Career

Left a Pint of Blood in that Conference Room (I’ve been interviewing) 

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So these past two weeks have been BUSY. I normally have to work like an hour extra every day. And I have to spend a few evenings uploading pictures from the previous weekend from my side job taking pics of real estate. 

And I’ve been interviewing. Last week was round 3 with Company A, where I came in, met someone briefly and was trained on their research data product that I would have to grab data from and present back to them in a Powerpoint deck at a later date.

But my presentation you them was postponed til today. That was a good thing because…

I had an interview with Company B last Thursday and they wanted me to analyze data and give writing samples over the weekend. I did that this weekend, reminding myself of some Excel formulas like vlookup and other concepts that I used to know. I submitted on Monday and they promptly told me they weren’t interested in me anymore. 

Ok fine. That was a stretch anyway. 

But now I still had to do the work for the presentation for the other interview. I pushed and pushed and crammed and practicesd. Visusluzed success and got into a positive frame of mind. 

The presentation was today,  and I did VERY WELL. I missed some points I could have hit, but hey, I had just learned their service a week prior. 

I had slept poorly all week. Now I can relax, it’s out of my hands. I’m not going to do any more job search activity until I get resolution on that. 

And yes… I’m GOING TO get a GREAT offer SOON! 

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Career

I can’t figure it out if I never start

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So I’ve been interviewing. With Company A, I’m on the fourth and final round next week, which will include me doing a presentation with their data. That’s pretty standard in the type of client service that I do.

 I had one interview with Company B, on the phone. The next step is he gave me three writing assignments and a spreadsheet of data to crunch in different ways and answer questions. 

I wasnt looking forward to any of it. I did some work on my presentation for Company A to get a feel for the story I can tell with the data I found. I have umm at least Wednesday for that one.

The data Company B gave me is in Excel and my knowledge is back to basic since I haven’t used it in a while.

I was considering not doing anything tonight, I was beat from walking 8+ miles today taking pictures of real estate. 

But after a half hour of rest I did the right thing. They said it would take up to 3 hours you do the entire thing. BUT the Excel portion alone took me 5 hours. Maybe because it got late and I got sleepy. Probably because I was re- learning Excel, especially blasted vlookup.

At least that portion is done and tomorrow I can just write the essays and submit it. I’m so glad I got off ny ass.I couldn’t start to figure out Excel unless I started looking into the work. 

Procrastination is for suckas.

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Career, Health

Bony Butt + Sitting All Day

Posted on by GratuitousRex

I think I have calluses on my butt. I work from home sitting in front of a computer all day and my chair is a wooden chair. Wooden all the way through. No cushion. 

Plus, I have very little cushion down there so the bones come down pretty prominently when I sit.

And lastly, the skin down there is rough in those spots.

I know, some of you are thinking “whoa, Rex, TMI!” but Butt Callouses are real people. Get a padded seat. Save your butt!

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Money

Change is good… and will pay for my vacation

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So as I mentioned, next weekend Mona and I are going to Fire Island off the south shore of Long Island NY. Fire Island is a barrier island, mostly a summer community and the area we’re going to is pretty expensive. I’ve heard it described as “quiet money.” I know someone with a house there so we’re not paying for room and board. 

Now, I’m on a pretty strict budget these days but I figured if I’d cut back my spending further I’d be in good shape. Turns out, I can’t cut back much further and survive. 
Ok, option B was to use last month’s money from my side job. But honestly, I wanted to bank that but whether I spend it on vacation or bank it and spend other saved money on vacation, I’d still be out that money. 

Hmmmmmm….

But wait… what’s that in the corner of my bedroom? Why it’s a whole lot of change in old coffee cans. That accumulates. I’ve cashed in before and seen nice numbers. 

So I rolled a bunch up. 

BOOM. $400 at your service. At MY service, actually. 

I mentioned it to Mona and she’s matching my budget. So $800 for a couple to live off of for 50 hours. 

Parking alone should cost us $51 bucks. Ferry round trip will be another $38. That leaves $711 for meals and activities. 

I was anticipating bringing groceries to cook our own meals to save money. We still may a bit but it’s good to know we’re secure for the trip.

It’s only one day off from work, the Friday, but it’s nice to stay somewhere that’s not my or Mona’s house. With the sound of the waves in the background. 

There’s a beach 1 minute away, and a hot tub on premises and an external shower. 

I’ll take it. 

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Coincidences

The Davis Coincidence

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So tonight I was watching the Mets game as I was googling activities you do on Fire Island, NY (Mona and I are going next weekend.) 

I was reading about an activity in a community called Davis Park and right at that moment the baseball announcer mentioned a baseball player whose last name is DAVIS.
COIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINCIDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE!

