So, I walked outside and noticed my two nearly flat front tires (thank you stupid weather fluctuations!) and rushed to the gas station. I could have been on time if only the following things did not happen: I had only two quarters and needed four, the machine would not take anything but quarters, I dropped all of my change as I walked across the gas station and had to pick it up, there were ten people in line a head of me, one of them was a boy who lost his quarter and penny and only had a dollar bill but needed 1.26, said boy searched and searched and then took the money out of the "take-a-penny" thing, then there was the girl that didn't know how to use a gas pump and they had to spend five mins showing her how to use it, she then decided to pay inside after they taught her and we had to wait for that transaction, the woman in front of me decided she wanted to add to what she already had on the counter and sent her son in search of mountain dew, of course he brought back diet mountain dew and she sent him back to get regular. Finally, I got my two quarters and ran to the air pump on the other side of the parking lot and put some air in my tires super fast and drove to work.
I was 8 minutes late but I couldn't clock in so it didn't even matter. I was excited to see some balloons and a card and a bowl full of baked goods on my desk when I got there. The card had all of these sweet messages from all of the people that I have interacted with the most during my time with the company. Several of them were signed with love. I got lots of hugs and I was thankful for the slow night so that I could actually get all of my stuff out of my cubicle bagged up. They had pizza and desserts for us that day too for meeting some goal ( I think I mentioned this before). It was like fancy pizza too, not like Papa Johns or anything, it was actually from a parlor that is well known around here and rather expensive. Needless to say, it was a nice last day!
I did, however have to attend the dreaded exit interview with the HR guy. It was definitely a little uncomfortable. Especially when he started off with "Where will you be working after here?" I braced myself for his reaction as I smiled and said "Hooters."
You have to understand that I work ("worked" now I guess) in a conservative office environment. I had no illusions about them actually being cool with me going across the street to the "racy" restaurant where they wear orange hot shorts and cleavage revealing tanks. His response: "Hooters? Like across the street? This is not what I expected."
Mr. HR, btw, is this super tall skinny guy with an intimidating demeanor. He seems nice enough if you talk to him but you still always feel like you're in trouble for something no matter what the conversation is about.
Ex. Mr. HR: I like that shirt!
Random victim of conversation: Thanks! (Oh no, he doesn't like it. I need to go change! Am I violating dress code?? ::Sweat, sweat:: Now I do need to go change, I have pit stains. Great.)
I confirmed this feeling of being in trouble with the CSR lead after the interview. She told me she feels like she's in trouble when he makes small talk too. I don't think it's intentional. It's just his demeanor. Anyway, his attitude toward me seemed to change after he wrote down my response to my new employment even though just seconds before he was talking about how he's heard such great things about me. He asked me about the CSR's not being able to call off and said that he found that "interesting." I felt like he didn't believe me. I explained the pepto bismol situation but didn't tell him who it was that had told me about it and I explained another situation where the same thing happened with a migraine and excedrin as opposed to diarrhea and pepto bismol. He still seemed doubtful. I let him know that I understood the situation that the manager is in where she has a boss and she has to be the boss of us too so it's hard for her to go without enough people to cover the phones but at the same time, the full time employees have sick days for a reason, they should be able to take them. I felt like he was kind of taking a jab at my new place of employment with his response that at Hooters, of course that wouldn't be an issue because they have so many girls but at a company like that, it's not as feasible. I told him that I totally understood that but that I was just mentioning things that I knew that some employees had issues with.
He then wanted to know why I marked the question about feeling like a valuable employee low. He was surprised that my answer wasn't simply "because I'm part time." He said that was what he expected. The truth was, I basically never felt like I was good enough because my manager always made it sound like I just didn't know enough because I didn't work 40 hours every week. My manager is a super nice lady and I liked her a lot but sometimes she was too "on it" if you know what I mean. I did my job and I think I did it pretty well. I wasn't AMAZING but I did what I was supposed to and I did it right. I just wasn't over the top because a phone representative position is just not my thing. I don't like sitting around like that all day. I like to move around.
