This can't bode well...

I was called today by work and told that I didn't have to come in. While I was excited that I didn't have to go to work today, I know it can't be a good thing on more than one level. One, I am not getting paid. Two, they don't have a lot of jobs on the floor and I will likely be spending more days at home which goes back to the I won't be getting paid. Not cool!

On top of that I am so tried that I might just need a nap.

Bittersweet dream

While my friend VisualFish had a nightmare, I had a dream I could have sworn was a movie. I remember waking up with the distinct need to go look up a movie called "Something Called Love". Well, I did only there isn't a movie with that title. I thought surely not so I checked amazon and various other sites and still nothing.

Anyway, the reason, I suspect, that I thought it was a movie was that the heroine was Jennifer Gardner (Alias, Electra ect...) and the hero was Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Supernatural, Watchman, ect...). Then there was the hero's brother who was played by the Scottish doctor or scientist from Stargate Atlantis. So you've got a little of the cast of my dream right... The setting, it's a big freaking city. I mean come on, where else do most movies take place.

So Girl meets Guy by chance, don't remember how but they do. He's all dazzling smiles and she's doing the tucking her hair behind her ear thing. They go on a date or two and it's nervous excitement. The girl tells her all her friends what a really great guy he is. They want to know what he does so she calls and he tells her to come by an address after work the next day.

Said girl waits until the next evening after work but here's the kicker. Her throat hurts and her voice is barely there because she slept with her window open all night the night before. So when she arrives at what turns out to be a beautiful confectioners/candy store for some reason some high and mighty mother with bratty kids thinks she's drunk. Girl probably stumbled a little on the way in. So this woman proceeds to chew girl out. Girl manages to get her voice back enough to tell said woman that she should stop assuming the worst of people, that she's here to see one of the owners, she isn't drunk, she's just not feeling very well because she slept with her window open all night and the woman can take her insults and assumptions and shove them where the sun don't shine and hopefully none of her kids will turn out to be a rude and fake as her. The woman gets pisses and takes her kids and storms out of the store.

The brother of our hero rushes up to our heroine and grabs her up in a hug and says he knew she was the one his brother was all mushy hearted about, tells her she pretty and wonderful and blah blah blah and that the hero in the back. So girl goes to the back and sees the hero sitting at a desk injecting himself with something. I don't know what the hell it was, all I know is the hero gets upset because he didn't want her to see. It's drugs but not the bad kind, the medicinal kind. She of course wants to know what's going on and he doesn't want to tell her. So she goes to the brother and brother tells her that he's sick with something, like that helps me right? I got the sense that it was something fatal or near fatal.

So girl wants to take care of him, says he's the best guy she's ever met and doesn't want to lose him. He's a little more reluctant, he didn't mean for this to happen, he shouldn't have gotten involved with her in the first place. She says but he did and now he has to suffer the consequences which leads to much smex in the bed. Next day she takes him to her families house which, get this, looks like my grandma's house. Her family are gypsies or something and they do a blessing on him to make him better and insist that the two of them get married and on top of that they give girl and guy fertility charms to make babies. All is fun and fine.

However near the day of the wedding, our hero's health takes a turn for the worst and they move the wedding up and marry in the hospital room. After that I know what happens because I woke up an intense need for pudding and found cat puke with my foot.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEAMS!*

I just called Borders and once again they took my name and number and said that they would tell the hiring manager that I called. I don't know if they even get the message to them and I HAVE been in several times to show them my face. I'm going to be stuck at OLC Global for the rest of my life, I just know it. *head desk head desk head desk*
That's it, I'm going back to bed.

Job seeking

I don't know what it is that is so utterly defeating about looking for a job. Every time I get online to look at the latest local postings on various job search engines I tend to fall into a slight panic/depression. Depression is, I suppose from seeing that nearly everything wanted takes some kind of degree or prior training or knowing they won't hire you because you are too fat or you know you really can't do that job or this job. The panic stems from the horrifying knowledge that I still work OLC and that I'm not getting out of there anytime soon.

