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They have elctric toilet seats
2012-May-31, Thursday 17:43I updated 2 of my job board profiles at the end of April.
Since then the phone has been ringing off the hook.
Fortunately I gave them the landline and not the cell.
As it was, someone kept trying to call me during an interview.
I got a lot of calls from different recruiters trying to fill the same slot.
These all had different pay rates and I quickly found out that I was talking to sub contractors of subcont5ractors of people I was already talking to.
I had to tell a lot of recruiters "Sorry , thats not a reasonable rate considering the skillset you are asking for"
The phone starts ringing around 5am sometimes, waking the whole house.
I tried leaving it off hook but forgot to put it back on until Id already left the house for an interview.
The phone rings and i look at the clock. Its 5am.
They start into their script.
"Stop. Do you know where I am?"
They start the script again
"Stop. You didnt answer my question"
"Pardon?"
"Do you know where I am ?"
The script starts again from the top.
"Stop. You didnt answer my question. Do you know where I am?"
"No"
"When you dialed my number, did you check the timezone?"
The script starts again
"Stop. You didnt answer the question. When you dialed my number, did you check the timezone?"
"No"
"Why not?"
The script starts again
"Stop. Answer my question. Why didnt you check the timezone Im in before you dialed the number?"
"I dont know"
"You are probably in front of a computer. You know my area code. Look up where the area code is and the timezone there"
About half the time they cant do that.
If they are able to do so...
"Im sory, Im sorry Im sorry...."
"Stop. Lets learn from this. I want you to promise that you will teach all your colleagues to check the timezone before they dial the phone. Can you do that for me?"
Im sorry, Ill call back later"
"Will you promise to teach your colleagues to do this for me?"
"Yes"
This is typical.
And 1 time, an hour later, at 6:15am the scuzzballs manager woke me up again after I had FINALLY dropped off. I read her the riot act and hung up on her.
Anyway, a few days before Maker Faire, I got one of those calls that boiled down to "You are #1 but I have to know right now if you will take it or they will go to #2"
I took it. I had gone through 2 interviews where I had really bonded with the teams and really wanted to see where those went, but there was no time. I took the bird in hand.
The next day, the recruiter told me that the gig at Amazon was mine and when could I start?
He could not understand that Id already told someone else yes. He wanted me to tell the people Id already said yes to, "No I changed my mind" I really didnt apprecuiate the hard sell.
This morning someone wanted me to go on another interview today.
I told him I was already working but he kept insisting that I go.
I even asked him "Are you asking me to ask my current project for time off to go on another interview?"
Supposedly we need more H1B visas because the Indians are so well educated, but based on the indian recruiters, I( think these guys give the nation of India a very bad rep.
Maker Faire was great. I was working for a potter who was selling her wares. We were so over staffed that I spent most of the time seeing the fair and keeping the grandson of another crew member away from the booth and out from under foot.
I think I accomplished more setting up & tearing down the booth than working it.
There was also the work of unloading kilns in the morning and a few other chores back at Lodemas in the evening. It was great weekend.
We came home from setup on Friday night and I disassembled the hinge on 1 kiln so that I could slide a sheet metal shim under the lid. The lid was disintegrating and we needed to make sure that opening it would not rain pieces of kiln all over the pottery inside. Once I had the sheet metal under it, I was able to slide it off the top and put its remains aside and then reach inside to extract the pottery.
SO the new gig is with the reasearch arm of the Japanese Phone company. We have the electrically heated toilet seats that youve read about. I havent had the guts to try the water spray but washer and air dryer yet. Next to the coffee machine is the huge rack of various tea and 2 heated cabinets of hot tea in pop top cans.
I got home from Maker Faire, expecting to start work the next day.
Monday morning, I checked email and found my start date pushed to Wed.
Tuesday night the transmission on the car died.
So Thursday morning, I walked 1/2 hr to BART, took the train to Union City, transferred to the Dumbarton Bus and ended up right in front of the building. Left house at 6:45 and arrived at work 9:20. Pretty good!