So after surprising him with that response, he mentioned where I had noted that it would have been nice if I could have purchased health insurance through the company in spite of my being part time. He asked me about being on my mom's insurance and getting insurance through school. I told him school insurance was awful coverage and just a waste of money and I explained about my mom's company being very disorganized and losing the health insurance (that's what she told me anyway, I don't actually know what happened...she could just not want to tell me and the reason is something else entirely but either way, I lost my health insurance). This wouldn't matter so much except that I have stupid asthma and I suck if I don't have my QVAR inhaler. I have to use it at least every morning if I want to be able to breathe like a normal person. If I use it every morning and every night, then I'm like breathing amazing! If I don't use it at all, I'm struggling just to breathe even if I'm just sitting down and then I feel like I'm going to faint if I have to walk up steps, exercise, walk swiftly...anything requiring the use of oxygen. And caffeine makes it impossible to breathe if I don't have the inhaler. So, bottom line, I need health insurance. My inhaler went from $10 to $180 so I was unable to buy it this month and was fortunate enough to have an extra that I had saved in case this happened. I am making it last by using it only in the morning until we figure something out with the insurance. I still have my albuterol (rescue inhaler) but I don't like to use it unless I have to. I like the QVAR because it works for a long time while the albuterol is just like 4 hours, 6 tops.
After hearing the insurance story and about me being asthmatic, he got really concerned. He told me I can't go without an inhaler because it's dangerous and someone just died over the weekend because he didn't have his inhaler. I told him I know I need it but I can't afford $180 for just that one prescription. And that is why I said it would be nice to be able to purchase the insurance through the company. We went on to discuss insurance for the company and the universal healthcare. I was happy that he supports universal healthcare like me because I don't have insurance and neither does my boyfriend. Actually, I know a lot of people that don't have insurance. And it's not like we can just afford to pay like $150 just in insurance every month. It's too much.
Anyway, we finished off the interview discussing my schooling and career goals. He asked me if I plan to make Hooters my new career. I told him no, it's not a career. It's how I'm going to get through school. I already have a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in French. I'm back in school to get my degree in nursing.
He asked if that means I just want to stay around here and I told him no, I'd love to move to France (where they have universal healthcare mind you) but that my boyfriend will never want to leave here. This is where his family is. He went on to ask me what kind of jobs you can get with a degree in languages because his daughter is 15 and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. I told him a few of the options that I had considered and things that I have done and things that I haven't done but that I would like to do eventually. Afterward, I told him that 15 is young and that she has all the time in the world to figure something out and that she'll find something good to do with her life. She just needs time. He said that he hopes so.
So, I think that hopefully I squashed any assumptions that he may have come to when he found out where I'm heading ( I am talking about Hooters here of course) after talking for so long about things. I mean, I don't think I'm a dumb blonde. I think I'll be doing something with my life. That's why I'm about to have 3 bachelor's degrees (I'm only a couple of classes away from a bachelor's in French so I'm just gonna try for that too after the nursing degree). If I was so dumb, I wouldn't be doing that. And if I was so promiscuous, I wouldn't have a boyfriend that I've been with for years. I do, however, like to have fun. I think I will have fun with this new job and that's why I want to work there (other than it working with my school schedule of course).
I finished off the night saying goodbye to everyone. One of the newest guys helped me carry my stuff down to my car. He was surprised by where I'm choosing to go because we've talked a lot since our cubicles are right next to each other and he knows that I used to be like so shy that it was almost debilitating. People used to ask me if I was a mute all throughout school. To respond, I shook my head no. That's right, I didn't speak to say that I wasn't mute, I shook my head. That's how shy I was. And now I'm headed for Hooters. I am still shy but not nearly as shy as I used to be. I know that I will get comfortable there pretty fast because everyone seems so nice. Once I get comfortable, they shyness will subside and I'll be just as friendly as the rest. I know this because this is my personality. I am shy until I am comfortable. Then, I'm super friendly and I get excited about talking to people. I told him that he should come visit me across the street along with the rest of the CSR team! He said maybe they will. I should have told him that they have UFC there and he should just come over during the events since we always talk about UFC on Monday nights at work.
So, that's pretty much how my last night went. The cleaning guy seemed like he was going to cry when he saw my cubicle was empty and found out that it was my last night. I felt bad. But, I am excited to start this new job. I left a note on Ms. BB's desk telling her to keep in touch and that I want to know when she's getting her black belt! And I left my air freshener on one of the boys' desks that always comes over and says it smells like fruit punch in my cubicle. I got a message on FB today saying that his cubicle now smells like fruit punch. I laughed. To end the night, I came home and ate my pizza and desserts with my boyfriend and then read for French class. Uneventful but I do have super cute balloons in my room now! =)
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