Conflicting plans
ARGH!
I have not seen Ruth since I was offered job with NSPCC. So I sent her an email last week to tell her the happy news. Ruth replied, very happy and excited, and said, shall we see a film Tuesday 26th? Maybe Volver? We can get dinner first. Or will I already be in Canada?
I replied that I would love to see Volver and am leaving for Vancouver on 29th, so will still be in London on the 26th. Plans agreed.
Meanwhile and completely unrelated (at least at first)...
I had to contact Alex to see if she has the address for the flat on Akatlar Sokak that first she, and then I, shared with Kitty and Katherine. This is because I need all my addresses for the past five years in order to fill out my criminal record check for the job with the NSPCC.
Alex replied saying she does not have exact address (so I'm hoping the CRB will accept a street and district name!). She added that Julia is in London and that I should contact her.
I sent a message to the number I had for Julia-in-London and that weekend get a voicemail message (from a different number -- she gave her old phone to her brother!) back. Julia would love to get together. Maybe Monday? But after eight, she is staying with grandparents in South Kensington and should spend some time with them that afternoon/evening.
I told Julia that I'm in Turnpike Lane, and as I finish work at five, I'd prefer to go home rather than hang around the city centre for three hours. We could have dinner at or near mine. She'd be welcome to stay over.
Julia suggested Tuesday instead.
I (as you, also, no doubt) had by this time almost forgotten my plans with Ruth. I started to text back an affirmative, then remembered, and sent instead, "Going to a film with a relative Tuesday. Would you like to see Volver?" Julia sounded interested.
So, I called Ruth and explained the situation, feeling mean and guilty. Ruth sounded a bit flapped (she flaps even worse than my mother) and near to saying, "You should see her instead," but I talked her down. We had a nice chat about how depressed seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" would make us, and about how guilty long-haul flights make me. We agreed to meet at 7:30, have dinner at Wagamama's, and catch a late showing of Volver.
Or so I thought until this morning when I checked my emails to find a message from Ruth saying, your friend's all the way over from Istanbul, you should see her instead.
I replied saying that I never expect more than a flying visit from Julia when she's in the UK because she has basketloads of friends and family to visit here, and I was really looking forward to seeing Ruth, dinner at Wagamama's, and the film.
Success. Ruth said, oh well, if I'm sure, and she was looking forward to it too. We decided on Volver, I said I'll reserve tickets and she and Julia (if Julia comes) can pay me back for them -- I won this point by promising to let Ruth pay for dinner and pointing out it makes the most sense as I'm the linking person, so to speak. Still feeling guilty to have upset the plans and caused trouble, but not willing to compound things by letting Ruth reserve tickets for myself and my friend!
So, I called Julia at lunch to double-check that no other day this week will work. Tonight -- with grandparents. Wednesday -- in Oxford. Thursday -- with another friend. So, basically, it's down to tomorrow.
I told her about my plans for Ruth and suggested she and I go for drinks after the film as well, as Ruth will not want to stay out that late. Julia asked if she can come for dinner instead. I hesitated. Feeling mean and guilty again, and now a bit panicky, I decided all in a rush that of COURSE she can, I have the same news/catching up to do with her and Ruth, they'll like each other, no problems with that and tell her we're meeting at 7:30 at the Angel and going to Wagamama's but if she decides to come later it's Screen on the Green, Volver, at 9:00.
I've obviously made her uncertain if she'll be welcome, though, because she said she'll see how the land lies at her grandparents and then let me know when she'll come along.
Now I'm all upset because I don't know how to straighten this out so no-one feels snubbed or put out!
I'm going to Canada on Friday. I wasn't sure if I had informed Lifeline (the agency that placed me in my current position) of this or not. Last week I tried without success to get through to my agent to tell her this and at one point left a message, but was only able to get through to her today. I also told my supervisor today, and realised that having not been able to get through at Lifeline, I should have just told her directly as soon as she arrived last week -- rather than trying so hard to do everything properly and through-the-agency, because no one ever does!
So they're trying to decide if they're going to replace me. For two weeks, it's not really worth it. If I wasn't coming back, of course, it would be. They would just get a new person, which would be a pain, but not too bad -- Cirene could train her/him -- and certainly not unheard of -- four weeks isn't a short booking in temp-land, and that's how long I'll have been here.
But what I haven't told them is that I've been offered a permanent job with the NSPCC -- because I don't know when it's starting! Even if the CRB check goes through ultra-quickly (I haven't even received the blank forms yet, though, so I don't know how that could happen) I don't think I'll be starting before mid-November, which gives me another four weeks of blank time. The forms apparently take six weeks on average. If there are delays on delays, we might be looking at the new year before I'm clear to start.
So now I feel guilty that I haven't told the people here that I've got a permanent job coming up, but I don't dare to, in case they then replace me not just for two weeks but for good, I can't get another post, and I have a long dry spell before the NSPCC starts, which is the absolute last thing I need -- I simply can't afford it in any way, shape or form. I can't afford to miss the work I'm going to be missing, let alone more. And honestly speaking, it's probably worth the Mary Sheridan Centre's time to have me back after the holiday, as I'll probably be available for at least four more weeks before they have to replace me... but I don't want to spook anyone here and make them think, this girl isn't worth it, send us another. Which, with a temp, they can do.
But eventually I'll have to tell them about the NSPCC position no matter what, and when I do it'll all come out that I didn't tell them before, or else I'll have to lie about when I found out that I got it. "They just told me! I start in two weeks." Either way, I'm the girl who was trained, worked for four weeks, went on holiday for two weeks, worked a bit more and then buggered off to a permanent position. Not terribly good.
God, I cannot wait to be out of the temp market, if only because it leads to so many uncomfortable situations!
