Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Embarking

Chandler and Jake are filling out applications this week and that has been an ordeal.  We had to round up references and come up with wording to make a few rounds of volunteering and some baby sitting sound like they can operate heavy machinery and possibly do CPR.  And Chan is so hyped up, she's decided to put 'can lift heavy items' as a skill because she once carried Inde for nearly 2 hours.  Then she panicked about what if they made her pick up sacks of potatoes and left it off.

It's cracking me up to watch them work through the page and try to answer things.  "Does 'date' mean today or when I was born?"  We try to come up with the right wording, "What is Park?"  We decide on 'volunteer coordinator'.  Deb is our 'school admin'.  Katy, who has actually paid Chan for pet and child sitting gets the coveted slot on 'previous employers'.

I go over possible things that could crop up in an interview.  They don't have to answer anything about religious beliefs or sexual orientation.  Chan worries she might get asked her favorite male actor.  She says, "I will just say that Ewan McGregor guy in that Pride with Prejudice movie you love."  I made her go to her room. Never mind that I sat her down to watch COLIN FIRTH in that 'movie I love' last year and she was asleep with her mouth open during the lake scene.  She came right back and I told her she could always say we don't have a TV and she does not watch many movies-which is totally true.  And that Benedict Cumberbatch was a safe choice, since she HAS seen the Sherlock series.  Not that they will ask her favorite male actor, but maybe she's thinking ahead to the small talk while she and the other workers carry sacks of potatoes around while avoiding topics of personal convictions.

So far, we have applications from everywhere in a 15 mile radius that gives employees free food.  She has her priorities.  She's also reading a library book about body language and how to get what you want.

Jake is FAR less enthusiastic about working, but it's time he goes out into the big bad world.  He does not seem to really grasp that ANY job=more money than he is currently making and that he can change jobs once he has work experience and a job reference.  I am hoping they can get hired together and on the same hours, I can see driving back and forth 4 times a day to 2 different places at different times of the day getting REALLY old.  They can take over the Volvo once we get a newer van, but that won't be for a few months anyway.  And the Volvo has a cracked engine block, though it has had one for about 3 years, so maybe it will keep going a while longer.

It's been an exciting and kind of sad day all around.