I GOT A JOB!!!!!

[Left Coast2020]

After one friggin year-plus of being out of work, I received a call an hour ago from a large chain hotel and invited to start orientation tomorrow!! Not my career job, but a future paycheck to pay bills. I am in utter shock. A year ago, I was working in China as a teacher (ESL) for Chinese students. Since returning I have looked high and low at anything fitting my qualifications...nada. I was getting desperate. My self esteem was really getting near the end. I'll tell you honestly, I was really feeling the end was near. I wanted to go back to China since I still have connections there to go and teach again. But no money for air fare--plus I'm two hours from SFO--don't know anyone who could take me to airport. But now I can say wow. I hope this job works till august. I'm going back to school for teaching degree program---second run at education. Don't how to say it. Your mental state goes from 0 to 10 in a matter of seconds at that phrase, "can you start orientation tomorrow?" I hope several thousand of you can hear the same phrase. Its a wonderful feeling!!!

[rsmith6621]

1. Which Chain

DU Minds want to know...

Congrats...

[Left Coast2020]

5. The one that "leaves the light on for ya".

Thank you

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. The Tom Bodett Motel at the End of the Road....I know that one.

Congratulations!!!

I DO know the feeling...feelingS...that go with all of what you said.
Yes indeedy.




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Liberal_in_LA]

46. lol. Congrats on the job

[emsimon33]

57. I love Motel 6

and stay there whenever I have that choice. Now I have another good reason to love Motel 6!

[bbinacan]

2. Congrats! n/t

[DebbieCDC]

3. Salud!

:toast:

[rucky]

4. I love these threads!

Mazel Tov!

[monmouth]

17. Oh me too, no matter how lousy the day, one of these threads makes up for it..n/t

[Stellar]

6. Congratulations!

I don't even know you but your new job bought tears to my eyes! I hope this is the way forward for you.

:headbang: :fistbump:

[SeattleGirl]

7. Congrats!

:toast:

[ZombieHorde]

8. Yea right, we all know "large chain hotel" is code for "magic ninja assassin squad."

Left Coast2020 = magic ninja. You can not fool us, your secret is out.

[Luciferous]

42. :)

[DesertFlower]

9. that's great news.

[Maeve]

10. Congrats and all the best eom

[rurallib]

11. WHOO-HOO

:toast: :toast: :toast:
c'mon economy, keep percolating.

[Warpy]

12. Congratulations!

Jobs that pay the bills are always such a great thing to have.

Consider hanging onto it and pursuing the teaching certificate part time, maybe even online. Jobs that pay the bills are hard enough to find right now that you'll want to keep this one.

I was invited to teach in China but I was halfway through nursing school and didn't get to go. I did record English pronunciation for one of the schools there and I have a recurring nightmare of visiting and finding a million people who sound just like me.

[Left Coast2020]

30. Well I would have gone back since I have fond memories of

the students I worked with. The expense of getting their is not a big deal. Korean Air has $559 one-way fare as we speak. Fly to Seoul, and then into ShenYang after 3 hour layover. About 10 1/2 hours total. THe big problem for me is shutting down utilities, and sending rent via Western Union to keep apartment here. Much is involved to find as many schools to work at too. But maybe next year we'll do it. Time now to focus on issues at home. A big sigh of relief on this end. Thank you for all the kudos too.

[OhioChick]

13. Congrats!

:toast:

[Pirate Smile]

14. Yeah!

:bounce:

[LibDemAlways]

15. Congrats!!

My husband has been in the same boat for only two months, but it feels like years, and it's easy to get discouraged. Your post gives me hope!

[Kahuna]

16. Congratulations!

:bounce:

[monmouth]

18. Hearty congratulations. You made this a great day!....n/t

[livetohike]

19. Congratulations!

:toast: May this new job turn out to be fun, interesting and lead to a career who knows where!

[Berry Cool]

20. Good for you!

Congratulations, and I hope all goes well for you from here on in.

