May 7, 2013

• Report # 999

  Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a wonderful week so far. It's been a pretty busy last few days for me, though it's been nice that that they've been different from the previous days. On Saturday I ran with Parker and walked with Molly in the afternoon and after getting home, I went outside and sun tanned by the pool for a while. It was around 26 C (79 F) so it was just a lovely day. I got kind of hot just lying in the sun for a while so I forced myself into the pool, but the water was absolutely freezing so I only stayed in for a minute to refresh myself. My dad has heated it the last few days so it should be a lot nicer now... maybe I'll go in later today.

  On Sunday I headed downtown to Vancouver to walk around the seawall with a friend. This was the first time I had walked around the whole seawall in almost two years, so it was great to do again. I wore pants as I thought it would be chilly by the water, but it was a lot warmer than I thought it would be, so I clearly had made a mistake. A lot of people were sun tanning on the beaches, and some people were swimming in the ocean, so it was just an amazing day. In fact the last couple of days have been around 28 C (82 F), and even warmer further away from the ocean. This is definitely one of the hottest starts to May that I can remember. I know i 2009 June started out incredibly hot, but I don't remember a start to May this hot before, but no one is complaining.

  After running to Tim Hortons yesterday morning, I headed upstairs and started applying for jobs. I applied for one job which was super close by that said "General Warehouse Personnel." After reading the ad, I thought it would be simple work that I wouldn't mind doing, which would be like getting orders ready to be shipped out, similar to some jobs that I had in the past. Ten minutes after I applied for that job, my cell phone rang and the guy asked me if I could come in for an interview at 1:00 pm. (It was already after 11:30 am) I said I could, and he told me that I could bring  a lunch too, meaning that I would be working that very day.

  My grandmother came and drove me to the place, which was down the street where I live, but like 7 kilometers away, so a bit too far to walk to. I headed inside and the guy asked me maybe one question and then got me to fill out all of these forms, meaning that I had basically been hired. He drove me to the facility which was a block or so away down a small street. As I got there everyone was starting to have lunch, so I didn't actually start work until 2:00 pm, but I could tell the job would be nothing like it was advertised. I did however want to work the day and at least give it a chance. Basically the job was ripping off the leaves from corn (husking as my brother told me)

  For the majority of the day I was husking corn and putting it in a crate where other people inspected it and prepared it for packaging. Once in a while I'd have to take out the full barrels of the corn husks and dump them on some flat trailers... and they were super heavy. Later in the day I had to dump the corn on the machine so it could be placed on the conveyor and I had to be the person to take the corn out of the machine as well. I wasn't fast enough doing that so they had to replace me ! I was put off by the sticker on top of the machine showing a hand with fingers cut off and blood. It didn't really make me want to put my fingers inside the machine. They told me that there was no danger, but the sticker had to be there for a reason.

  At the end of the day we had to pick up all of the corn husks that had fallen on the floor (and there was a lot of it) and take out all the garbage and just clean the whole place up. We finished the day at 8:30 pm, and the guy told me that we'd be starting tomorrow at 7:00 am ! So I worked for 6.5 hours, but the majority of the people there had been there since 7:00 am, working for minimum wage, and doing that everyday during the week. Clearly it was not my type of work, though I am glad I at least tried it. I understand that someone has to do that kind of work, and while some people may enjoy it, I can't imagine the majority of the people wanting to work 13 hour days husking corn five days a week... that's almost like slave labour !

  I don't understand why they don't just run two shifts and have two eight hour shifts, and allowing the people who want to work super long days stay on. And everyone at the place was speaking in Punjabi (language from India) so I didn't really fit in there so well. My grandmother picked me up in the evening, and thankfully she remember my jacket, which I had left inside the building along with a water bottle, so I was able to retrieve those items before heading home. This morning I called the company and just told them that I got another job and I gave the lady my name and address, so they should mail me a cheque for the 6.5 hours I worked that day. I am estimating the cheque would be around 57 dollars, so it would be something for my experience.

  So while I can't say it was the worst job I ever did before, it had to be number 2. The worst job I ever did was in the summer of 2005 when I agreed to work on a Saturday in a bottling plant. It was far away, and the shift started at 6:00 am. I just had to stand around and watch bottles go by on a conveyor belt and pick the very rare bottle that fell over up again. It was supposed to be a 10 hour shift, but thankfully we finished by noon. So while I was able to get through yesterday, I only worked what that company would consider half a shift.... I just couldn't imagine working 12-13 hour days. Not only would I have no time to do absolutely anything, I would be extremely depressed going through that on a day to day basis.

  I certainly admire the people who are able to do that. It's not easy work, and working such long days would be a challenge for anyone. The only way I could seriously see myself working 12-13 hour days is if I had a job I absolutely loved. After seeing some of these jobs in the past few weeks, I definitely took some of the jobs I had before for granted. I had no idea how good I had it in comparison to some of the jobs that exist out there. I would say to anyone who has a job that they aren't crazy about but is decent, they should definitely hang on to it unless they know they have found something better, because a lot of times there really isn't anything better out there.

  I did look up some internships yesterday and I found one that would really interest me. I think I will send an application, and if I get chosen I would certainly do it if they pay something.... though I won't do another three month internship without getting paid ! On the bright side however, yesterday I got an email from the lady from Teleperformance in Mexico and she was asking me if I had heard anything about my visa authorization. I sent her an email on April 8 explaining to her that I called the foreign relations people in Mexico and they told me that they can't tell me anything over the telephone. Also the Mexican consulate in Vancouver can't help me either until I have received the authorization. Based on how the lady responded to me yesterday however, makes me think that she never received the email I sent her on April 8.... that or she accidentally deleted it or something.

  I explained everything to her again in an email as well as forwarded her the email that I had sent her on April 8. She responded to me later in the day saying that she would go to the immigration offices and find out what is going on with my paperwork. So hopefully she can get some answers that I wasn't able to get. It's been over three months since my paperwork was originally sent to the foreign relations department, so the people there must have at least seen it by now. And if they wanted to deny me and not give me the visa, I would have think they would have made that decision before now. So I will continue to be patient and optimistic. It was good to get that email from the lady yesterday. From now on I will have to ask people to confirm if they've received my emails if they are important to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

  This morning I got up at 8:45 am, and I walked with Molly and ran with Parker. Seeing as this whole week is still going to be pretty warm and sunny, I thought it was better to get the dogs their exercise in the morning. Two cars stopped and commented how nice of a dog Molly is. That has now happened four times.... so many people are impressed by her size and beauty ! My friend said that I should take her down to the seawall in Vancouver, but that would be quite a trip for Molly, and a lot of people would probably be interested in her. She could be shy with all of the attention that she would get !

  So today I'll see about applying for that internship, because if it pays something I would definitely be interested in doing that, and of course I'll check out some other jobs as well. Clearly I have to do a better job applying for some of the jobs I'm applying for. I shouldn't be applying for jobs that I'm sure that I would hate, though the one yesterday completely fooled me. It was absolutely nothing like the ad said it would be like ! Anyways, for the next question:

  What was the worst job that you ever had ? How long did you work there for ?

  I might have asked a similar question before, but that's ok ! There is no rules on Xanga that I can't ask the same questions twice !

  I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

  ** I also watched Dark Tide, which is a movie with Halle Berry where she runs a tour boat company in South Africa. The company is struggling, so her husband, who she is estranged from, finds a man willing to pay $ 100,000 to go on the boat and swim with sharks. It's a very interesting movie and has some good lines too. I would definitely recommend it !**

  • 4:22 pm
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