I Survived My First Week

Well, it's Saturday, which means that my work week is over! Every day this week has been full of new information. Seriously, I spent about 2 hours (at least) with every department at the library to learn about what they do. I won't necessarily be using some of that knowledge, except that I now know my coworkers better and can direct people or questions to them if the need arises.
My specific job has a number of elements, but the main thing is that I manage the incoming library materials and get them back on the shelves or into the on-hold section. Sounds easy enough, but there are like thousands of materials coming in every day. Luckily, I have 10 pages (people who shelve materials) that do the most of that. I have to create their schedules and time cards and also help them with paging, but I think I'll be able to do the job well.
Working full-time is great! I worked full time in Korea, and I'm glad to again have a job that will help me save up a little money for the future. I will say, though, that after working basically the last 5 years (minus Korea) as a part-timer, the switch to full time is exhausting! I also think that the huge overload of information has pushed my little brain to its edge. Next week I'll really be getting into the usual flow of doing my job, so I'm looking forward to that.

Okay, so I've been treating these last few posts like a diary, sorry for that. Here is some deep insight into my life:
I get distracted SO easily. I'm starting to realize it more and more, too. For example, I can be in the middle of actively doing something important and necessary - such as packing up my room so I can move - when I'll suddenly think something totally out of nowhere and have to go check that out - like making sure the bread hasn't expired or looking up the approximate burn time of a particular candle or checking my bank account or an old email account "just in case" or looking up how to get rid of a wasp nest or pondering the historical significance of a specific star constellation and then reading all about it online or remembering a book that I liked in second grade and finding out that it's out of print so I then see if there's an ebook of it online and then trying to find it and get it on my Kindle which reminds me that I didn't update my iPod like I meant to and then finding out that it wants to update a bunch of apps and stuff that I have to ignore that so I can just get it done so that I can finally get back to packing because I have to have everything boxed up and ready to load into the truck in 45 minutes.
Another thing about my packing-up-to-move (and unpacking in my new room) experience was that I'd be working on one thing, like putting my clothes away, when I'd see a book on the floor that was supposed to go on the bookshelf, so then I'd completely abandon my clothes and spend time on the bookshelf. This happened enough that I actually realized that I was being crazy and that some stuff could wait. I think that if someone could have observed me during those times, they might actually think I was not right in the head. And maybe they're right.....?

Well, I've lived in my new town for a whole week, I'm trying to get an idea of the lay of the land (is "lay of the land" a real saying that people use? I'ma Google it....and yep! It's legit!) and so far, as long as I know where the interstate is, I'm pretty okay. I visited my friend in her new place the other day and I had to stray far from my normal freeway and use a completely different one, and finding my way back home was a little tricksy. I made it without incident, but it was dark and there were many lanes and cars everywhere and I should've had a "Student Driver" sticker on my bumper so that other drivers wouldn't think I was as retarded as I maybe seemed. I'm just going to have to get used to driving in heavy traffic. This Big City is a lot bigger than my previous Poor, Provincial Town.
Anyway, I'm here to stay, so I'm going to make the best of it!

First Day of New Job: Success!

Alright, so I've had a few days to get moved in and to adjust to living in my new place before heading off to my new job, and I think that those few days really helped me to relax and actually be ready to get to work.
I've had a pretty good long weekend, full of meeting new people, getting together with my super cool cousin and one of my BFFs, and though I've been busy with all that stuff, I was fully ready to start at my new job today. I arrived early because I didn't know what to expect with traffic (thankfully there was little) and I got to meet a lot of the staff at the library before I had to settle in and get to work.
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! I had to fill out so much stuff, but I actually did that over the weekend - I just had to go over it all today.
I met the city council and department heads, met with the very helpful HR guy, who helped me SO much to understand which benefits were available to me. Let me just say, having benefits is SO COOL! I feel almost like I'm in a dream when I think about how fortunate everything is right now. I've not had a full-time job with benefits since I was teaching in Korea, and back then I didn't know enough about my benefits to take advantage of them (not that I needed to, thankfully).
I learned about retirement plans in good detail, and how premiums and deductibles work with/against certain plans, about accidental death or dismemberment issues, and orthodontia, among many other things. And all that was before 10 AM.
After that, I had more training from the library director about my schedule and stuff, and after lunch I had extensive training on the circulation program. I also helped organize the checked-in items (there were millions!) and before I knew it, my day as finished.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to have my whole day filled with training directly related to my position, so I'm looking forward to that.
Everyone in the library and at the city office has been SO nice to me, it really makes me feel good about my choice to relocate and pursue this career path.
Everyday this week I'll be training on something new, so wish me luck!

Sept. 17th, Career Woes, Sort Of...

I like my job as a librarian, I really do. Unfortunately, because of the way my city is structured and budget stuff and everything else, I'll basically never have much of a career ladder to climb and be stuck at part-time, minimum wage until people either retire, move, or die. Even when one of those things happens and a higher-up position opens up, there are tons of other people who would try for the opening. Most of my co-workers are either sorta-recently graduated from college, still in college, or have a family of their own to support. I'm really no more "deserving" of a promotion than any other people I work with. We're all poor young-ish people supporting ourselves and in need of health benefits and other things that were once a given in most professions.
So, because of all that, I've been on the lookout for another job for a year now, and submitted dozens of applications and had some interviews, but nothing has come to fruition. It's frustrating and depressing and I've considered moving abroad again to find a good paying job. I would much prefer to be able to stay near my friends and family than move 10,000 miles away, but who knows where I'll be in a year or two?
Some of my coworkers have an additional job or two since part-time minimum wage is simply not enough to live on. (Well, maybe it is,barely, but it's quite stressful and not easy.) Since it seems that no business in my town will ever hire full-time (in what seems to be an effort to avoid paying employee benefits), part-time seems like its about the only option, and having more than one job is also becoming the norm for people my age, college graduate or not.
There are some interesting articles about how healthcare issues are pushing the country into a part-time job nation. Should I be concerned that I'll never have a single, full-time job? (See this page and this page for sources.)
Well, today I made a decision to apply to another part-time job. That's not that amazing, I guess, but for a year I've been trying to find a full-time position just about anywhere; accepting that another part-time job is maybe the only thing I have a chance at is a little sad. It's not like I'm giving up, but it does feel like I'm admitting a certain kind of defeat.
I usually don't get too personal in this blog, because heaven forbid someone reads this and asks me about my feelings...ugh (and if anyone IS reading this and asks me about my feelings, I will kindly tell you "no"). Anyway, because I still enjoy a little mystery about myself, I'm not going to tell what I'm applying for, except that the receptionist I talked to today was very encouraging and positive, so I think I have a chance. I'll post later if I find out good news. Wish me luck.

I hope this post doesn't seem negative or pessimistic. I know I'm not the only one feeling bummed about this kind of thing, and I'm not trying to be whiny. I feel like I'm being positive in an uncertain time as much as possible. Also, I'm not worried that my boss might see this, since he is aware and quite supportive and understanding of me and my coworkers in this situation - this is no secret to him.

Come back tomorrow if you want - I'll post again!