[CitizenLeft]

21. Yay you! Woohoooo!

Very happy for you! Know the feeling - both feelings! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

:applause:

[njlib]

22. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

This is great news!!! Even though you say it's not your career job, you never know what could come of it! It's great they have you starting orientation right away...I'm still waiting to hear about mine.

Best of luck with your new job and your return to school...and thanks for sharing the good news!!

[bobburgster]

23. Happy for you!

[Roon]

24. How exciting!!

very nice!

[NNN0LHI]

25. I am very happy to hear this for you

Recommended

[Zoigal]

26. Kudos to you, Left Coastie....

Your waiting is over. Hope the salary is reasonable...z

[TheDebbieDee]

27. Congrats! I'm very happy for you.

I'm jealous because I'm still looking............

[Left Coast2020]

32. I'm sending super vibes to your post bring you similar news. Keep plugging away.

Even if its something you don't want. You need a paycheck.

I know its discouraging. But don't stop looking.

[xultar]

28. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[Patchuli]

29. Wonderful!!

I hope my hub hears the same soon...:applause:

[Jane Austin]

33. WOOHOO!

Congratulations!

May your tribe multiply!

[here_is_to_hope]

34. Whoo! And Hoo Too!

Good news!
And good luck!

[MindandSoul]

35. So glad for you! congratulations!

[JustAnotherGen]

36. Congratulations!

I'm so glad to know someone out there got a shot! :fistbump:

[prolesunited]

37. Congrats!

Things must be picking up since I'm seeing more of these than the just go laid off ones lately. I hope to have good news soon as well.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

38. Mazel Tov! Hope I get to report good news on the job front soon, too.

Two interviews, but no offers yet (out since January). I'm still plugging along...

[RKP5637]

39. Congratulations!!! This is such wonderful news to hear!!! n/t

[lunatica]

40. Great!

I'm very happy for you. You've waited a long time.

[applegrove]

41. Really happy for you!

[Luciferous]

43. Congratulations

[Old Troop]

44. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you

Use being employed as the platform to head toward you dream job.

[donheld]

45. Great

:woohoo:

[lovuian]

47. Awesome

:woohoo:

[Greyhound]

48. K&R, good for you.

[glowing]

49. Its the best job to have if you are going to school.. If its the front desk.

There is soooo much boring down time, that you could get all of your papers written and studying done.. esp. on the 2nd shift (3-11p). I don't reccommend audit, its hard to work over night if you aren't used to being up from 11pm- 7am.

3 things that will make you successful at keeping this job (its hard to work for people who will treat you like their personal sevant.. but there are those really awesome people who will totally make it up for the scum suckers).

1. Always smile. Be polite until it hurts. If someone becomes beligerent and rude and starts to personally insult you, just say, "Sir/ Mam, you are entitled to your opinion.. I'm sorry for blank (do a republican apology). It tends to piss the person off much more, but nobody can say that you lost your cool with a customer... LOL.

2. Your job is to create a pleasurable experience. The main crux of the position may be check in/ check out, answer phones, make ressy's... but you will have requests for pillows, blankets, sugar... Think of the job as bringing pleasure to the lives of others and its easier to do the job. You feel better rewarded for giving with warmth... and it diminishes the idea that you are a "servant". Often times your won't even recieve a thank you... but your reward is normally in returned business from guests... and that builds bonds and relationships that go far beyond the pay check.

3. Wear comfy shoes (standing for 8 hrs is going to be tough). Polite conversation is safe territory. Do not engage in politics unless you know the guest and the guest values your opinion... These days you could lose an entire company for a view point and in a recession/ depression the employer can't afford to piss off the clients.

Hope it helps. Its tougher than it looks. Being "on" all the time sucks for the days you got up on the wrong side of the bed. AND you will realize the pay should be so much more than it is for the type of job you are doing... I would love to see this industry Unionized.

I know it seems odd I say its boring and then its tough... You will realize there are seasons and there are slow times... Its the slow times that its tough.. Most of hotel complaints come in the slow time because you aren't constantly engaged so when you do have to "work" and you are in the middle of studying... it seems that they are the distraction.

