Days of Bushie's Life (Update Thread v4)

[memphis]

I refuse to eat from a salad bar or buffet anymore. People pick at stuff, and their germs and funk get all over it. Ugh, that's just to gross for me. I know those things are possible when someone in the kitchen prepares anything for me, but at least I cant see it.

^^^this.  Gross.

Both of you would cave at India Palace. Guarantee it! Saag Paneer is My Precious!!!
I also forgot about Danver's, which has a salad bar. Didn't realize they were only a local Memphis chain until I wiki-ed them just now and came out empty handed. Long story short, fast food place has salad bar so that you can put whatever you want on your sandwich. Or you can just get the salad bar as your meal. They also have soups and a very limited selection of plate lunches. Very, very much an old person kind of place, which makes the salad bar that much more disgusting. Old people cough a lot. Not where I ever would choose to eat, but they have the salad bar that I had overlooked.
http://www.mydanvers.com/

[memphis]

On the topic of "fancy" buffets, I feel compelled to comment. The New Orleans Harrah's Casino Christmas buffet was disgusting! In one of the best culinary towns in America. It was like eating in an old folks home. Lesson learned.

[memphis]

I had a friend whose Bar Mitzvah fell on Christmas Day many years ago. Rather than paying for a reception at the synagogue, his parents took all the guests out for Xmas brunch buffet at the Peabody, which is the grand old hotel in downtown Memphis. Very well played!!!!

[memphis]

Simfan, are you familiar with Canada's old railway hotels? Especially the Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau Frontenac? Wow!!! I paid $15 just for the hour long guided tour of the Banff Springs. And worth every penny. I'm not sufficiently well to do to stay at a place quite that swanky, but my experience has been that old hotels usually have smaller rooms than I prefer. And old plumbing isn't ideal either. This was certainly my experience at the Francis Marion, which is a very decent old hotel in the very decent old town of Charleston, SC.
Banff Springs

Chateau Frontenac

[memphis]

The main reason I turned it down is they wouldn't let me give a 2 week notice at Xerox. 

You have a contract? I find that hard to believe. Or did they just tell you to go ahead and get the fudge out? That seems a more likely scenario.

[memphis]

The main reason I turned it down is they wouldn't let me give a 2 week notice at Xerox. 

You have a contract? I find that hard to believe. Or did they just tell you to go ahead and get the fudge out? That seems a more likely scenario.

I'm still there, and I don't have a contract, but I want to be courteous and offer a 2 weeks notice if and when I do leave.

I don't understand how they "wouldn't let [you] give a 2 weeks notice." Did you try, only to have them say go ahead and get the fudge out now?

[memphis]

Give me leave to modify one of my statements earlier.  I said I am going to give Xerox another week or two before I give up on them.  That is true except for one application that is in the cooker before I came to this decision.  It is in an entirely different field.  It is working with Delta Air Lines as a Gate Operator, checking passengers in, directing them to their appropriate gate, and boarding passengers.  This possibility may require me to relocate again, but we'll see.

How exciting! Where's the job!

(make sure I never fly Delta through there)

Ah, I'm just kidding. Maybe you should become a steward!

I believe they have a fitness requirement. Airplanes having tight spaces and all. Perhaps, a cruiseship would be better. You're never far from a buffet

[memphis]

Bushie in New York City would be epic though!!! New Yorkers are so forthcoming in their opinions. 

[memphis]

A psych survey of Bushie? Boy are they in for a treat!!!

[memphis]

As much as it would be nice to work at an Airport....

Everybody is different, but you think it would be nice to work at LaGuardia airport? Have you been to a major airport like O'hare, Hartsfield, etc? "Nice" is the exact opposite of how I would describe them. LaGuardia is not quite as bad but

My personal most hated airport is JFK. Huge. Busy. Loud. Full of smelly foreigners who don't get the personal space thing and rude pushy New Yorkers. Forget Dante's 9th circle of hell. Send the treacherous to JFK.

