Being the interviewer and interviewee

I have so much to say, but I'm tired. I'll get around to these posts soon.

I have an interview to conduct at 08:00 today. The candidate is in India. Chances are that the next person hired on the team will require my training this person early in the morning. Luckily, I am able to span it across two weeks, so I'd be training three to four hours each workday.

The other night, I had a thirty-minute discussion with a recruiter. It went well. I am not looking for a job. Rather, this person found my resume and wants to find a position within the company that suits me. It's interesting.

I'll be working on updating my resume shortly.

Flu shot and interviews

Yesterday, I got a phone call to get my flu shot. The call came in while I was conducting an interview with my manager. I actually had to tell the guy from the drugstore that I needed to call him back and that it was a bad time for me to talk to him.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I have a bunch of documentation updates to make on top of having three interviews with candidates for one intern position. It means that I am likely conducting training in early January.

My arm that got the flu shot is sore right now. Other than that, it went smoothly.

Interview thoughts, work, and taxes

The student interviews on Friday went well. We have three extremely good candidates. My boss and I need to choose one of them for the upcoming work term.

Frankly, it would be great if we could ditch the incompetent employee that we currently have for any of these three. They are far more on the ball that she will ever be!

My weekend has flown by. I spent a couple of hours doing some work. It wasn't difficult, but it did take up some time.

I also completed filing tax returns for my parents. It's nice that I got everything over by the end of March. I am a month ahead of schedule. Miracles do happen now and again!

I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

Bonus pay + interviews = good news

I got a glimpse of how much my bonus pay will be before taxes are taken off. It's impressive! We'll see how much is left after the dust settles on Thursday.

There is a good chance that I will be doing a short road trip to interview prospective students for our next work term. It's exciting.

I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted with all this good news!

Aggravating insurance question, farewell to a student, and hello to celebrating seven years at work

This week has been quite the mix. Frankly, I can't wait for this week to be over.

Late last week, I got a call from the drug program that I am on for my eye injections. This program will cover the remaining 10% of the drug cost that my insurance does not cover. That's good. I had to schedule a phone meeting with yet another person at my insurance company. It was on Monday.

We talked. She asked me whether I wanted my insurance to handle getting the drug from its own pharmacy or to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. This question actually caused my stress level to go up. I asked what the difference was. Apparently, going with my own insurance's pharmacy would lower costs for my insurance.

I basically slammed this woman by saying that I shouldn't have to decide. All I am concerned about is showing up for my appointment next week and having the drug available for my eye injection. Can this insurance's pharmacy guarantee that it will deliver the drug that I need to my ophthalmologist's office on time? I told her that I should not need to be concerned about whether the drug will be there for me. I need to get better. My health is more important that dealing with such an odd issue that only benefits my insurance company, but could cause issues for me if someone drops the delivery ball.

I flat out said that I wanted to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. It has worked fine for my first appointment. Why break it? Why add more unnecessary stress?

Friday is one of my co-op student's final day of her work term. She is a sweet person who gave me looseleaf green tea from China as a gift. She wasn't one of my better students, though. I think that she is young and needs to mature. She also needs to establish a better work ethic, which I hope will get better with time and experience.

On Friday, we have a farewell lunch for her. I also have three interviews to conduct that same day, as we are hiring new writers and can't keep up with the growth. It will be hectic, to say the least!

My guy and I talked about how long we have been with our employer. He started six months before I did. He hit his seven-year anniversary last month. Mine is in September. It's crazy that we have lasted this long and met at work. We are grateful.

Our next date is on Sunday. He has already requested my wearing a skirt. It's sweet that he asks ahead of time.

Interviews in the city where my guy resides

Friday was quite the day. My manager and I had to drive to a university about an hour away from the office.

My boss indicated that we should leave the office at 09:00 sharp. I am extremely punctual. I actually had to go upstairs to tell my manager to come downstairs to where I had parked in the lot. I was driving.

Already, we were about ten minutes late. My boss isn't the most punctual person. Add the fact that a tractor trailer decided to balance itself on a guardrail between two sets of highways (the collector and express lanes) during rush hour, which affected us, I knew that we were going to be late.

I do have a lead foot. I managed to make up some time, but we were still fifteen minutes late when you factor in parking at the university, walking over to the building that you need, registering, and settling in your new surroundings. Apparently, being fifteen minutes late wasn't too bad. According to our first intern candidate, her interview before ours was delayed by an hour.

One of our current intern students had recommended a taco place by the university. I reached out to her to get some suggestions. She did a nice job. I enjoyed the tacos. My boss is more of the buffet type. He likes volume. You don't get that at the restaurant. I am a foodie who tries anything and cannot stomach plates of food at a buffet. These tacos were tasty.

We had a surprise, unscheduled interview. As a result, our lunch was shortened. We were still running late, but all the candidates were exceptionally understanding.

We interviewed a total of five candidates. The toughest part now is selecting one from the crop. They are talented, bright, and articulate.

The drive back was decent. The last time we did it, it was stop-and-go traffic. It doesn't work well with my boss, who gets carsick easily.

Although I get along fine with my boss, he tends to be a combination of a worry wart and a whiner. It was a hot day, with temperatures easily hitting the 30-degree mark on the Celsius scale. He constantly complained about how hot it was in and out of my car. I ended up calling him crispy.

It is good that I am patient and calm. Otherwise, I would have told him to stop whining and complaining.

I thought about my guy often during this trip. The university is in the same city in which he lives. I wish that the timing were better. Both times where I have conducted on-campus interviews, my guy has been on the road. It would have been nice to have seen him for lunch or something.

Oh, well. We'll try again soon.