First day on the (second) job
To my dismay, my writings on the C-------- of P----------- still seem to be drumming up a fair amount of readership. It's a situation that I wish didn't exist, and as a result I've felt a little less inclined to be as confessional as I've been in the past.
I'm starting to wonder what direction this blog is going to take. You're probably getting bored of hearing me say that.
I'm working two jobs now. Tonight was my first night as a Qpac pollster. I worked my usual five hours at BNH (the word "worked," in this case, is used in the loosest sense. There's so little for me to do there, and so much time for me to do it, that I spend a lot of time looking busy by repeating things that I've already done. I've written and erased and rewritten the same form email dozens of times just to fill the minutes). After that, I had a couple of hours to myself--which I could have used for something productive like physical activity or writing or looking for full time jobs, but didn't--and then at 5:30 I sat down to my polling station for the first time. I must say that I enjoyed it. It's gloriously mindless work: I sit in front of a computer that generates random phone numbers and calls them upon my command; if someone answers, I read directly from a series of scripted instructions and questions; if no one answers, I make note of it, hang up and command the computer to dial another number. Tonight was the final night of the current poll, so I spent most of the evening calling numbers that had been called before but were put on the "Call Back" list because the initial call(s) went unanswered (we only stop calling a number once a flesh and blood person on the other end declines to take the survey).
I completed a total of 3 surveys--each of which took about ten minutes. The rest of the night I spent listening to the sound of successive phone rings (count eight of them and hang up is the rule) and trying not to look up rabidly any time someone walked into the room. I made nearly 200 phone calls over the course of three and a half hours. But I didn't hate it. In fact, I'll be looking forward to going in tomorrow for the start of a new poll. I'll probably get more hang-ups, but I'm sure to get a greater number of willing participants as well.
I think the main appeal of this job is the opportunity it affords me to ask people very personal questions. I'm supposed to be completely neutral in my administration of the poll, which I think I am--I didn't have a problem keeping an even tone and casual demeanor on any of the questions. But I have to say that in my mind I was always rooting for people to answer a question the way I would answer it. I've got my own opinions on stem cell research and Dick Cheney and needle exchange programs and it was always a pleasure to hear that the anonymous New Jerseyan on the other end of the line felt the same way I did.
I think I'm going to like this job, and I'll probably stick with it longer than my 10 to 3.
In other news, I think I've settled on a short-term plan: Americorps. I considered Americorps at the end of my senior year and over last summer, but by the time I really got serious about it it was September and too late to apply to anything. But I've been doing a little research lately and it would seem that I haven't missed any deadlines and that Americorps would be a productive and engaging way to spend a year. I'd probably start in mid-July (which seems to be when the bulk of the projects start) and then I'd be done in July 2007 with several weeks to myself to kill before starting ________ in the fall of 2007. (Law school? Creative writing classes? Joining the circus?) April 30 is the earliest deadline for most of those jobs, so I'll be cramming in some resume-writing over the next couple of days. It remains to be seen how easy it will be for me to land one of the jobs. I'd like to think it won't be so hard, but, well, all I've got are my previous experiences and we know how that goes.
Finally, one more thing on my to-do list is making phone calls to people I've been avoiding most of this year. There are a handful of people who I tried not to talk to while I was unemployed--for instance my college roommate, who's Teaching for American in inner city Chicago. I owe him, and a few others who I felt especially insecure talking to, a call or an email now that I'm finally doing a little money-making. I'm not out saving the world (yet) but at least I can finally refer to my unemployment in the past tense.
I'm starting to wonder what direction this blog is going to take. You're probably getting bored of hearing me say that.
I'm working two jobs now. Tonight was my first night as a Qpac pollster. I worked my usual five hours at BNH (the word "worked," in this case, is used in the loosest sense. There's so little for me to do there, and so much time for me to do it, that I spend a lot of time looking busy by repeating things that I've already done. I've written and erased and rewritten the same form email dozens of times just to fill the minutes). After that, I had a couple of hours to myself--which I could have used for something productive like physical activity or writing or looking for full time jobs, but didn't--and then at 5:30 I sat down to my polling station for the first time. I must say that I enjoyed it. It's gloriously mindless work: I sit in front of a computer that generates random phone numbers and calls them upon my command; if someone answers, I read directly from a series of scripted instructions and questions; if no one answers, I make note of it, hang up and command the computer to dial another number. Tonight was the final night of the current poll, so I spent most of the evening calling numbers that had been called before but were put on the "Call Back" list because the initial call(s) went unanswered (we only stop calling a number once a flesh and blood person on the other end declines to take the survey).
I completed a total of 3 surveys--each of which took about ten minutes. The rest of the night I spent listening to the sound of successive phone rings (count eight of them and hang up is the rule) and trying not to look up rabidly any time someone walked into the room. I made nearly 200 phone calls over the course of three and a half hours. But I didn't hate it. In fact, I'll be looking forward to going in tomorrow for the start of a new poll. I'll probably get more hang-ups, but I'm sure to get a greater number of willing participants as well.
I think the main appeal of this job is the opportunity it affords me to ask people very personal questions. I'm supposed to be completely neutral in my administration of the poll, which I think I am--I didn't have a problem keeping an even tone and casual demeanor on any of the questions. But I have to say that in my mind I was always rooting for people to answer a question the way I would answer it. I've got my own opinions on stem cell research and Dick Cheney and needle exchange programs and it was always a pleasure to hear that the anonymous New Jerseyan on the other end of the line felt the same way I did.
I think I'm going to like this job, and I'll probably stick with it longer than my 10 to 3.
In other news, I think I've settled on a short-term plan: Americorps. I considered Americorps at the end of my senior year and over last summer, but by the time I really got serious about it it was September and too late to apply to anything. But I've been doing a little research lately and it would seem that I haven't missed any deadlines and that Americorps would be a productive and engaging way to spend a year. I'd probably start in mid-July (which seems to be when the bulk of the projects start) and then I'd be done in July 2007 with several weeks to myself to kill before starting ________ in the fall of 2007. (Law school? Creative writing classes? Joining the circus?) April 30 is the earliest deadline for most of those jobs, so I'll be cramming in some resume-writing over the next couple of days. It remains to be seen how easy it will be for me to land one of the jobs. I'd like to think it won't be so hard, but, well, all I've got are my previous experiences and we know how that goes.
Finally, one more thing on my to-do list is making phone calls to people I've been avoiding most of this year. There are a handful of people who I tried not to talk to while I was unemployed--for instance my college roommate, who's Teaching for American in inner city Chicago. I owe him, and a few others who I felt especially insecure talking to, a call or an email now that I'm finally doing a little money-making. I'm not out saving the world (yet) but at least I can finally refer to my unemployment in the past tense.
posted by temporarily unemployed at 22:18
1 Comments:
Don't stop being confessional, but maybe delete the post about the C of P.
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