on stress
Financially responsible Corinne is financially responsible (sometimes). I've been contemplating selling my laptop for a really long time, to put the money toward the purchase of a newer one. I was about 5 seconds away from hitting the "place order" button on a newer laptop when a sudden wave of common sense came over me.
Cast of characters:
Sensible Corinne
Corinne Who Likes To Spend Money
There's really nothing wrong with your laptop, Corinne.
Are you crazy? The battery life is abysmal at best, and it runs slower than a herd of tortoises stampeding through peanut butter.
So replace the battery. They go for about 25 bucks on ebay. Delete some of the stuff that you've already backed up to the external, and it'll probably run much, much faster. Don't forget, it has more RAM than your desktop.
but, but, the outside isn't pretty anymore. A new laptop would be much nicer looking!
Buy a skin for it on ebay. They go for about ten bones. You won't even notice the scratches.
...okay.
So I did, and it worked out well. Hooray for saving money for the inevitability of having no job!
I'm still absurdly busy 98% of the time. I work 5 days a week, then I have school on the other two. School days tend to end at about 9 pm, and work days end at about 8, assuming I don't head to the library to study/do homework afterward. I'm really proud to say I'm doing well in school (I got 100% on my first History test, my English teacher invited me to become a tutor at the University Writing Center, and my Speech class... Well, it's Speech. How hard can it be?) and I'm determined to keep on keepin' on.
I wish I could say that work is going just as well as school, but unfortunately that isn't the case. In the beginning of the year our scheduling process completely change. Even though I had informed the proper channels that I would be returning to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, they continued to schedule me on those days. I can't take vacation without a 2-4 week notice, so my only real option when that happens is to call in sick to work, as school is clearly more important. Sadly, when I call in sick, two things happen:
1.) I am issued an attendance point. 7 points, and you lose your job.
2.) I get zero quota relief. If I am supposed to sell X phones in a month, and I call in sick for 4 days, I am expected to sell more on the days that I'm there to compensate for the days that I was out. Sounds sensible, but is rarely feasible. And that's just in one metric. I also have to worry about new lines, tablet sales, accessory sales, feature sales, insurance add-ons, customer feedback surveys, small business accounts... the list goes on.
Right now, I have 5 attendance points, and am on a final warning for hitting my monthly quotas. If I didn't satisfy market standards for last month (which I will know right around the 20th of this month), that's it. Game over. I've also been told that I have no say in my availability because I'm a full time employee, and the only way I can guarantee having those days off would be to switch to part time. When I told them that I wouldn't be able to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, I was merely submitting a preference, not giving availability.
The worst part about it is that I'm stuck. My boss wants to help me, and has told me several times that I'm one of the last people she would want to fire in the store. She has tried to waive disciplinary measures, and even fought with the district manager to try and make me a part time employee (who would work close to full-time hours), but there's so much red tape and union barriers, that she's been shot down. She's even trying to help me find another job that will be able to work around my school schedule.
Don't get me wrong, I really love my store, and my co-workers and bosses are super incredible, and I'm going to miss them like crazy when and if I do lose my job. I'm just really disappointed by how complicated the company makes it for employees to better themselves.
Oh well. Things will work out the way they're meant to. They always do.
On a more positive note, in spite of everything on my plate, I am still ridiculously happy. I couldn't ask to be surrounded by more positive, loving people, and I am thrilled that I've found intrinsic motivation after all these years. As apprehensive as I am about losing my job, I'm really looking forward taking on all of these new beginnings. I choose to see them as new opportunities to thrive.
Cast of characters:
Sensible Corinne
Corinne Who Likes To Spend Money
There's really nothing wrong with your laptop, Corinne.
Are you crazy? The battery life is abysmal at best, and it runs slower than a herd of tortoises stampeding through peanut butter.
So replace the battery. They go for about 25 bucks on ebay. Delete some of the stuff that you've already backed up to the external, and it'll probably run much, much faster. Don't forget, it has more RAM than your desktop.
but, but, the outside isn't pretty anymore. A new laptop would be much nicer looking!
Buy a skin for it on ebay. They go for about ten bones. You won't even notice the scratches.
...okay.
So I did, and it worked out well. Hooray for saving money for the inevitability of having no job!
I'm still absurdly busy 98% of the time. I work 5 days a week, then I have school on the other two. School days tend to end at about 9 pm, and work days end at about 8, assuming I don't head to the library to study/do homework afterward. I'm really proud to say I'm doing well in school (I got 100% on my first History test, my English teacher invited me to become a tutor at the University Writing Center, and my Speech class... Well, it's Speech. How hard can it be?) and I'm determined to keep on keepin' on.
I wish I could say that work is going just as well as school, but unfortunately that isn't the case. In the beginning of the year our scheduling process completely change. Even though I had informed the proper channels that I would be returning to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, they continued to schedule me on those days. I can't take vacation without a 2-4 week notice, so my only real option when that happens is to call in sick to work, as school is clearly more important. Sadly, when I call in sick, two things happen:
1.) I am issued an attendance point. 7 points, and you lose your job.
2.) I get zero quota relief. If I am supposed to sell X phones in a month, and I call in sick for 4 days, I am expected to sell more on the days that I'm there to compensate for the days that I was out. Sounds sensible, but is rarely feasible. And that's just in one metric. I also have to worry about new lines, tablet sales, accessory sales, feature sales, insurance add-ons, customer feedback surveys, small business accounts... the list goes on.
Right now, I have 5 attendance points, and am on a final warning for hitting my monthly quotas. If I didn't satisfy market standards for last month (which I will know right around the 20th of this month), that's it. Game over. I've also been told that I have no say in my availability because I'm a full time employee, and the only way I can guarantee having those days off would be to switch to part time. When I told them that I wouldn't be able to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, I was merely submitting a preference, not giving availability.
The worst part about it is that I'm stuck. My boss wants to help me, and has told me several times that I'm one of the last people she would want to fire in the store. She has tried to waive disciplinary measures, and even fought with the district manager to try and make me a part time employee (who would work close to full-time hours), but there's so much red tape and union barriers, that she's been shot down. She's even trying to help me find another job that will be able to work around my school schedule.
Don't get me wrong, I really love my store, and my co-workers and bosses are super incredible, and I'm going to miss them like crazy when and if I do lose my job. I'm just really disappointed by how complicated the company makes it for employees to better themselves.
Oh well. Things will work out the way they're meant to. They always do.
On a more positive note, in spite of everything on my plate, I am still ridiculously happy. I couldn't ask to be surrounded by more positive, loving people, and I am thrilled that I've found intrinsic motivation after all these years. As apprehensive as I am about losing my job, I'm really looking forward taking on all of these new beginnings. I choose to see them as new opportunities to thrive.