Mysterious Ways

After working at P.F. Chang's for over a year, I finally decided to find a new job. I will continue serving tables there one night a week, Sundays, at least through the holidays. It's the busiest time of year, and it would be stupid for me not to use that opportunity to make a little extra cash. And it gives me the option to pick up an extra shift when I need to.

I've accumulated a few regulars over the year, which is nice. I enjoy seeing them, I know what they like to order, and I know how to serve them best. I know a little about them, they know a little about me, it's a reminder that the people I serve are real people who have lives outside of eating at P.F. Chang's. Funny how spending so much time at one place, interacting with people on one level for so long has made me so myopic about society. I digress.

When I first started at Chang's I joked that the only way the job would help me launch my career would be if Gov. Bill Ritter sat at one of my tables and was impressed enough to offer me a job. Needless to say, that never happened. A few months ago though this man named Mark began frequenting P.F. Chang's, usually late on Thursdays, and just happened to sit in my section. He dined alone, ordered in waves and drank the same wine every time. He was friendly and actually seemed interested in getting to know me. He's in his mid-fifties with a wife and young son. They had moved from Breckenridge with the intent of expanding his company and being more accesible to his clients. They also began attending my parents' church. I told Mark about my hopes with the State Department, he explained his business to me. I saw him almost twice a week, usually alone, but sometimes with his son.

I was able to pick up a shift on Thursday night, just last minute, one last one before I begin my Sunday-only schedule. I was wrapping things up and getting ready to go home when Mark walked in. It had been months since he had been in, and I was just thinking earlier that day that I hadn't seen him in a while. He ordered his usual and we began chatting. I told him about my new job - I had previously discussed my brief exploration into marketing jobs at the end of the summer.

"I believe that sometimes God uses daily circumstances to reveal his will," Mark stated. "I would really like to see you succeed. Now, I'm sitting here thinking 'here's this bright young woman in front of me, who I see as very capable, her parents go to my church, and I think that there has to be some reason for this. I would like to help you however I can. I'm going to send you some information about my organization, you take a look at it and we'll talk about some options for you."

Wow.

Now I know that this isn't a concrete job offer. I know that nothing may ever come of this conversation. But I know an opportunity when I see one, and in this year of disappointment, I know a blessing when I experience one. Perhaps all this IS part of God's plan after all. For the first time in a while, I'm hopeful about my future. Sometimes a little encouragement is all that's needed to put things in motion.

Work Week

I finished my first week of 8-5 work. It was long, boring, and so wonderful to do something different. My temp position is in the Legal department of Vodafone. They hired me through a legal staffing agency to help index and organize about 250 boxes of files. I spent all week listing every item in every box.

In order to break up the monotony, I came up with little games to play as I indexed box after box. Keep in mind that I occupied an entire suite of offices by myself this week. One important detail is that while I sat at the front desk facing the main entrance, there is also a back entrance that is down a hallway and several rooms away. On Monday I was pretty content just to do my job and sit quietly just listing away. I took a nice long lunch break, walked down the 16th Street Mall in Denver, stopped at Starbucks for my daily eggnog latte (I love the holidays), and enjoyed being part of the adult working world. I engaged in conversations with homeless people, local vendors, and the Starbucks barista just to get some human interaction. After lunch I returned to the silence of my office suite to continue with my indexing. By Tuesday I was smart enough to bring my Ipod. I listened to podcasts of NPR, LSAT Logic in Everyday Life, and Coffee Break Spanish - unabashedly thinking out loud and practicing my Spanish in my best Scottish accent (the instructor for Coffee Break Spanish is Scottish, so all his Spanish has this interesting and charming brogue). I practiced my karaoke skills to my favorite songs and took advantage of the fact that I was alone in my own little world, with hundreds of file boxes. On Wednesday I was beginning to get a little crazy and became more creative with my self-entertainment methods. I decided that since I was surrounded by boxes I should build a fort. I began placing each box strategically after I indexed it. Before long I had a nice little structure. I still had more boxes though and I placed them in a sort of maze on the floor. I was putting my artistic skills to good use, sitting in my fort to index and walking through my maze, when suddenly I hear laughter. My stomach leapt. I wasn't alone after all.

Blushing deeply, I peeked out from inside my cave of boxes to see an unfamiliar man grinning at me. "Hi, I'm Kelly. I'm the temp for the next couple weeks." I crawled out, stood up and shook hands.
"Yes, hi, I'm just checking out the suite. We're thinking of moving into this space."
"Oh, well, it's only being used temporarily for this project."
"I see, and do you come with the space?"
"No, no, I'm just here with Vodafone to index these boxes."
"Well it looks like you've made yourself at home," he grinned, motioning toward my fort. "I'm just going to take a look around. I'll be out of your way in a minute."
"Okay, yeah, take your time, I'm just gonna get back to, uh, these boxes." I smiled and returned to my desk, thoroughly embarrassed. I put my headphones back on, and quietly indexed boxes until the man left through the front entrance. "Thanks!" he waved, "have fun."
"Yeah, thanks, have a nice day," I replied and smiled.
It took all of about three minutes after he left and I finished my current box before I resumed constructing my fort, I was in the process of adding a guest wing.