[memphis]

As fun as this sounds, it's pretty ludicrous to move cross-country for a job that pays $11 an hour, don't you think?

^^^^^^^
Just the move will cost at least $500. And that'd be with no flights or help moving. Just gas in the car and a few nights hotel along the way. But he does seem to tolerate airports better than most people.  Maybe being "special" could come in handy for a change. And suspending financial disbelief is key to enjoying the update.

[memphis]

New York does have a crap ton of public housing. It's not quite as ghetto/stigmatized as in the rest of the country, probably because so many people use it. Some of it isn't even scary looking. Maybe you should look into. Bushie in the projects would be hilarious!

[memphis]

It's so hard to get into the manhattan projects. The wait list is absurd.

How are the ones in the other boroughs? The ones in Brooklyn near my black hatter family looked pretty rough 15 years ago, but I hear Brooklyn is uber gentrified now. Co-op city in the bronx looks pretty darn nice (especially for a project) on wikipedia. But looks can be deceiving. New Yorkers, what's the word?
 

[memphis]

Brooklyn is the new Manhattan. Essentially all of the young people are moving there because Manhattan is so expensive. There are a lot of great new places and restaurants opening there, so it's a really nice area. 

So where are the very bad neighborhoods in NYC today? Most of the Bronx, I'd presume, is still awful, though I know nice enclaves like riverdale exist. Hard to picture northeast Brooklyn as not scary, but again, my info is very out of date.  Have the scaries all fled to Newark and East Orange or what?

[memphis]

If you want a really big city, then you should go to Chicago, which is really f**king cheap.

Is it really?  How much for this and that?

I'm sure it depends on where in Chicago. Not like housing is gonna be as cheap on the Gold Coast as on the SouthSide.

[memphis]

Lolz. I got 45 hours this week and this was actually my least worked week since Christmas.

We get it, BRTD...  you are a midget among dwarfs.

He's an overworked one at that. Not that he's alone in this category, but I strongly dislike America's new expectation of Dickensian working hours. Some of us would like to have some time to enjoy the money that we earn at work. My job recently disallowed overtime. I was mad at first, but having time to do things for myself has been rewarding as well.

[memphis]

I saw this on facebook. Reminded me of the update.

[memphis]

Wish my parents were well off enough to let my life be a series of zany antics.

[memphis]

I talked this new possible position over with my parents and they say if I am offered the position, go for it.

Other developments are as follows.  My apartment lease runs out on March 31 and I have to give them 45 days notice of my decision.  If I have not found a job by February 8, then I am going to start making arrangements to go back to Oklahoma in March.  I really don't want to do that, and I don't think it will come to that, but that is a possibility.  If I did go back to Oklahoma, I would try to find a vo-tech and get retrained in another field so I can get out of the call center trap.  Dad wants me to find anything up here that is not a call center that pays more than what I am getting now.  Dad believes my skills I learned in college are not doing a single thing for me, which I agree.  My degree has pretty much been reduced to a piece of paper.  We're still hashing out what to do.  I want to stay in Utah, I need to stay in Utah, but with my house in Oklahoma on the market, we're still paying the mortgage and the utilities, plus my rent and other bills in Utah.  The rent, mortgage, and utilities alone add up to around $1500 a month not including other bills.  Getting $12 an hour doesn't cut it and especially when I'm not getting 40 hour weeks.  I'm ashamed to say it, but my parents have been helping me out since I don't make enough right now to support myself 100%.  So I have to listen to their advice until such time as I do make enough to support myself 100%.

