One week down on the new job & I do like it & so far, I like my co-workers! Granted I have only spent 4 half days at my position, so every time I start to feel like I don't feel as comfortable in my new job as I think I should with 1 week in, I remind myself of that fact! In fact, probably a bit less than that! On Monday, we went in at 10 am instead of 8 am, but were told that we will be paid from 8 am since it was for their convenience. We started our orientation then. At noon we still had a Sexual Harassment video to watch before being sent to our respective spots - there were 3 of us being started - 1 installer, 1 help desk & me as the RMA assistant. So we took a lunch break & then went back to do the video before going around & being introduced to everyone as we went to our desks. So about 3 hours on Monday were spent with our immediate supervisors. Then the rest of the week, we rotated around to different departments to see how things work. Evidently the installer is now the only one of us that still needs more rotations before he is finished. I am sure there will be times that we will still be called on to pitch in to help out a department with they have a deadline, but it won't be the same as this past week has been. And N, my immediate supervisor says that she is very pleased with how fast I have been learning my job. She is having me work only with 2 pieces of equipment to start - the receipt printers and the Verifone card reader machines.
I spent part of 2 days late week before last going through the sample lessons & tests for the Work Keys tests that I have to pass at the Silver Certificate level minimum to keep my job. There are 3 sections I am to be tested on - Applied Math, Reading for Info & Locating Info. I was exempted
on levels 1-4 , passed levels
5-6 & failed level 7 on Applied Math. Exempted on levels 1-5 &
passed Level 6 on Locating Info (no Level 7 on this one). Exempted on levels 1-6 & passed
level 7 on Reading for Info. Level 3 is listed as a Bronze
Certification, Level 4 as Silver (which
is what I need minimum), Level 5 as Gold, Level 6 as Platinum. I think I have
the Silver sewn up & possibly the Gold. Haven't had math since 9th
grade Algebra that I barely squeaked through because of not being
allowed to do homework. So am totally lost, I feel, with the ones
dealing with area, radius, diameter, etc. But still feel that I am
good, although I will still work some more on the math through 11/7. The test is on 11/8. My plan is to even go through the tests that it exempted me from, just in case & do at least 1-2 a day through the 7th.
It has turned chilly this weekend! Had been as high as the 80's earlier in the week and yesterday it did get up to the low 40's, but it has been dropping into the 20's for 2-3 nights now! I am not ready for winter! I have been told that I will probably need to dress a bit warmer for the winter since our desks at work at on an uninsulated north wall that only has a narrow store room between us & the outside wall. I am sure that I can handle it after my last long-term job where we had a similar issue, but I might have to take my electric throw to work & wear a couple sweaters or something. Might even take in my fingerless gloves or make me some mitts to wear to work to be on the safe side.
I finished Chart 7 of the Back to the Garden shawl yesterday morning before starting my studying! Then last night I completed another 3 1/2 rows on it, so just over 20 rows left to finish it! I didn't get quite as much done on it this past week as I had planned, but it is still moving along! Maybe it will be finished by the end of this coming week!
My dh worked 3 15 hour days this past week, so I had 3 evenings to myself, which was nice. I had so many years with him working evenings that at times it is hard not having that quiet time to myself anymore.
With it being on the chilly side, yesterday I put a veggie beef soup into the crockpot. Today I think I will try a new roasted veggies dish that I saw in the paper a few weeks ago, but also think I will add some meat to it as it cooks & cook it in the crockpot. It has red peppers, carrots, acorn squash & onion in it. A little dab of honey & then the spices. I think it will convert to the crockpot with ease.
A bit irritated right now. Two years ago last month I had purchased a flute for a granddaughter to use for school. With all the instruments I have purchased in the past from this company I have always made payments by sending them a check each month, except for the one I did for our grandson 2 years before. That one I had given them my card # and asked that they take the payment each month. Which they did and after 12 months, I had gone in & paid it off in full. My plan had been to do the same for the granddaughter's flute, but by a couple months after signing the agreement, I lost my long-term job due to the economy. So then started the last 2 years of 1 temp job and another that ended up being a seasonal job. Then unemployment checks. I knew I had paid 2 payments the 1st month since I told them I wanted the payments to come out automatically on the 25th of each month and they didn't want to go over 30 days for the 2nd payment to be made. I was also told that they no longer handled the payments like that themselves, but instead had another company handle that for them, so I could expect my payments to be made to this other company. What I wasn't told was that this other company would take $5 per month for the convenience of doing this! I only found this out because I figured the 24 payments ( which has always been my experience with buying instruments) with the double payment in September 2010, would make my payments finish in July 2012 even though I didn't pay it off early like had been my original intention, so that I could save the interest on the contract. Now after having a payment come out again in August for the full amount, I emailed this company & questioned them about it. They emailed back that I still owed $65.09. So I figured I must have been off in my figuring and that I would have 1 payment of $34.57 and then 1 payment of $30.52 and the last payment would be October. Instead another full payment was taken in October and when I emailed asking for a refund of the overage, I was told that instead of being paid in full, I still owe $11.75 and was sent a print out of the account. Well, I found what the problem is! I was never told about the $5 per month that has been being taken out of my payments and so it has added about $140 to the original contract and so I feel that when I was told I still owed $65.09 in August, I was lied to since this didn't include the $15 in added fees that would be coming out as well and even now, being told I still owe $11,75 isn't the truth either since there will be a $5 fee added to that as well! I have now emailed this company back telling them that this is all deceptive practices, these fees were never disclosed to me, that I will never allow myself to be put into any kind of a contract with them in the future and that I will warn anyone that I know of who might be considering entering into a contract with them! It would have been 1 thing to be told of these fees up front and agreeing to them, it's another thing finding it out at this late of a date. And another thing also by finding out they aren't being truthful to me when telling me what my balance is!
I've decided after the 1st of the year and after I finish a crochet tablecloth that I have started for a family member, I want to make myself some crocheted cafe curtains for my kitchen & dining rooms. So I have for the last couple of weeks, clipped a 40% off 1 item coupon in the Hobby Lobby ad & gone in to buy 1 of the large balls of #10 crochet cotton. I have 2 balls on hand right now & will get a few more. Not 100% sure how many I will need for 3 windows, but I figure I would also do a tablecloth or 2 if I get too many. This coupon brings an $18 purchase down to just $11. I think though I might use the 1 this week to get a couple skeins of sock yarn for myself in 1 of the new colors I saw last week. I try to do 1 pair for myself in each new color in my favorite yarns. Since the coupon is only good on 1 item, I won't be able to get 40% off of each skein, but essentially it will work out to 20% off of each skein & I can handle that.
Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!