After lunch on Wednesday I had pretty much taken up as much reasonable space as possible with my construction projects and invented a new game. Many of the boxes have personnel files, each labeled with a last and first name. In one of the "G" boxes the names were pretty interesting so I started pronouncing them out loud in what I imagined was the language of origin. Russian sounding names became my favorite.

The next couple days continued like this, me, alone in the suite, uninterrupted in my Scottish-Spanish lessons, foreign name game, singing out loud, and artistically arranging box after box.

By 4pm today I completed all the boxes. It brought a nice feeling of accomplishment. On Monday I'm taking my lists and inputting them all into an electronic database. I'll be in the main office, at a desk surrounded by other people. While I'm looking forward to having more human contact, I hope I don't forget where I am and start singing or speaking Scottish-Spanish out loud.

Monday

On Monday I begin a new job. It's a temp position with Vodafone working on a two week administrative project. It's not my dream job, but it's a start in the right direction.

Since I put in my two weeks at Chang's it's bee much easier working there. I enjoy it more, I don't become so easily frustrated. I wish I had learned several months ago not to care so much about the job. I become so invested in whatever it is that I'm working on that I have a hard time letting things slide. I am a perfectionist. Since my job takes up a majority of my time I have difficulty not taking it too seriously. I get stressed out when things aren't running smoothly and I become bitter toward people who don't work as hard as I do. I get especially irritated when my hard work and dedication don't get recognized and the laziness or incompetence around me is ignored. That was one of my main frustrations at P.F. Chang's; I would show up every day and work my ass off, following rules, doing things as they should be done and doing them very well, and never receive a nod of approval. That is one of the very reasons I enjoy being in the Army. The standards are set and the standards are made clear to everyone. Those who choose not to meet them, either out of negligence or willful disregard, are punished, or at least not rewarded. Those who meet and exceed the standards are quickly recognized, rewarded, and given more responsibility. It's a system in which I can thrive. I pay close attention to details, but at the same time I view myself as a member of a larger team and I invision where I want to be within that grand scheme. At P.F. Chang's there was know view of the top, no path to promotion, it was a dead-end, no matter how hard I worked or how good I became at my job. As ambitious as I am, this is infinitely frustrating to me. Since I no longer have to depend on serving tables as my sole source of income, I'm almost considering staying on the schedule a couple nights a week, like a hobby. Sounds sick doesn't it? If I have another channel for my ambition, a place where I can work to achieve my goals, working part-time at Chang's is kind of appealing. I'm not committing to that yet. I'm going to see where my new position takes me and what all I can do next.

On the Hunt

Once again I've begun searching for jobs. Only this time with quite a bit more urgency. I quit my job at P.F. Chang's and am staring into an endless abyss of possibility. I have until next Wednesday to find a job.

So far I have two leads. I'v primarily been applying for legal assistant jobs at Denver law firms. I have a friend of a friend who's husband is a lawyer and is looking for an administrative assistant. I think that's the most promising lead. All the employment experts say that knowing someone is the best lead in finding a job. The other lead is through a legal staffing agency. I'm going down to their office on Friday to take a series of skill assesment tests. I'm very encouraged by that opportunity simply because I've never worked at a law firm, but I know I have valuable skills. It will be good to get an objective measure of what I'm qualified to do and then search from there. I've also sent my resume in to several Media/Communications jobs, and Fundraising/Development jobs. I know responding to internet postings has a generally low success rate, but I think once managers see my resume they'll want to meet me; and I am great at the interview. I've spent some time working on my cover letter; I think it's more effective now, emphasizing my accomplishments and differentiating me from the competition.

If worse comes to worse and nothing works out by the end of the month I have a few safety net plans as well. It's holiday shopping season and I know I can easily get a seasonal retail job while I continue to search. Also, the Army always provides an alternative. I can simply go for additional training or even volunteer for a full-time position. I'm just so relieved to be getting out of service industry jobs. It was too stressful, thankless, and ultimately a dead-end. I just hope I can convince future employers that the customer service and salesmanship skills I gained over the last year are valuable. I don't want my time serving tables to be a complete loss.

Law school is still on the horizon. I'm spending most of my time during the day studying for the LSAT. My score is improving little by little with every practice exam. I still need to work on the Logical Reasoning section, but I'm confident with some practice I can nail it.