Jobs Are Hard

[bloodyrosemccoy]

So even though I’m sending out a manuscript, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to instantly get a letter back saying “WE WANT YOU TO BECOME A FAMOUS AUTHOR AND WE’LL PAY YOU PILES OF CASH, WHICH INCLUDES GENEROUS ADVANCES ON ALL THE BOOKS YOU MAY WRITE IN THE FUTURE AS WELL. AND A GREAT MANY BACK PAYMENTS ARE INCLUDED IN THAT, WE ASSURE YOU.”

I mean, it’s not like I’m friggin’ Ursula Vernon here, people.

So I’m thinking I should hedge my bets and get moar job. I love the goddamn hell out of the Liberry, but they’ve got a hiring and hours freeze right now so I am not exactly going to rocket up in the ranks. Yet.

The thing is, I am trying to figure out if I should call up Maxwell P. Mormonator, III, of the Mormonator family that owns the Mormonator Bookstores,* and ask him if he’d be willing to give me some of the job he offered me a few months ago. (Hey, if it took him nine months to get back to me on my resume, I can take some time to get back to him, right?) Apparently he read my resume and said to himself, “She speaks conversational Swahili? This is the sort of person we need to work the cash register at our bookstore!”

Problem is, even though he told me that I could always call back when I decided I needed a job, I don’t actually believe him.** So I’m a little shy about calling or sending a letter or something and asking for a part-time job. Especially because somewhere in the back of my head I’m still convinced that I will get that Ursula Vernon-style windfall acceptance letter. But that is just my own idiotic brain getting all wishful on me, so we can safely ignore that. More immediate a problem is my epic, partially-innate and partially-medicated laziness, and I may just have to get over that.

So aside from my own balking, what do y’all think? Should I write to Maxwell and ask him if he has half a job or so for a library aide with an “eye-catching” resume? Think he’ll remember me?


*Names changed to protect the aggressively Mormon. At least I’m not going for Deseret Book—the Mormonators have pretty cool books in their stores.

**This is also true of friends, relatives, enemies, etc. who want me to keep in touch. After a while I assume they'd just groan if I sent them a message, despite the fact that I myself am thrilled to get messages from, say, long-lost elementary school buddies.

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

The worst he can do is not employ you, and he's doing that now. You have nothing to lose in contacting him.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

See, my biggest worry is more that he WILL employ me, and then I'll have to go to WORK. [/lazy bastard]

[beccastareyes]

I say go for it. Worst case, he doesn't remember, or doesn't have a job.

Also, having a surname that ends in -ator would be cool.

[chibicharibdys.livejournal.com]

I second rikchik.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

I would totally write and ask for a job. It's cheeky, but he did make the offer - doing that is above and beyond what would be demanded by mere politeness.

Or you could relocate to Chicago and join the Language Institute here. I don't know how well they pay, but I know they were looking for Swahili instructors in the fall.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Man, I think I'd be a really bad language teacher. I have had teachers in the past figure that if I get a concept, I can explain it to others. This is not actually true, and leaves me wanting to scream "IT'S OBVIOUS, YOU MORONS. FIGURE IT OUT."

But it is tempting ... that was one of the places I looked at back when shopping for colleges ...

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Fifthing all of the above. (Except for relocating to Chicago. Dude, that city's full of toll roads.) The worst case scenario is identical to what happens if you do nothing at all, so all you have to lose is the time it takes to compose and send out the letter.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

Toll roads? Where? that'd be the suburbs. I was horrified to realize that it cost $50 in tolls to drive to Pittsburgh. Eep!

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

I just remember that when I drove there from Pittsburgh, I got stopped what seemed like every 500 feet on the freeway until I escaped. It wasn't so much the cost as how often they were stopping me, compared to the 'only when getting on or off' of the interstate.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

I don't know what is up with that corridor to Pittsburgh (we must've been driving the same way) - there's nothing but tolls! Although perhaps we should blame Ohio for that.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Possibly! Though the contrast between Pittsburgh's interstates (high tolls, crappy rest stops with crappy restaurants, poor conditions, 2-3 lanes) and Ohio's continuation of the same (moderate tolls, enormous clean rest stops with several restaurants, well-maintained, 3-4 lanes) is such that I really can't hold roads or tolls against Ohio.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

You obviously managed to avoid driving through Ohio during the several years when ALL of the rest stops were under construction* and thus unavailable, requiring one to exit the interstate to find a functional bathroom.


*And when I say "under construction" I really mean "reduced to piles of concrete rubble for months on end with no actual construction appearing to happen".

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

...wow. Yeah. I managed to miss that. But assuming they didn't demolish everything right after I left the state, I'd say, TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Because, really, I will take "enormous, clean, well-lit plaza with three fast food places, a giant information booth, and a convenience store" over "skeezy underlit Roy Roger's with a crappy gas station attached" any day.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

LOL. I managed to go through part of Texas under those conditions. And peed in the constuction dude's port-a-potties.

[spiffikins]

I say go for it - worst case is he doesn't remember you - and it's doubtful - it sounds like you made a (good) impression. Second worst case is he says "oh gee sorry, I don't have any openings right now".

I'm terrible this way too - I'll offer something like driving someone to the airport - and *absolutely* mean it - but when someone else offers me the same thing, I'm so much less likely to take them up on it, because I feel like I'm imposing so much.

He wouldn't have made the offer if he didn't mean it - at least at that moment No harm in shaking that tree!

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Hey, it can't hurt!

[sphynxle.livejournal.com]

The best advice I can give is to do both! Call the Mormonator back, tell him you're still interested and get yourself an awesome job! Or maybe even somewhere else.

If ou get that "OMFG WE NEED YOU!!111!11!!111!3450934098" letter, then blow little kisses at them, and skip off :D In the mean time, work epically!

(I'm the same way. I hate popping up to people out of the blue, but at the same time, I LOVE IT when people are all "ERIN! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU SINCE WE WERE TODDLERS"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

I say go for it. From what I hear, employers often rely on people insisting to know that they're genuinely interested in the position, rather than merely sending out resumes so they can say they did.

Also, I'm very glad that you'd have been willing to fight the tendency you speak of to ask how I was doing and what was going on in my life a few months after I'd left. It was very encouraging to see that you'd have still wanted to hear from me after all that time.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

It always comes as a surprise to me when people want to hear from me, but hey, when I do check in it seems to be a good thing! But yeah, I figured I hadn't heard from you in a while, and in some cases friendships on the internet, which have a reputation for being transient, can be long-lasting.

[michellerz.livejournal.com]

Definitely go for it!
I've had the same thoughts as you about sending notes/calling/things of that nature. But I'm slowing figuring out that they love to get notes as much as we do... :)

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Go for it. If the windfall acceptance letter comes, you can always quit the job. Even better, you can quit the job by handing him an order for a box of your books for him to sign!

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

If I were a publisher, I would totally send you that acceptance letter. Because your writing rocks that much. But even so, you'd probably still need a day job. I know very few writers who can afford to write for a living.

I wish you the bestest of luck with all of it!