So, with that said, what this job is that I went to this evening is it is not a call center, but not a traditional one, rather it is base + commission sales.  You see those infomercials on late night television for products like Rosetta Stone, the non stick skillet that's been advertised, or the sham-wow products.  I will be taking phone calls for those products.  He rattled off 8 different products that we support and more coming in all the time.  The training salary is $10/hr for the first 4-5 weeks.  After that, the salary goes up to $14.00/hr with the potential to go higher.  Full benefits start after 90 days of employment and 401(k) starts after 6 months.  The training hours will be Wednesday-Sunday 8:30-17:00 and after that the hours will be primarily graveyard anywhere between 2000 and 0600 both weekend days and 3 days during the week.  I'll get 40 hours each week.  I'll make sure I get the pay in writing as well as this other statement that he made which is "most call centers give you a month or two and kick you to the curb.  We don't do that.  We will give you AT LEAST a 1 year commitment if you give the same commitment back to us."  I have a second interview with them next Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 15:00.

Bushie,

I work in Mortgage Sales.  Different field, but still sales based.  Its difficult, and know what you are getting into and the set up before you do.

There are generally three breakdowns of how a base + commission job works.  There can be different variations within each one, but its important to know the basics of each.


1.  Base + Commission.  The easiest and most straight forward, also the least risky.  It is how it sounds, you get a base salary and a commission on top of that.

2.  Base/Draw Combo + Commission.  You do get paid a salary, but it is as a draw.  Any commissions you receive first go to pay any draw balance if any exists.  Or you get a portion of the commission and the rest goes to pay down any draw balance.  If you have no draw balance, you get the full commission.  With this set up, you do have a guarentted minimum that you will get and you won't have to pay back any draw balance.  However, if your balance gets too high you will likely get s** canned.

3.  Draw vs Commission.  Same as above, you get paid a salary as a draw.  If you have no draw balance, you get any full commissions.  If you have a draw balance, once you get a sale, you will either have to first pay back a draw balance before you get any commission, or get a small portion of the commission, with the rest paying down a draw balance.  One MAJOR drawback is unlike #2, you CAN be liable to pay back any draws.

Be VERY careful in understanding the base/draw and commission structure.  Many places might advertise a base when its technically a draw.

These schemes are for actual jobs, not scams.

[memphis]

Bushie, have you applied for food stamps? Sounds like you should qualify. It's a free $100 or so per month. You owe it to your parents to return every dime to them that you can. That includes living with them and working as much as possible, unless they explicitly request otherwise. OK is a good place for you anyway. You need a location where people, on average, are not overly ambitious. Americans who move to New York (other than rich kids looking to party) do so because they want to be CEO of the world. Trust me, that's not you.

[memphis]

Anytime a job offers "potential" pay, an "opportunity" or is at a call center, Just Say No. Everytime.

[memphis]

I believe all the "girls" here have penises, no?

[memphis]

March 1 is the eve of my son's 9th birthday.  Felix will be 9 years old on March 2.

You have children?  When did you get married?  

Bushie thinks sending Kenyan children $30 a month makes him their father.

When I am their ONLY source of financial support.  Maisha Orphanage calls me their father.

A charity will call you the Queen of Romania if that's what it takes to keep the money flowing. Get a grip. I also don't know why everybody is so excited to hear about his "porn addiction." He likes to masturbate in front of his computer while he watches filmed sex acts. Who doesn't? Sadly, he's been socialized to feel guilty about that, but not about taking advantage of his parents. My people are Jews. It would very much be the other way around for a member of this tribe.

[memphis]

Perhaps he has some good recommendations.

I prefer not to know what specfic pornsites my friends like. Not because I don't like porn. I do. And a wide compilation rec could be ok. But so much porn is specifically microtargeted toward particular interests. And I don't want to know the exact details of what individuals like. I can see from the online buffet that there are a great many people with a great many specific preferences. I'm totally ok with knowing that people are gay or straight, but knowing that somebody especially likes Ginger MILFs in high heels is just too much info.

[memphis]

I basically just want to know if this is really a porn "addiction" or if his prudish, moralizing religion is just making him feel bad for wanking it once a day or so.

How would you define an addiction? When does it differ from a hobby, plenty of which are very expensive and time consuming. It's a hazy thing. Does it have to impact your life negatively beyond cost and time? If so, to what degree? Addiction is often in the eye of the beholder because it's a judgement value.