I had to go to the doctor because I was having panic attacks before work. They were awful, the kind where you can't stop shaking, almost hyperventilate, and can't stop sobbing. Doc put me on an anxiety medication that seemed to help but not enough and since she has increased the dosage... well, it just made things that much worse. This medication make me stutter sometimes, which in a call center doesn't make for an easy time. SO in trying to alleviate some of the stress, I feel like we just added to it.

And this morning I got on the net to look for some new jobs and... yeah. The only thing I found that I could do is a school bus driving job. They pay well enough for me do it, I can drive with distractions pretty well and know may way around the city. Besides they give you a map with your route on it.

A weird day.

Well we ended up working 10 hours today at work and I basically put my foot down and said we weren't working 10 hours instead of our normal 8 on Sunday unless Amanda and I could have lunch together. As it turns out for those of us who stayed until 11 tonight, were fed yummy subway as a thank you.

Still 10 hours and then I had to go to my mom's to get the only decent skillet I own from her clutches. Luckily Daddy pointed it out to me and I made a safe get away with it. Actually Mom didn't care, she knew it was ours and was glad to have it out of her kitchen.

We ended up staying a little bit to watch Drag Me to Hell. Amanda hadn't seen it before and the last time I saw it my Aunt and Uncle yapped all the way through it so I didn't actually get to watch it.

But finally we made it home and I really didn't feel up to cooking and Amanda feels like she can't cook a thing. So I told her what to make. BBQ Hamburgers with cheese and those crispy onion things you put on green bean casserole. She didn't put BBQ sauce on her but she did mine and it was nummy!

Now are for cats, I have proof on my cell phone that Galen truly is a demon. But I can't get the stupid video I took to move to the card for the computer so I can upload it. Stupid, tricksey phone!

Night at Mom and Dad's house.

Skoora (my significant other) and I crashed at my parents house last night for two reasons. A) To do laundry. B) Because we both knew if we tried to do said laundry and then went home we'd never be awake early enough to get the things we need to get done in the world done. We both work 2ns shift and not getting home until after 11pm only to make dinner and have some wind down time usually puts us at getting to bed around 2 am. That doesn't sound too bad except that sometimes we don't get to bed until 4 or 5 am. Then again that means that we don't get up until around 2pm. It's not that we don't want to be up during the day and doing things, it's that I have to gave at least 8-10 hours of sleep to be functional. I don't mind the need for sleep. It used to be that I couldn't go to sleep, it would take 2-3 hours and then I wouldn't sleep very well at all.

However, today, Skoora and I have too much to do to be sleepy. To start, I have to go wash a coffee pot for my mom and then do my parents dishes to help them out. Also there is their trash to take out and Skoora is helping with the laundry. And errands, stupid bloody, errands have to happen today too. Yuck!

Nap time is scheduled for when we have a minute.

A small look into the world of Market Research from the interviewer/research agent’s POV pt2

PT 2 Market research:

Now the respondents aside, I have experienced several draw backs since becoming a market research agent/interviewer. I am sure this isn't the case with every company but then again it is a corporate business out to make money and that makes them no different from the rest of them.

Day shift for instance is mostly sales. There is a definite difference between the kind of people who do sales and those who just do market research for the company. To put it bluntly, day shift is full of arrogant assholes. One day shifter even remarked how the night shifted needed to watch themselves because day shift were the ones who brought in all the money. This was in response the night shift coming in early on request because we needed extra hours due to more jobs than we had people for, this needing extra call time. Rude right? Anyone do anything about it, nope. Because no one cares.

After being with my company for six months I have noticed other things. There is a profound amount of favoritism between supervisors and employees. They try to hide it and play pretend but really, it's so blatantly obvious. It is really sad when the people who go to work and actually do their job get the shit end of the stick and see people who jerk around get all the perks because a supervisor favors them.

