It has been such an up and down week, and full of unforeseen delays. I guess I'll just start with Monday. I finally had to seemingly force that phone interview I was supposed to get, and that was a bit of a disaster. I waited until 11:45 and then I sent an email questioning if we needed to just simply reschedule the interview, with that I got an almost immediate phone call, and that is where things got a bit weird. As I told you, I met with that Assistant Director within the company and he was going to recommend me for a supervisors position, but when I mentioned his name in connection with something else that he had mentioned, they acted like he didn't exist. They then said they would look into it and call me back. I didn't get the call back I got an email response to an earlier email that I had sent. They said that they spoke with him and then wondered if I wanted to be hired in Orlando, which wasn't at all the point of why I mentioned him. I asked to stay in the same area I lived and then they replied with telling me the hiring manager would call me soon. I have no idea what soon is to them since it took me 4 days to get that phone interviewed that I had scheduled with them.
While I was waiting for the new phone interview with the hiring manager I thought I would start another process that would take time and buy a pistol. Since this is Florida and freedom is a four letter word to illicit liberal tears, I went to the closest gun shop to me which is literally 5 minutes away. By the way Once this whole process I over I will be the conservatives worst nightmare, a liberal not only with a gun but a license to carry it. You know, everything they hate. Anyway, I went to the shop and talked with the owner and discussed what I might need and a budget I can work with. I really can't work with it but you got to spend money to make money right? He recommends a particular gun that is apparently gaining a lot of popularity recently with how cheap it is, but also how you get far more quality for the price of the unit, so I began the background check. This made the first of many background checks to go on this week. I'm pretty popular with the government right now. We have the 3 day wait period in Florida which I had no concern over. I could have gone my whole life without owning a gun so 3 days wan't that long at all. I of course could have gotten around the 3 day wait if I had gotten my concealed carry license, but once again, I had no need of a gun before. All of this meant that I couldn't pick up the gun until Thursday when it arrive at the shop. He was placing a special order for it and actually gave me a discount, so plus plus. This was one of the good things this week.
On Tuesday morning I got the call from the hiring agent who had gotten word that I had my "G" license, which I don't. The "G" license allows a security officer with their "D" license to legally carry a pistol, there are a few other things as well, but that isn't important. The hiring manager had a job for me in armed security right away, but of course that wasn't possible without the "G", so he did a quick search of what was available and offered me a part time gig that I normally wouldn't have accepted, but this one was a definite exception. The pay was very low compared to what I've made in the past but 2 of the 4 days I would be working would be on Space Center property, that means federal clearance. The location on property would ensure me the best seat in the entire county when a launch would occur during my post. The little space nerd kid in me jumped at that chance, to see a behind the scene of the space program that I would never dream of being able to see. This also gave me a foot in the door so that I could prove myself since the Assistant Director's name never came up again so I just went with the believe that they didn't accept his recommendation. I know it is more than likely something else, but I'm just happy with the idea of my little positive spin on things.
With the job offer in hand I began the background check there. That's number 2, and here comes number 3. As I mention last week, I had an appointment with the Department of Agriculture, well I should say the Florida Dept. of Agriculture, for my license application. Just having the certification isn't the whole thing, once you have that you have to apply for the license. Since the nearest regional office to me is in Orlando, on Wednesday morning, I woke up and left 2 hours early, which was good and bad. I completely overcompensated for traffic and arrive an hour early. That's when I hit a 7-11 and grabbed this.
Yep, a flavored Liquid Death. It was a little weird but very good. Had a very nice berry flavor but it is their sparkling water so it still had that weird bitterness which canceled out a lot of the sweetness. I would still recommend it especially if you like sparkling water. It is still by far the best sparkling water I've ever had. Anyway back to the application. I walked into the building with a half hour left of my wait and then proceeded to wait outside the door to their office. Fifteen minutes later their security officer came out and told us to respond to the text confirmation that we received with "Here" and that they would all arrive at the office at 8 on the dot. I got a return text 15 minutes later asking who I was and if I had an appointment. I told them and then they told me that my appointment was for next week. I know exactly where I went wrong. When I scheduled the appointment I looked at the first available Wednesday and never actually looked at the date. Now, in my class one of the lessons was to be assertive, so I took a shot and asked if they could some how fit me in since I was already there. They listed a few openings they had in the day, so I took the first one which was at 10am. I would gladly sit in my car for 2 hours rather than have to make that drive again as well as having to wait an extra week to start the application process. Good thing number 2, I can't remember the actual number but these are all going to even out very soon. I got my Blue card which is the temporary license that allows you to go to work while you wait the 90 days for the official license.
I got a call later that day from the hiring manager again and mentioned that I had picked up my Blue card, an he was stoked by that news and then threw me a curve ball. He wanted to start all the paper work that day and mentioned I would need my birth certificate. Now, I know I have one, it just hasn't been in the location it was supposed to be, and I have yet to find it. He mentioned that I needed that in order to get the clearance needed for the job I was up for. I told him that I would toss the house looking for it, so we were in a holding pattern until I could find that little piece of paper. Spoiler, I still haven't found it but I did submit for a certified copy of it and have mailed out the proper paperwork for that. I'm hoping that will come by next week.