I have not seen Ruth since I was offered job with NSPCC. So I sent her an email last week to tell her the happy news. Ruth replied, very happy and excited, and said, shall we see a film Tuesday 26th? Maybe Volver? We can get dinner first. Or will I already be in Canada?
I replied that I would love to see Volver and am leaving for Vancouver on 29th, so will still be in London on the 26th. Plans agreed.
Meanwhile and completely unrelated (at least at first)...
I had to contact Alex to see if she has the address for the flat on Akatlar Sokak that first she, and then I, shared with Kitty and Katherine. This is because I need all my addresses for the past five years in order to fill out my criminal record check for the job with the NSPCC.
Alex replied saying she does not have exact address (so I'm hoping the CRB will accept a street and district name!). She added that Julia is in London and that I should contact her.
I sent a message to the number I had for Julia-in-London and that weekend get a voicemail message (from a different number -- she gave her old phone to her brother!) back. Julia would love to get together. Maybe Monday? But after eight, she is staying with grandparents in South Kensington and should spend some time with them that afternoon/evening.
I told Julia that I'm in Turnpike Lane, and as I finish work at five, I'd prefer to go home rather than hang around the city centre for three hours. We could have dinner at or near mine. She'd be welcome to stay over.
Julia suggested Tuesday instead.
I (as you, also, no doubt) had by this time almost forgotten my plans with Ruth. I started to text back an affirmative, then remembered, and sent instead, "Going to a film with a relative Tuesday. Would you like to see Volver?" Julia sounded interested.
So, I called Ruth and explained the situation, feeling mean and guilty. Ruth sounded a bit flapped (she flaps even worse than my mother) and near to saying, "You should see her instead," but I talked her down. We had a nice chat about how depressed seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" would make us, and about how guilty long-haul flights make me. We agreed to meet at 7:30, have dinner at Wagamama's, and catch a late showing of Volver.
Or so I thought until this morning when I checked my emails to find a message from Ruth saying, your friend's all the way over from Istanbul, you should see her instead.
I replied saying that I never expect more than a flying visit from Julia when she's in the UK because she has basketloads of friends and family to visit here, and I was really looking forward to seeing Ruth, dinner at Wagamama's, and the film.
Success. Ruth said, oh well, if I'm sure, and she was looking forward to it too. We decided on Volver, I said I'll reserve tickets and she and Julia (if Julia comes) can pay me back for them -- I won this point by promising to let Ruth pay for dinner and pointing out it makes the most sense as I'm the linking person, so to speak. Still feeling guilty to have upset the plans and caused trouble, but not willing to compound things by letting Ruth reserve tickets for myself and my friend!
So, I called Julia at lunch to double-check that no other day this week will work. Tonight -- with grandparents. Wednesday -- in Oxford. Thursday -- with another friend. So, basically, it's down to tomorrow.
I told her about my plans for Ruth and suggested she and I go for drinks after the film as well, as Ruth will not want to stay out that late. Julia asked if she can come for dinner instead. I hesitated. Feeling mean and guilty again, and now a bit panicky, I decided all in a rush that of COURSE she can, I have the same news/catching up to do with her and Ruth, they'll like each other, no problems with that and tell her we're meeting at 7:30 at the Angel and going to Wagamama's but if she decides to come later it's Screen on the Green, Volver, at 9:00.
I've obviously made her uncertain if she'll be welcome, though, because she said she'll see how the land lies at her grandparents and then let me know when she'll come along.
Now I'm all upset because I don't know how to straighten this out so no-one feels snubbed or put out!
I'm going to Canada on Friday. I wasn't sure if I had informed Lifeline (the agency that placed me in my current position) of this or not. Last week I tried without success to get through to my agent to tell her this and at one point left a message, but was only able to get through to her today. I also told my supervisor today, and realised that having not been able to get through at Lifeline, I should have just told her directly as soon as she arrived last week -- rather than trying so hard to do everything properly and through-the-agency, because no one ever does!
So they're trying to decide if they're going to replace me. For two weeks, it's not really worth it. If I wasn't coming back, of course, it would be. They would just get a new person, which would be a pain, but not too bad -- Cirene could train her/him -- and certainly not unheard of -- four weeks isn't a short booking in temp-land, and that's how long I'll have been here.
But what I haven't told them is that I've been offered a permanent job with the NSPCC -- because I don't know when it's starting! Even if the CRB check goes through ultra-quickly (I haven't even received the blank forms yet, though, so I don't know how that could happen) I don't think I'll be starting before mid-November, which gives me another four weeks of blank time. The forms apparently take six weeks on average. If there are delays on delays, we might be looking at the new year before I'm clear to start.
So now I feel guilty that I haven't told the people here that I've got a permanent job coming up, but I don't dare to, in case they then replace me not just for two weeks but for good, I can't get another post, and I have a long dry spell before the NSPCC starts, which is the absolute last thing I need -- I simply can't afford it in any way, shape or form. I can't afford to miss the work I'm going to be missing, let alone more. And honestly speaking, it's probably worth the Mary Sheridan Centre's time to have me back after the holiday, as I'll probably be available for at least four more weeks before they have to replace me... but I don't want to spook anyone here and make them think, this girl isn't worth it, send us another. Which, with a temp, they can do.
But eventually I'll have to tell them about the NSPCC position no matter what, and when I do it'll all come out that I didn't tell them before, or else I'll have to lie about when I found out that I got it. "They just told me! I start in two weeks." Either way, I'm the girl who was trained, worked for four weeks, went on holiday for two weeks, worked a bit more and then buggered off to a permanent position. Not terribly good.
God, I cannot wait to be out of the temp market, if only because it leads to so many uncomfortable situations!