There is a policy on the floor where no one can be friends with a supervisor because it brings forth favoritism, They might as well get rid of that rule since it happens anyway.

On top of that there is absolutely no job security in my company no matter how good you are and how much you follow the rules. Every day I wonder if I am going be fired. they fire people over the most nonsensical things, especially when they are on a firing spree. My particular fear stems from having health issues beyond my control that kept me from working and despite having er statements and doctor's notes clearing me for the days I truly couldn't work, they tell me if I miss another day, I am out of a job.

But the absolutely maddening thing about this company is that they come around asking for extra hours. I've gladly done some. Well, not anymore. The reason is that they never seem to be able to pay me for the extra hours I put in especially if I have to come in during day shift. I have disputed this many times and they either only pay me for half my the time or make of some reason not to. they have also started doing this on my regular paychecks. Needless to say I have started a log on my own and have been keeping track of my own hours to throw at them next time it happens.

As for the surveys, quite a few of them are, in my opinion pretty worthless. PG&E Surveys are utter BS. Gasoline surveys are even worse. I really don't see how those are bettering the products and services available to people. But there are a ton of them that are genuine and frankly if you don't take the surveys and express your opinions about things then I don't feel that you have the right to complain about things later when the company or organization or whatever gives an opportunity for people to get their opinions out there.

So, the next time you decide surveys aren't worth your time, consider the people who have to give them and what they have to deal with on a daily basis.

A small look into the world of Market Research from the interviewer/research agent’s POV pt 1

The point of Market Research is for companies to find out what the public likes and doesn't like about their company or their products as well as to see what they can do to improve what they have and boost their business. Most surveys are designed to learn people's opinions. Some surveys pay and some do not.

First and foremost what I want anyone who stumbles upon this blog to know, is that when you get a call from someone wanting to do a survey, listen to the agent's introduction. Refuse if you feel the need or don't want to take it but do not hang up. That gets you a call back. The best thing to do is let the agent give you a rebuttal or two and politely decline. As long as you've heard the intro and let us rebut at least once or twice, we take you out of the system.

Second, I don't know hoe we get your phone numbers. We are never told. More importantly, the numbers are in a sample that gets run through the captains computer and dialer system to each of our computers. Therefore we have no control who we call or when we call unless there is a scheduled call back time.

Third, don't get your panties in a wad because you are on a do not call list. That only applies to solicitors. Hint: Survey. We aren't trying to sell you anything therefore that do not call list doesn't apply to us. Don't like it get a privacy manager.

Now the first thing you have to know about the company I work for is that they have sections, sales and market research. They also have two shifts. Day shift is primarily sales as I understand it but they also have a some market research as as far as I know that is for businesses rather than residential. Be we will get more in to that in a bit.

When I first became employed with the company I work for at present, I was rather excited. No, I was not thrilled that it was outbound calling, but it was for research so I didn't mind too much. I thought it's research, I'm not selling anything, people should be more willing to talk and give their opinions. How naive of me. Working in a call center that does outbound will teach you a few things about people.

So let's discuss the respondents first, the people we call. As with most people you have the good apples and the rotten. Some people I have spoken with have been amazing and so very interesting. I've often wished I could have stayed on the phone with them all night just to listen to their stories and how they feel about things. Those are my favorite people to interview.

However there have been instance where I have been so shocked and even appalled. People will down right refuse to take a survey because they are watching America Idol or a sports game and get furious with us because we somehow should have known. Are we living with you? Are we watching your daily life? No. We are in a call center in the Midwest in half assed cubicles with shitty computers and outdated equipment that constantly breaks. How the hell are we supposed to know what you are doing?

Other don't want to take survey unless they are being paid or getting something out of it, which in my opinion is selfish, especially when the survey pertains to health clinics in their area as one particular survey we had did. Oh and how I love the ones who say they aren't 18 but sound like they are at least 30 years old. Don't lie to me, just say you aren't interested.

