Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Problem solved
Well, I made a complete fool of myself at the interview. I won't even give you details because some of it was quite frankly shameful. The answer will come in the mail in about 2-3 weeks from now, but I know enough that there will be no pursuing this any further. So now I can concentrate on my job... until next year when I can apply again!
Monday, August 14, 2006
Why is it always like this?
OK, so here I am, with a new job (well, 2 and a half months into it), good prospects, interesting... Nice. And then I get a phone call, from the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police).
Now for those of you who don't know I applied for police work back in december after a lot of thinking and money spending (it wasn't that much really but when you don't have a job $400 have a way of making themselves felt). I kept hoping and trying until after 6 months of not hearing anything and other agencies turning me down, I told myself "Nico, my boy, forget about that cop-idea of yours.". Fair enough, I'd just been lucky enough to land a decent job anyway.
Yeah but. There I am, and this lady tells me they want to interview me. First second reaction: "Sweet!". Second second (hehe) reaction: "Damn, what about my new job?!". And that's just before she hits me with: "Have you kept your physical up to date?". Have I, off course not!! I thought you guys didn't want me (it's only been 8 months...). "Well, if you don't have your physical up to date we can't interview you.". Precious. "Well sister, how about I call back tomorrow to confirm all that?"
So here I am for a day, pondering whether or not to go through with it. First factor: physical is made by a company that 'travels' through Ontario, and the only test dates before my interview are in Toronto. 5 hr drive from here. Not the end of the world, but roughly $100 on gas round-trip (turned out to be $70 but how was I to know speeding saves your gas? :oP ), plus a hotel room (it's at 8 in the morning, and it's a test of strength and endurance, don't want to mess it up by not sleeping the night before), plus $100 for the test itself. And a bit of food. I'm not the greedy type but that's $300, and I already spent over $550 this week to get a new radiator on my car.
Second factor: my new job is cool, and there are some good possibilities for the future. Plus the team is small and real nice, and they've included me in their plans. So I don't want to 1- mess it up if the OPP-thing doesn't work 2- screw these nice guys over.
Third factor: with the OPP, I could be positioned anywhere in Ontario, even though they try to place you where you'd like. But that's not always possible. And being positioned 6 hours driving away from here would prove problematic to say the least with Natalie.
Now these are the 'negatives' in terms of OPP. The positive is that it's just something that I can really see myself doing as a career for a long long time. Something meaningful... You get the picture.
The decision was made to go to the interview - it can't hurt right?. So on friday night Natalie and I hoped in the car and cruised down to TO. Of course we nearly couldn't get a hotel (where would be the fun if everything worked as planned, huh?) and ended up eating at McDonald's. I still bear the shame.
The physical was a piece of cake. Now I'm just waiting for the interview on thursday, half-hoping it will work and that ultimately I'll get through and will get a position offered, the other half hoping that I'll get turned down and it will make the decision for me.
To think that a week ago I was getting fat and content in my new job...
Now for those of you who don't know I applied for police work back in december after a lot of thinking and money spending (it wasn't that much really but when you don't have a job $400 have a way of making themselves felt). I kept hoping and trying until after 6 months of not hearing anything and other agencies turning me down, I told myself "Nico, my boy, forget about that cop-idea of yours.". Fair enough, I'd just been lucky enough to land a decent job anyway.
Yeah but. There I am, and this lady tells me they want to interview me. First second reaction: "Sweet!". Second second (hehe) reaction: "Damn, what about my new job?!". And that's just before she hits me with: "Have you kept your physical up to date?". Have I, off course not!! I thought you guys didn't want me (it's only been 8 months...). "Well, if you don't have your physical up to date we can't interview you.". Precious. "Well sister, how about I call back tomorrow to confirm all that?"
So here I am for a day, pondering whether or not to go through with it. First factor: physical is made by a company that 'travels' through Ontario, and the only test dates before my interview are in Toronto. 5 hr drive from here. Not the end of the world, but roughly $100 on gas round-trip (turned out to be $70 but how was I to know speeding saves your gas? :oP ), plus a hotel room (it's at 8 in the morning, and it's a test of strength and endurance, don't want to mess it up by not sleeping the night before), plus $100 for the test itself. And a bit of food. I'm not the greedy type but that's $300, and I already spent over $550 this week to get a new radiator on my car.
Second factor: my new job is cool, and there are some good possibilities for the future. Plus the team is small and real nice, and they've included me in their plans. So I don't want to 1- mess it up if the OPP-thing doesn't work 2- screw these nice guys over.
Third factor: with the OPP, I could be positioned anywhere in Ontario, even though they try to place you where you'd like. But that's not always possible. And being positioned 6 hours driving away from here would prove problematic to say the least with Natalie.
Now these are the 'negatives' in terms of OPP. The positive is that it's just something that I can really see myself doing as a career for a long long time. Something meaningful... You get the picture.
The decision was made to go to the interview - it can't hurt right?. So on friday night Natalie and I hoped in the car and cruised down to TO. Of course we nearly couldn't get a hotel (where would be the fun if everything worked as planned, huh?) and ended up eating at McDonald's. I still bear the shame.
The physical was a piece of cake. Now I'm just waiting for the interview on thursday, half-hoping it will work and that ultimately I'll get through and will get a position offered, the other half hoping that I'll get turned down and it will make the decision for me.
To think that a week ago I was getting fat and content in my new job...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)