Talk Hard!
Guidance counselors!!! If they knew anything about career moves, would they have ended up as guidance counselors???
This is a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, my teen awakening movie, so to speak, Pump Up The Volume. This movie is almost 20 years old and you know what? Most of the lines spoken in this movie are still so very true. The one above? Probably always will be true. Not only for guidance counselors (which only work at High Schools, afaik?) but all kinds of job counselors.
Luckily I'm not too experienced with these strange specimen and I "bath in the luxury" that I'm not eligible for any kind of compensation, so they can't boss my around and threaten to stop my payments like they usually do. Some people on my f-list will exactly know what I mean.
The experiences I have make me wonder if I should just repeatedly bang my head against the next wall over their stupidity or if I should laugh my ass off... so far I'm sticking to the latter but it might be because I'm already PAST the wall-banging phase. You know, sometimes situations are so bad and surreal that you can only laugh about them because crying isn't just enough.
It all started way back in school, at my first meeting with a guidance counselor where he just asked me what I want to do later in life? Um, excuse me? Isn't that what HE's supposed to answer for me? Or at least help me find an answer to? Maybe I should have answered back then: I want to be a guidance counselor because then I get to sit on my big fat ass all day and ask stupid questions!
A few years ago, when the idea to work abroad for a while first came to me, I sought the help of (another) work counselor. I told him what my plans are and asked him if he has any advice for me. His reaction was to start a google search. No way I would have thought of that myself....
Last months I went to our job center and registered as a job seeker and told my new counselor that I'm also interested in jobs abroad. She told me, she can only do a nation-wide search but I can call the central office in Nuremberg and they would send me some forms to fill out and help me further. Well, no problem. I called the central office. Instead of forms, I only received a huge pile of information brochures from them (that are also available for download at their website) and the information that there would be an informational meeting on the 8th of October. At MY jobcenter. Now why do I need someone in the central office in Nuremberg (about 100kms way from me... the lady on the phone had never even heard of Coburg) to tell me about a meeting that takes place - basically - RIGHT NEXT to my counselor every two months?? And which is advertized which huge posters all over the jobcenter - as I found out when I was there this week again?
Anyway, so this meeting was scheduled for last Wednesday at 10am. Drove to the jobcenter, walked in to the registration desk to ask which room it is in. Was told to go to the 1st floor, down the hall left of the elevators. Was about to ask if the meeting takes place in the hall but bit my tongue and thought, oh well, maybe there IS only one room. There was not. Huge hallway, lots of doors. So I knocked at one door where I heard noises and was told that the meeting is at the groundfloor, right next to the registration. (I'm starting to see a pattern there...) This time I protested and said this is where I'm coming from, so the lady in the office said she'd ask a colleague. Colleague said it's in House 2, around the block. Alright then... walked around the block to the 2nd building - only to find a piece of paper pinned to the door that said the meeting is in House 1, room 4 today. Mkay... walked back around the block to the 1st building to room 4 (which btw really was the room right next to the registration desk) only to find it empty. Knocked on the next door and was told by the very friendly lady there that the meeting had been yesterday. Oct 7th, not 8th.
There IS a certain possibility that I wrote down the wrong date but I seriously doubt it. I had the note pad in front of me when I was on the phone with the central office and wrote everything down while we spoke. Why would I wrote 8 when she said 7? And 7 - 8... not 2 numbers you'd easily confuse.
Well, next meeting is in December, guess that is still fine and after my experiences that I made the next day, I'm not sure I need this meeting anyway.
Next day, Thursday, I'd been invited, no wait TOLD, to attend a meeting about "a new project" that the job center is about to start here. The letter practically just said: Be there, time, date and "new project". Oh and: if you don't show up, your payments will be stopped. Haha, so funny. What payments?
There was no information whatsoever in that letter what kind of new project that might be. Not even the name of the project that MIGHT give a hint at what it is about.
Yeah because I'm just SUCH a nice (and rather curious) person, I went there. This time I knew which room I had to go to... only I got confused because it said room 103 and - guess I spent too much time with Americans - I thought that meant groundfloor/ first floor, so yes, I walked into the wrong room at first but was given the proper directions this time.
The meeting was more like a lecture, with a guy from the job center informing us about "that new project the job center is about to start in this region to helf find work for unemployed people". Wait, what? That's a NEW project for the job center??? *blinks* And here I was thinking that is what the job center is for in the first place... silly me.
Then he continued to give us information how we can search for a job... like.... look into a newspaper *gasps*, search the internet *in awe*... erm yes and it continued on that level. He encouraged us to ask questions but god forbid someone actually did ask a question. For example he told us that the job center would support someone who wants to be self-employed by paying them 300 euro/ month for 1 year, so that their social insurances are covered. Someone dared to comment that 300 euro isn't even enough to cover the health insurance and the job center guy had to admit that he has no idea how much social insurances (health insurance among others) are these days. Sorry, for some reason, I think that it's part of his job to know that kind of stuff if he offers that kind of support.
There were some other comments and questions where he reacted rather helpless (and he wasn't a very young man, that you think this was maybe the first week in the office), so I again bit down my question what part of what he told us was actually new? I really felt a little sorry for the guy. I know, I know, I'm just too nice.
The kinda good news of the week? Got a phone call yesterday afternoon from a temp agency who asked me if I want to come in for an interview. Not so good news: They only look for factory workers, they only pay 6 euro/ hour (about $8) and they only offered me part-time work. Shift work. 3 shifts. Not what I'm looking for.
I've no problem with working in a factory for a few months to save some money and if it's "real" part-time, then they will pay my spcil insurances for me which would be really nice for a change, tbh but she always said part-time/minimal employment (400-Euro Job) which means I'm still in the same spot that I am in now, only that my work now is better paid, I love my current work and it is actually something I was educated to do and not something any monkey could do if you trained it. And shift-work means I can't do both.
I'll keep looking... maybe I SHOULD become a guidance counselor? I'm pretty sure I couldn't do worse...