Now is the Summer of My Unemployment

After taking a little breather (about a week or so) following the end of school, I dutifully jumped into the job market with high hopes and a stack of resumes. After a week of running around filling out applications After dreading the thought of working retail again, I missed my first interview at GAP Outlet after somebody went to work with the car keys in their pocket. I took this mishap as a divine clue that this position was not for me. Less than an hour after missing the interview I got a call on an ad I had put out seeking a nannying position. After leaving one message the woman called again that night before I even had a chance to call her back. We made an appointment to meet at the family's home in Sandy a couple days later.

The meeting went quite well. The family was nice and seemed interested in calling me. The mom said she wanted to discuss things with her husband further, then she'd call me back the next week to finalize things.

A week passes: I hear nothing. I try calling her back: nothing. Slightly disappointed, I pick up another batch of job applications and begin filling them out. The very next day I finally get a call from the mom saying that she'd lost my phone number and would I still be interested in the position?

I started work that Thursday and things went well. The two boys were sweet and pretty well-behaved. By the following Friday I was feeling good about my new job. That Sunday I got a call saying I wouldn't need to come on Monday because there'd be relatives visiting, and since I get Tuesdays off, they'd see me Wednesday. Tuesday night I got another call (which I missed) saying I should call back because something needed to be discussed before work tomorrow. In spite of the late hour I received the call, I called back, getting the voice mail. "Guess if it's that important they'll call tomorrow morning before I come."

The next morning as I was getting ready, my phone rang and I had a bad feeling... Turns out the family was afraid their kids were getting too attached to me and would be upset by me leaving in two months. They felt bad about how many nannies their kids had had and decided to replace me with a family friends who could work more permanently. I did a "wonderful" job though.

After taking a day to breathe, I jumped into the job job market again. In the two days following my dismissal I had as many interviews, the second of which seemed the most promising: I'd be working for a car dealership part-time, the man I'd be working for liked and wanted to hire me right away, and he didn't mind at all that I'd have to leave in what was now less than two months. It seemed perfect.

After a little phone tag I went back to the office to fill out paperwork for a background check. A week later the results of the check were back, but not good. Although my background was perfectly clean, HR didn't want to go to the expense of hiring someone for such a short time. That was Monday.

This week I"m doing a little tutoring, but I've basically given up on the job thing. Even if hired by the end of this week I'd only have a little over month to work. I'm thinking about doing odd jobs and maybe volunteering somewhere to keep myself busy.

Man, I've never been so ready for school to start in my life.