Same trip on Friday, but I got the car back over the weekend and Im driving now.
Since then the phone has been ringing off the hook.
Fortunately I gave them the landline and not the cell.
As it was, someone kept trying to call me during an interview.
I got a lot of calls from different recruiters trying to fill the same slot.
These all had different pay rates and I quickly found out that I was talking to sub contractors of subcont5ractors of people I was already talking to.
I had to tell a lot of recruiters "Sorry , thats not a reasonable rate considering the skillset you are asking for"
The phone starts ringing around 5am sometimes, waking the whole house.
I tried leaving it off hook but forgot to put it back on until Id already left the house for an interview.
The phone rings and i look at the clock. Its 5am.
They start into their script.
"Stop. Do you know where I am?"
They start the script again
"Stop. You didnt answer my question"
"Pardon?"
"Do you know where I am ?"
The script starts again from the top.
"Stop. You didnt answer my question. Do you know where I am?"
"No"
"When you dialed my number, did you check the timezone?"
The script starts again
"Stop. You didnt answer the question. When you dialed my number, did you check the timezone?"
"No"
"Why not?"
The script starts again
"Stop. Answer my question. Why didnt you check the timezone Im in before you dialed the number?"
"I dont know"
"You are probably in front of a computer. You know my area code. Look up where the area code is and the timezone there"
About half the time they cant do that.
If they are able to do so...
"Im sory, Im sorry Im sorry...."
"Stop. Lets learn from this. I want you to promise that you will teach all your colleagues to check the timezone before they dial the phone. Can you do that for me?"
Im sorry, Ill call back later"
"Will you promise to teach your colleagues to do this for me?"
"Yes"
This is typical.
And 1 time, an hour later, at 6:15am the scuzzballs manager woke me up again after I had FINALLY dropped off. I read her the riot act and hung up on her.
Anyway, a few days before Maker Faire, I got one of those calls that boiled down to "You are #1 but I have to know right now if you will take it or they will go to #2"
I took it. I had gone through 2 interviews where I had really bonded with the teams and really wanted to see where those went, but there was no time. I took the bird in hand.
The next day, the recruiter told me that the gig at Amazon was mine and when could I start?
He could not understand that Id already told someone else yes. He wanted me to tell the people Id already said yes to, "No I changed my mind" I really didnt apprecuiate the hard sell.
This morning someone wanted me to go on another interview today.
I told him I was already working but he kept insisting that I go.
I even asked him "Are you asking me to ask my current project for time off to go on another interview?"
Supposedly we need more H1B visas because the Indians are so well educated, but based on the indian recruiters, I( think these guys give the nation of India a very bad rep.
Maker Faire was great. I was working for a potter who was selling her wares. We were so over staffed that I spent most of the time seeing the fair and keeping the grandson of another crew member away from the booth and out from under foot.
I think I accomplished more setting up & tearing down the booth than working it.
There was also the work of unloading kilns in the morning and a few other chores back at Lodemas in the evening. It was great weekend.
We came home from setup on Friday night and I disassembled the hinge on 1 kiln so that I could slide a sheet metal shim under the lid. The lid was disintegrating and we needed to make sure that opening it would not rain pieces of kiln all over the pottery inside. Once I had the sheet metal under it, I was able to slide it off the top and put its remains aside and then reach inside to extract the pottery.
SO the new gig is with the reasearch arm of the Japanese Phone company. We have the electrically heated toilet seats that youve read about. I havent had the guts to try the water spray but washer and air dryer yet. Next to the coffee machine is the huge rack of various tea and 2 heated cabinets of hot tea in pop top cans.
I got home from Maker Faire, expecting to start work the next day.
Monday morning, I checked email and found my start date pushed to Wed.
Tuesday night the transmission on the car died.
So Thursday morning, I walked 1/2 hr to BART, took the train to Union City, transferred to the Dumbarton Bus and ended up right in front of the building. Left house at 6:45 and arrived at work 9:20. Pretty good!
Same trip on Friday, but I got the car back over the weekend and Im driving now.
