.  I sent her a pretty generic birthday card, nothing personal about it at all.  I decided that was going to be my "going away" card to her - this was going to be the last time I send her anything unless I hear from her and get to talk things out with her.

So her birthday came and went, and while I usually call her I decided not to this year, and I had the great excuse of having to go to a wedding that day so it wasn't like I was sitting around not calling her.  Two days later it was my birthday, and I had a nice day full of cake, ice cream, and people singing to me, and at the end of the night I took a shower, and while I was in the shower Martha called me on my cell phone.  I didn't get the message until the next morning, and it was Martha telling me that she and her husband and her parents who were at her house all wished me a happy birthday.  Nothing about not getting in touch with me, nothing about hoping to talk to me soon, no birthday song (we used to always sing the birthday song to each other).  And no card in the mail.  Now, I know she has been spending most of the summer at her beach house with her mother, and her mother managed to send me a package w/a card and have it delivered on my birthday.  But I never got a card from Martha.  And for some reason, this has really pissed me off. 

Why should I be surprised that I got a icy-cold message on a late-night voicemail (yes, I consider 10pm on a work night late) and nothing else?  She has treated me this way all year, is she supposed to change all of a sudden?  Why am I still obsessing over this?  Why do I still care, and why am I still pissed about not getting a card a week after my birthday?  I think I may be pissed about the card because I was going to be all bad-ass and not send her a card, but then I broke down and sent her one anyway, and then she was the one who blew me off.  AGAIN. 

I'm becoming a glutton for punishment, and I'm mad at myself for letting myself become that way.  I need a spine!

I'm not feeling so disgustingly fat lately.  I don't know if it is all in my head, or if I'm actually losing weight.  I'm going to weigh myself on Monday and then check in on the Alli website.

I have a wedding in NJ to go to this weekend.  I know I will be eating a lot, but I will definitely be watching what I'm eating.  Mom got me a birthday cake and I know I have to have a piece of that tonight, and I'm more bothered by the fact that I'll be eating after 9pm than the fact that I'll be eating cake.  I have this strong aversion to eating after 8pm, unless I know I'll be up until the wee hours of the morning.  It is like I can eat from the moment I wake up until 8pm, and after that I refuse to eat.

I haven't been taking the pills for every meal - there are times when I know I'm eating more than 15g of fat, and then there are times when I don't want to deal with the possibility of side effects the next day.  Like, I had a nail appointment yesterday after work, so I didn't take a pill Wednesday at lunch because I didn't want to have to maybe deal with the poops the next day while at the nail salon.  I won't take one today at lunch because I don't want to have to maybe deal with an oily ass tomorrow at the 11:30 am wedding. 

Can this blog get any more boring?