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Relationships

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So Mona and I get in the phone every couple days to be certain we have some actual communication, not text only. And… perhaps we should go back to text only. 

We started normal “My day was (x).” “That’s great. My day was (y).” “Awesome.” Then we started discussing plans to go away in two Fridays. We’re going further out on Long Island and will eventually need to make a ferry at a certain time, and I have to pick her up at a certain time. 

All good. 

 Then… she goes into what time I should leave my place to get to her. “We can wait on this. It’s a week away,” I said. “No, let’s discuss now.”

Okay then. 

Now, I need to get there at 7:50am. Going against the direction of the AM rush. Earlier this year, I used to leave my place around 8am to work from her office by 9am. So I have some experience with this. I can manage it. I’m an adult. I’m usually early to everything anyway. 

“I think you should leave by 6/630am.”

(First of all,  pick one. She always does that, says two times. Just pick one please so I have a clear idea. I correct her usually but she never learns. Anyway…)

“6 is way to early baby” “We need to make the ferry. What if there’s an accident on the road.”

Traffic? Going in the opposite direction of rush hour?  At 7 in the morning? Don’t worry babe, I got this. 

Back and forth, back and forth. Just let me be. I’ll do what I have to do to get there on time.

At this point, I’m getting frustrated and my voice is raising. And once my voice raises, that’s the main issue for her. Not the reason why my voice raised, not my being frustrated that she doesn’t believe I can do this in my own… those aren’t good reasons anyway. The fact that my voice raised on the phone trumps all other concerns. I shouldn’t ever raise my voice.

Someone stick a pencil in my eye. 

I explained to her that I was frustrated that she didn’t let me handle it, didn’t believe me that I did that trip before and thatI knew what I was doing. 

Plus, I’m pretty hot headed in general. People tell me I’m loud quite often. I reminded her that. 

Made no difference. 

My explanation didn’t make her care. Not one iota. Nothing is ever a good reason to raise my voice. I understand she used to fight with her ex husband but right now, I don’t give a flying fuck! 

I actually asked her to apologize to me for causing me to be frustrated. For not letting it go when I said I had it. Ok, I knew that would set her off, but I had to stir the pot a bit more.

Of course she refused. She has no fault in the matter.  In any matter. I explained to her that I have apologized many times for doing nothing wrong, but I did it for the sake of the relationship and ending the fight. She still wouldn’t just say “I’m sorry.” Wouldn’t take any ownership, any responsibility in the matter. 

Or wouldn’t just utter some words that I needed to hear. 

We’ve been fighting a lot lately. I know I’ve said I that the end was coming before and then it wasn’t. So who knows. 

Going to be an interesting morning tomorrow. 

Ok, people. Let’s hear it. 

5
Career

Is a $5k base increase + possible commission enough to change jobs?

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So I had an interview this week.  It was an initial interview with HR and I came in very prepared and did well. It’s for a Client Services job similar to what I’m doing now; training clients, onboarding, driving all adoption of our services, working on client projects… but the type of market research it’s for is not what I currently work in but the industry I worked 7 years in, at the company I got laid off from 3 years ago (I was not in a CS role when I got laid off.)

Which is the industry I’d love to get back in.

The job is very similar to the CS role I had 7 years ago. I’m very confident I can do it and do it well. 

HOWEVER… the base salary is only $5k more than my current base.

HOWEVER… part of the job entails renewing client contracts and upselling other services of ours. Now, my service has been factored into renewals before, but I have never negotiated any sale or closed a contract before. Not that I can’t do it, but I never have.

So there’s potential for commission on top of my base (I’m only base, now.) She said possibly up to $30k more. Those were just the numbers she threw around. But that all depends on my performance renewing and upselling. 

They would of course train me. If you work in Client Services long enough,  eventually selling is going to factor in at some level. This isn’t cold calling, or “hunting,” these are warm because these clients already use some services already. To be honest, the thought of sales always made me nervous, but renewing/upselling  could be a good entry point. 

I’ve worked in sales environments for 14 years in support roles, maybe it’s time I give it a shot. The thought is a little scary to me, but hey… Get different results by doing something different, right? 

Going up a guaranteed only $5k doesn’t really excite me, that’s a little over $400 monthly before taxes, but the commission is a potential I have to consider.

Not sure if only a definite $5k base raise is enough to satisfy my gf Mona’s opinion of me as a go getter. If I earn commission to get me to $80-100k then this is a non-issue, of course. I mentioned it to her this weekend and she seemed ok with it. We’ll see for sure at our next joint therapy session this coming Saturday.

I have the follow up interview with the hiring manager on Tuesday where I could get more info. 

Thoughts? 

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