The hiring manager called me again Thursday morning and asked if I could come in to do paperwork again where I mentioned that I still haven't found my birth certificate, this caused a bit of pause on his part and then he asked me a few more questions, one of which was where did I take my certification class at. I told him and he was real happy about that, he then said he would call me back while he figured this all out. An hour later he returned that call with a new offer for me, and I'm absolutely sure this was because of which class I took. The new offer was a full time position with a very large company that wouldn't be on Space Center property but is related to the space industry as well as many government contracts. It also paid a little more money, still not anywhere near what I was making in the past, but much better and with overtime I could actually exceed my previous salaries. I told him I would take that one over the part time, although I would miss that chance at those incredible launch visuals I would surely miss out on. This job also needed my birth certificate for clearance, so I'm still in that holding pattern. He then asked if I could go to their Orlando office for onboarding that day, I only had to be ready in 3 hours, which was plenty of time for me. He also mentioned I would need my BC for that as well, but we might be able to work around by saying that I was going to get it to him as soon as I found it. Turns out I didn't need it for the onboarding and I was officially hired by the company. The drug test was a trip though. I could watch it come up negative for each drug their were testing for while I sat there. Once again, I haven't been at all worried about any of these tests, the backgrounds or the drug test simply because my life is so boring that paint watches me. Oh yeah, I should mention the reason why I was onboarded was because I cleared that background check. I called him when I was out of the onboarding and we set up an appointment so that I could start some paperwork and get a few uniforms. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the new job has a physical fitness requirement that I would have to pass, but he said it's real simple. One of the requirements is to complete a mile in under 18 minutes. I got that, also I need to be CPR certified, which was something I was already looking into. Turns out they are going to cover all of that. I have that appointment with the hiring manager on Tuesday morning.
On the way home from the onboarding I thought I would just stop by the gun shop and pick up the pistol I had ordered. It hadn't come in, and the tracking was not available through FEDEX for some reason so the owner had no idea where it was or when it would get there, so I just told him I would come back tomorrow. We are up to Friday now.
I decided Friday would be simply a free day since I have been dealing non stop with all of this and my mom's finances which still aren't done at all, and seem like they never will be. I'm nearing a point where I just want to give up and throw the money away, but I can't do that because the money isn't only going to me. I just want to move on and even though I feel fine, I believe that this may be stalling my grieving process and delaying things that I may have once again compartmentalized and don't really know it. I'm actually going to reach out to the bereavement team tomorrow that Hospice has notified me about tomorrow to talk to them about whether I'm normal or not. I just feel like something is off and I can't place what it is. I'm just handling this all too well, and that really isn't me. Anyway, back to Friday. I waited until about 3 in the afternoon to check on the gun shop and guess what? The gun still hadn't arrived. I told him I was free the rest of the day, and he said he would give me a call if it came in, to save me a trip driving there to check on it. I finally got that call a few hours later and then ran up and finally picked up the pistol. Since we were the only ones in there when I picked up, he decided to start a little small talk and get into a political discussion with me. I didn't bite, I just acted like it was all news to me and kept my opinions to myself. One awkward discussion avoided. I put that in the win column for the week.
Saturday was certification day, and with the pistol in hand I could check with my instructor on whether it was adequate for the "G" License course. He was an hour late, which was ok, because that was all I had planned for the day. He apologized still and then told me he was only going to charge me half price for the class. I was the lone student which made it really weird, but the half price wasn't the only thing that he did for me. We discussed the non recommendation and then he went to work. This was also because I mentioned to him that I wanted to get as many certifications under my belt as I possible could, so he threw it all at me, and knocked out 3 certifications. Not only did I get the baton/handcuff/pepper spray certification, but also a self defense one, and then he threw me 2 huge solids and went through the basic concealed carry course and wrote up a certificate for completion of supervisor training. Those last two are pretty big deals and cost a lot of money that he didn't even charge me. With that I'm no certified so that I can apply for my concealed carry license, which I wasn't even planning on getting, but it will actually help me with the job as well as the "G" course. Then he asked me about the "G" and I mentioned I wasn't sure what my schedule was going to be this coming week and he told me that if I mentioned to them that I registered for the class and already paid they would simply let me have the time to take it, so I registered for my "G" license course and am taking that next weekend. I'm still a little worried about it, but I think I'll be fine. Only thing is, I am missing one of the requirements for the class which is 3 magazines. My pistol only came with 2. I ordered 3 more, but there is no guarantee that they will be here before next Saturday. I may be able to squeak through if I can prove with tracking that they will arrive on Saturday, but I definitely need them by Sunday which is the range day. I'm just going to wing it which has kind of been this whole week. With the "G"license I can get armed officer positions within the company and make quite a bit more money, so I'm going to do everything I have to in order to pass this class. Once I have that certification in hand I'll schedule another appointment with Dept. of Ag, and get both my CCW and "G" applications taken care of.
Whew, that was a lot. I hope you stuck with me this far cause it's time for Favorite Song of the Week. I'm pretty sure that I've posted this one before, but it is so fitting for this week and the way I feel, so I'm happy to do it again. This is William DeVaugn with his smooth funk classic "Be Thankful For What You Got".
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