Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go

The one thing I miss about being unemployed is the freedom to write whenever I wanted. In those days, I sat by the computer all day and whipped out stories, characters, and plots. Now, that I've been working, those stories lay abandoned, begging to be told.

This week, it appeared as I would actually have time to write. Last week, I managed to write a good 5000 words (not much but with a limited time frame it's pretty good).

Monday after work, I plotted the rest of one of my many started and abandoned WIPs. I planned to have that one subbed by today.

Tuesday after work, I got a 600 page Insurance Concepts manual in the mail. You see, in order for me to keep my job, I have to get licenced in the state of Illinois to sell insurance. I have licencing classes to attend this whole weekend (from 8 AM to 5 PM, plus two hours of driving there and back). They expect me to read the entire 600 page book in four days, and to retain all the information inside it. It's like the most boring thing I've ever had to read. How can I retain that information when I keep mentally falling asleep through it?

After the licencing classes, I will still have a week or two (max two weeks) to study the material and take the state test. I'm very nervous about it as the material is very hard and I've heard from a lot of people who claimed to have taken the test and failed. The test costs close to $200 so I really don't want to fail and loose that money.

A part of me really doesn't want to do insurance work. I know there's job security there because everyone needs insurance, it's the law. But the work itself is boring, very detailed, and very frustrating. All I want to do is sit at home and write.

Maybe one day my writing will make me a fortune and I will be able to say goodbye to the day job. Until then, I could only dream.

Giveaway Winner and Life

Hello guys, long time no see (or post, to be more accurate). Remember a month ago when I decided to host my little “Master of Mine” giveaway. If not, it was in the April 18th post. I know, I forgot about that giveaway until today too. However, I tallied up the results and the winner of the free copy of “Master of Mine” is the wonderful LIZ FICHERA. Congratulations Liz, I’ll email you the copy later today.

Now onto the other stuff. I’ve been busy with the new day job. It’s really hard and my boss isn’t really training me too much. Yesterday, I looked into some records on the work computer and learned that in the last two and a half years (as far as the records went) my boss has hired and fired (or the employee quit) more than ten people. So based on that alone, I really don’t see myself lasting in this job for too long. It appears that the average person works there for only two months. That doesn’t fill me with confidence of this job lasting a while.

So now you guys know what I’ve been up to lately. What about you? What’s new in your lives?

Working Woman

So guys, I finally got a day job. YAY!!! However, who knows how long this job will last. It’s something I’ve never done before and my new boss took a big risk hiring someone without ANY valid experience.

The minute I graduated high school and could get a real job, I got into waitressing. It was supposed to be a temporary thing until something better could come along, but I became comfortable and stayed for five years. I hated it. I hated kissing everyone’s rears, hated running around like a chicken without a head for hours upon hours without any breaks. But the money was good and I was comfortable although I didn’t enjoy it.

Now, my new job is that of an insurance agent’s assistant. I have to learn so much. So I’ve been working there for a week now and every day I fear that this is the day I’ll get fired do to my lack of experience or a mess-up on my part. It’s hard when you have no idea what you’re doing and your boss is too busy to train you.

My mess-ups in week one? I had a lady who called to arrange payment for her insurance, so I opened her file and took care of the payment on the first policy that popped up. A day later, I learned how to view all the other policies and had to call the lady and inform her that I only took care of one policy instead of all her policies. Luckily, she was very understanding. Then, I had to fax a client his insurance cards and my boss told me how to open them and view them. How was I to know that they keep expired insurance files in their system? Apparently, I sent out the card that were three years past due. Oops! This customer was not happy. Oops, oops, oops. I’m one of those people who doesn’t take failure lightly, so every time I fail at something I take it to heart. All my mess-ups are bothering me big time.

Hopefully, my new boss will have patience with me until I learn everything. So far, she said that I will only learn everything after a year of being there, because there’s A LOT to learn. Oh boy, I really hope she’s patient until I learn it all.

So now tell me something about you guys. Have you ever gotten a job that was completely different from anything else you’ve ever done before? How did you handle it?