But the worst people are the ones who cuss me out for no good reason other than I dared to call. One man spewed forth narrow minded crap that didn't pertain to anything I was interviewing him for, stated talking about minorities and then talked about gays. Then he proceeded to ask me if I thought gays should be allowed to marry. When I told him politely that I really didn't think it was any of my business, he said and I quote, "You're damned right it's your business you bitch" and hung up on me.

Another man told me that was going to find me, douse me in gasoline, and light me on fire not because he wanted to, he loved me, bit it was the devil who would make him do it.

Other people have screamed at me, threatened to sue me, and so forth and long before I could even get into the survey to see if they were interested in taking it. Other people have been so disgusting as to ask me if I spit or swallow and one pant pretended that his wife was sucking his cock. Luckily I am allowed to hang up on extreme people. That is the only comfort I have when dealing with such infuriating people.

But I have a guilty pleasure, if someone pisses me off bad enough, I schedule their call back for 9 am Saturday morning.

So I hear the CIA made up Al Quaida and it gets better!

I don't know about anyone else but I am fascinated with listening to people far more paranoid than myself and my Dad about world issues. Conspiracy theorists are certainly no exception.

I popped onto Facebook today to see if I needed to feed my Petville cat- yes, I play Petville- and to see what my friends have posted since yesterday. Well, one of my friends posted brief semi-sarcastic message about how we are apparently not at war anymore. Really? Of course, me not keeping up on the news due purposeful lack of television, avoidance of the city paper, and ignoring any internet news since I've had company from Texas, had no idea what was going on and took an interest.

There was, of course, the military wife comment about how the war wasn't over because her husband was still deployed in Iraq. That's an understandable comment, there are plenty of military families waiting for their people to return and some pretty angry that any of this is still going on.

Then there came the conspiracy theorist. I giggled, I really couldn't help it. I know he was being serious and truly believes what he's saying and perhaps its true but surely not all of it. This guy basically said that we fought a war for reasons unknown to Americans. Gee, I thought we were fighting because someone decided it was a good idea to hijack a couple of planes and fly them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing a hundreds of innocent people.

The guy went on to state that nothing we were told was actually going on over there. Okay, I'll bite on that one. I'll even bite on his comment that we were there for oil possession but that's been going on for awhile. I don't really buy that the government was using Iraq as a place to train our troops in a 'police state' so they can take over America and while I do believe that the Government is the nation's biggest bunch of drug dealers, I don't think they are helping the Taliban grow opium.

But it gets better, This guy actually believes that the CIA not only created Al Quaida but funds it. He also believes that there are no terrorist threats besides our own government and that the USA isn't a threat to anyone other than North Korea and possibly Israel. I must be out of the loop but I thought we were friends with Israel.

Now what really had me seriously debating whether or not I wanted to piss off said friend who's message line this was all under, was that this guy actually stated that 9/11 was an inside job. Meaning our government was responsible. He started talking about some Arizona thing after that to which there wasn't enough info for me to really ascertain what he was referring to unless its the border issues. He said that 'thing' is only happening because and I quote "the government wants to pass laws to abolish the Constitution, create the North American Union, replace our currency, and enslave us all".

Wow, right? I can sort of see where he thinks the Government wants to abolish the Constitution. They won't leave it alone and are constantly changing it to fit what they need it to fit for the good or ill of the American people. However, I haven't heard anything about a North American Union or a replacement of our currency other than the gov wanting to take the penny away. Enslavement of the American people... okay, maybe, it's possible but it wouldn't happen without fight.

There were some points I seriously wanted to poke at and hash out with this guy but I just don't have the time nor do I think my friend would appreciate such nonsense on her message line. And also, I really didn't think it would be worth befriending the guy to talk via private message only to discuss one issue we both clearly don't agree on. I've got more important things to do like get ready for work...

Speaking of work, I will be posting a little something about it at a later time. You have been warned.