Hmmmmm...
Well, you'd think life would be great here! I'm caught up on uploading my photos to Flickr, I have a fresh AMV up on YouTube (and #6 in the works and nearly done), my state refund check is deposited, I've paid my car insurance for the next six months (and lowered my premium, thanks to the munchkin!), Pathwalker is on its 75th page not counting the appendices (and, everyone in iladala, you should all have received fresh copies by now), I found a birthday present for jaydedlolita (Yes, I know you said you just wanted time with me and Adrian, but I couldn't resist when I saw it--you're going to love it, I'm just sure of it) plus I just spent last weekend working at the Aardvark and return to PCA on the 23rd!
But... it isn't, and the problem is work. After five months of parental nagging, I am bringing in money again, but, oh, it's not good enough. As usual.
So, here was my work plan, since I'm on the books for both Aardvark and PCA: PCA would be my primary job, because it pays better (I'll be going back at $8.50/hr, the same wage I had there up until Adrian's birth), has some benefits (unless they changed that...), does quarterly reviews for raises and the like, and has potential for upward mobility in the ranks. However, I'm 90% sure that I'll be lucky to be getting more than 30 hours a week there, since that was about what I got while I was expecting and they're pretty full on employees (I feel lucky to have been able to get a spot back there at all since Raylynn mentioned they actually are in a hiring freeze). And, I'm just SURE that I'd be being nagged for not getting full-time hours. So! To fill the remaining workweek hours, I planned to get them at the Aardvark. After all, most everyone else between college and retirement age has another job, and a lot of the gals there are also moms (true, more are married or have older kids, but still...), so Mary's probably pretty used to working around other schedules by now.
Sound like a good plan? My folks don't think so. For one thing, while I'll be making more than I did previously at the Aardvark (I was at $6.85/hr when I left, according to Mary's books), I'll be starting at a "training wage" until I've proven that I know the ropes and will then receive a raise--though Mary did not give me an exact figure for what either would be, though she did say it'd be at least in accordance with the new $7.15/hr minimum wage. I can understand that much frustrating my folks, I suppose, but Dad says I should demand $9/hr upfront without going through "that training wage bull." Without at least that, he says I shouldn't work there at all, "since I'd be working for nothing after babysitting and gas, and it's time better spent taking care of my baby." Ummm... Meanwhile, Mom says I still need to check the paper every single day to see if there's anything that just might pay a little more.
I dunno. Yeah, I can understand the need to find something that will pay a wage to comfortably support myself and Adrian on our own, but I JUST started work again, and it feels profoundly WRONG to me to suddenly say "no" to my employers after I just said "yes," and felt darned lucky to be able to say that at all! Either way, I suppose I ought to email Mary in put forth their concerns.
*sigh* I swear, it seems like my parents have some kind of master plan for my life, and they plain won't let me do anything that contradicts it (unless it's after the fact). It feels like I've been batting .000 in terms of parental approval for ANYTHING I've done since I graduated high school (and possibly even prior to that)--whether it's who my friends are, what I wear, where I work, where I go to school (if at all), where I live, how I take care of Adrian, how I named him, or even what I find entertaining or important. Will anything I decide on ever be good enough for them, I wonder? Somehow I doubt it. I have enough trouble deciding on things WITHOUT them undermining everything I decide. I wonder if they'd be happier if I told them they could make all my choices for me and arrange my life however they want, from getting me a job and a degree to choosing my husband and future home. Oh, I'm sure they'd put up a protest (especially upon being told that THEY have to make the arrangements, since I won't do them since apparently I can't do anything like that right), but secretly, I'll bet it's exactly what they'd want. I'm half-tempted to do it, too--after all, it's not MY happiness that matters, but Adrian's, and I can put up with quite a lot, really. I've learned to, after all--I'm just a pawn in the Master Plan.
*shakes head* I don't know. I give up. I'm tired of all this--all this that everything's been a mistake since the moment I was conceived. I whelped a perfect little human being for whatever fate wants with him. I did my job. I want to go home. Now.
But... it isn't, and the problem is work. After five months of parental nagging, I am bringing in money again, but, oh, it's not good enough. As usual.
So, here was my work plan, since I'm on the books for both Aardvark and PCA: PCA would be my primary job, because it pays better (I'll be going back at $8.50/hr, the same wage I had there up until Adrian's birth), has some benefits (unless they changed that...), does quarterly reviews for raises and the like, and has potential for upward mobility in the ranks. However, I'm 90% sure that I'll be lucky to be getting more than 30 hours a week there, since that was about what I got while I was expecting and they're pretty full on employees (I feel lucky to have been able to get a spot back there at all since Raylynn mentioned they actually are in a hiring freeze). And, I'm just SURE that I'd be being nagged for not getting full-time hours. So! To fill the remaining workweek hours, I planned to get them at the Aardvark. After all, most everyone else between college and retirement age has another job, and a lot of the gals there are also moms (true, more are married or have older kids, but still...), so Mary's probably pretty used to working around other schedules by now.
Sound like a good plan? My folks don't think so. For one thing, while I'll be making more than I did previously at the Aardvark (I was at $6.85/hr when I left, according to Mary's books), I'll be starting at a "training wage" until I've proven that I know the ropes and will then receive a raise--though Mary did not give me an exact figure for what either would be, though she did say it'd be at least in accordance with the new $7.15/hr minimum wage. I can understand that much frustrating my folks, I suppose, but Dad says I should demand $9/hr upfront without going through "that training wage bull." Without at least that, he says I shouldn't work there at all, "since I'd be working for nothing after babysitting and gas, and it's time better spent taking care of my baby." Ummm... Meanwhile, Mom says I still need to check the paper every single day to see if there's anything that just might pay a little more.
I dunno. Yeah, I can understand the need to find something that will pay a wage to comfortably support myself and Adrian on our own, but I JUST started work again, and it feels profoundly WRONG to me to suddenly say "no" to my employers after I just said "yes," and felt darned lucky to be able to say that at all! Either way, I suppose I ought to email Mary in put forth their concerns.
*sigh* I swear, it seems like my parents have some kind of master plan for my life, and they plain won't let me do anything that contradicts it (unless it's after the fact). It feels like I've been batting .000 in terms of parental approval for ANYTHING I've done since I graduated high school (and possibly even prior to that)--whether it's who my friends are, what I wear, where I work, where I go to school (if at all), where I live, how I take care of Adrian, how I named him, or even what I find entertaining or important. Will anything I decide on ever be good enough for them, I wonder? Somehow I doubt it. I have enough trouble deciding on things WITHOUT them undermining everything I decide. I wonder if they'd be happier if I told them they could make all my choices for me and arrange my life however they want, from getting me a job and a degree to choosing my husband and future home. Oh, I'm sure they'd put up a protest (especially upon being told that THEY have to make the arrangements, since I won't do them since apparently I can't do anything like that right), but secretly, I'll bet it's exactly what they'd want. I'm half-tempted to do it, too--after all, it's not MY happiness that matters, but Adrian's, and I can put up with quite a lot, really. I've learned to, after all--I'm just a pawn in the Master Plan.
*shakes head* I don't know. I give up. I'm tired of all this--all this that everything's been a mistake since the moment I was conceived. I whelped a perfect little human being for whatever fate wants with him. I did my job. I want to go home. Now.