[momster]

50. Congratulations!

I'm so glad to hear you have got something to tide you over. Is it temporary or can you keep working while you go to school?

[asdjrocky]

51. Good on you Left Coast2020.

A year can be a very long time. Happy to hear you're working.

[RedCloud]

52. Proof positive economic miracles are still possible after 8 years of W!

[barbtries]

53. mazeltov

hope you love your new job!

[Demeter]

54. Congrats, Best Wishes, and Blue Skies to You!

Please don't give up on yourself--be your own best friend! And we're right behind you, cheering.

[renate]

55. yay yay yay yay yay!

I'm thrilled for you! What a relief!

:party::party::party::party::party:
:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[laughingliberal]

56. Congratulations! Always happy to hear of someone getting a chance these days. nt

[Odin2005]

58. Congrats!

:woohoo:

[calimary]

59. YAY!!! Fantastic! Congratulations!

Excellent!!! That's terrific, and you certainly had to wait long enough! Hopefully there will be a really noticeable upswing in hires all over the country. That'd kick a LOT of wind out of the sails of the teahadists, AND the pundits out there who keep yammering about how continued unemployment will hurt the Dems in November - "'cause it's all about jobs."

NOT TO MAKE LIGHT OF THE JOB CRISIS IN ANY WAY, MIND YOU!!!!

It rightfully and reasonably IS about jobs.

In many ways, for far too many unemployed people, it is ALL about jobs. There is nothing else. A job is everything. A basic. An essential need in life, along with other fundamentals like food, clothing, and shelter, plus education and entertainment and safety. A job means being the effective provider you always expected to be, based on what you saw around you when you were growing up, what you saw on TV every night at home in the sitcoms, dramas, variety shows, and commercials, stuff in the movies and elsewhere in the culture - this environment influenced every level of our psyches, seems to me. When you're surrounded by that from early-on, straight through, along with a peer group reinforced the same way growing up - and then you can't deliver on that standard for yourself when it's your turn as a grown-up, then the situation becomes critical. Especially if you have people depending on you. This is very real and very serious. It manifests then in how you feel in general, how you feel about the world around you, the "mental state that goes from 0 to 10 in a matter of seconds" that Left Coast2020 describes, how you decide to vote, as in - whom do/should you blame, politically, for the conditions you're in, assuming you did nothing to merit being unemployed. So much of this is faultless - really just a bad break in a bad economy. But "bad break" is just words. It looks and feels a lot different when you're living it. Jobs are CRITICALLY important! And even among those of us who have them (or are retired from them), jobs are important - knowing how crucial it is that other people get them!

I am hopeful about the reports I'm seeing in the medial presently about various economic indicators turning around. I really hope that means the bush mess is indeed being cleaned up. Actually it goes back to reagan, when the supply-side-no-gubmint-no-taxes-no-regs-free-market mentality took over, and started setting down roots in the American psyche. I hope the job picture brightens substantially. Certainly it will brighten Democratic prospects in November if the unemployment rate drops noticeably by November. But more importantly, I'm hoping the job picture brightens just because of the sheer mood of the country. It reminds of that old saying "recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and depression is when you lose yours." Depression - mood-wise - is what we have a LOT of in this country at the moment. And with time on one's hands instead of a job to keep one busy all day and tired by night, there's more time to watch TV and listen to radio - and where the majority of cable programming is louts on the far-"right." That means there's more exposure to that hate speech. Creating a stronger likelihood of that hate speech sinking in and taking root in the mind of the vulnerable listener/viewer. As Faye Dunaway's ruthless TV programmer character in the movie "Network" said: "Americans want someone to articulate their rage for them." That media barrage has identified that need and relentlessly plays to it, thus growing and aggravating it. And for some, unfortunately, it means there's more time and motivation (after all, what the hell else is there to do?) to get involved if you get thus stirred-up.

I want the job picture to brighten simply because it's good for America. It's good for Americans. It's good for the American sense of well-being - individually, and also collectively.

Idle hands are the teahadists' playground.

Sorry to blather... soapboxes r us, I guess.