It's a great day

It must be. GFY just referenced "Derelicte". [Yes, I thought Zoolander was hilarious.]

Today was the first day in the annals of Deb Searches For Gainful Employment.

I woke up when Jeff kissed me good-bye, but went back to sleep and slept in till nearly 8 am. Not an auspicious beginning to DSFGE day, but I faced the world with a smile and got ready. I had elected to wear my pink suit from Windsor (so two years ago, but it's still pretty classy), and I got ready, but realized that my black tank top that I'd bought to match it was a little bit decollete, so I had to switch to my white tank top. Meanwhile, I had to finish my application for adjunct faculty for COS, printed out some necessary paperwork, and also printed out a few copies of my resume. I planned to drop off the application at the COS human resources office, and then make my way to a hiring fair that was going on for the opening of the new Jo-Ann's superstore (there's an explanation as to why I applied there) here in Visalia.

One thing to remember about me is that I'm a terrible people person. I can fake it really well, but the thought of going out and meeting a bunch of new people, while desperately needing to make a positive impression, is one that terrifies me. I also have low self-esteem. And when I think about how low it is, it makes me feel even worse about myself... Thank goodness (and Dad's genes) that I was blessed with chutzpah and some much-lauded acting talent. "And the Oscar goes to... Deb Feely for her performance in Confident Career Woman!!" Anyway, I had to build myself up, give myself a few pep talks, and do some deep-breathing exercises, before I went out to face the world. I had so much pep-talking to do that it took all morning. I decided to eat lunch, and tackle the world while I had a full stomach, and the interviewers were potentially dealing with post-meal sleepiness (all the better to impress them with my seeming peppiness). I brushed my teeth, gathered my stuff together, went out to the car, and left-- Wait, no I didn't! The car engine shuddered and clicked, but refused to turn on. Ugh! I was really stressed. The hiring fair at Jo-Ann's was today only, and Jeff was far away in Fresno. I called him, in tears, and he told me to call his mom and ask for a ride. This was a sensible plan, but I had it in my head that I didn't want to bother Debbie, so he called her for me, and she called me and told me that she'd be happy to come and get me, because she had to go to that section of town anyway.

We set off, and the COS errand was accomplished with not too much trouble (other than parking, which is always bad at COS). Jo-Ann's was just a bit down Mooney, so she dropped me off there and went to look in a different store in the strip mall area. I walked into the building, and it turned out that I had to fill out an application and then wait around till they got around to interviewing me. There were a couple of dozen people already there, most of them middle-aged women or teenaged girls. I was the most professional-looking of any of them, in my pink suit. [Yes, I own a set of pink clothing... a few, in fact.] Well, it was extremely boring for an hour or so; Debbie had returned from her errand, and was sitting around in the parking lot, poor lady, so I ran out and told her to run her other errands, and not wait for me. I chatted a bit with some other folks who were waiting (they chatted me up first), and they really were pleasantly nice, not fake nice, so I didn't mind chatting. People who work at stores like Jo-Ann's tend to be pleasant, overall. Anyway.

I was one of the last people interviewed, and my interviewer was a pleasant lady named Doris who told me that she was the operations manager for the new Visalia superstore. There were some typical interview questions, and I was able to explain that I came from engineering in the aerospace industry, but had recently moved to the Central Valley, and wanted to find a career that didn't involve WMD (no, really). She was impressed with my communication and problem-solving skills, especially when I described how I had approached various problems at my old job, and I explained that I was really interested in logistics/operations-type jobs, where my analytical and administrative skills could be put to good use. Her husband is apparently an engineer (I gathered from what she'd said), so she knew what I meant when I said, "With such-and-such an issue, I'd take an engineering approach..." and statements like that. Well, the upshot of the whole thing was that she told me I was one of the best interviews she'd had that day, and she was going to pass my application on to the HR department at the Jo-Ann's West Coast distribution center, which is also located here in Visalia. There were actually HR people there, helping with the job fair, so I was able to meet one of them and make (I hope) a good impression with my smile and firm handshake. I went out to the parking lot, where Debbie had just come back from another store, and started to get in, and then remembered that I'd had some copies of my resume with me the whole time, and had neglected to give them one, so I ran back inside and gave it to the HR lady, and she smiled and said, "We'll be contacting you". It seemed positive, so it was an encouraging start to the DSFGE process.

It was past 4 pm at that point, so there wasn't much else I could do today. Debbie treated me to Starbucks to celebrate the end of my time at the former job, and we went to my house and chatted for an hour or so. I was going to fix dinner for Jeff, so I asked if Debbie and Jerry wanted to come for dinner and have pasta. As luck would have it, they did, and even though it was somewhat haphazard (because it was short notice, and I didn't have everything started in time to have guests right away), the food was yummy and everything turned out to be okay. So that was that.

Jeff and I went to Costco for groceries and a car battery (to fix the car, naturally), and then just did some chores at home (i.e. Jeff put the new battery in the car). Jeff is now in bed, and I am headed that way as soon as I finish this post and the finish up the lunch I'm making for him (heehee, I'm becoming domestic). I just wanted to record everything for posterity, and also to give my loyal readers something more than a blip every several days.