Ahhh...

That's the glorious sound of having heat again in our house! Yup, it's warm and toasty. It's amazing what a little insulation and sheetrock will do to a room!

On the not-so-ahhhh side of things, I'm on the hunt for another job. Yeah, you read that right. Now let me just preface this before I go into great detail. I love being at Franklin Hills. I love the residents and most of my co-workers. There's always that one person that drives you insane, and we have one of those people, but for the mostpart, I love my co-workers. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of dealing with the residents, and loving on the ones who have literally been dropped on our doorstep with no more familial communication to speak of. I love making the residents feel special and important, and most of all, loved.

So my administrator has given me a lot of compliments over the last month ranging from "You're too smart to be sitting at the desk answering phones", to "I've e-mailed all of the area administrators asking them to keep you in mind for social service and activities directors positions." So, imagine my confusion when I got pulled into the administrator's office last week to hear the following come from his mouth... are you ready for this? Here goes...

"Rhiannon, you're too smart to be sitting at the desk answering phones. You need to be in a position that pays you what you're worth, and the Administrative Assistant position is not it. I need someone at the desk who wants to do nothing more with their life than answer phones and be a people-pleaser. Someone who is content to sit at the desk all day, not walk around the facility. I need to light the fire under you, so here's what I'm going to do. You have 30 days to find another job. If you don't, you will be unemployed. I hope you're not the kind of person that will walk away from this meeting thinking you're worthless, because you're not. I just want you to be doing something better for yourself and your family." And the conversation went on at great length... most of it complimenting, but some not so much. You see, I like to visit. So, since breaks are not something I typically get up there (who do you think wants to cover phones every day for scheduled breaks?? Nobody! That's right!) I would go visit with some people for a bit, enough to get a break from the phones, and then I would be back. Apparently that was too much. Apparently I was to stay at the desk for 9 hours each day and just hope the mail delivered itself, the supplies delivered themselves or put themselves away, hope the census paperwork all put itself where it belonged every day, and so on... I am just supposed to sit there like a little drone and sound perky all day. Don't get me wrong... I've got perky down to an art. It's the drone part that's got me tripped up!

Just for the record, I have *probably more* self confidence than one should have in themelves. I'm not at all phased by his comments, except for the "unemployed in 30 days" part. I still feel like I am 100% quality, I have done nothing wrong, and that I will make another employer lucky to have me. :) The problem is that I am still 10 months away from having my BS degree in Forensic Psychology, so really, who wants to hire someone in the field of social work without the actual degree?? I'm so close, yet so far, far away. But the one thing I've got going for me is that I am a very quick learner. It doesn't take much to get me trained and proficient! And I'm as dedicated as they come when I like what I'm doing.

So, if any of you have connections with hospitals, doctors, community corrections, etc... anything that a soon-to-be social worker can do without the actual degree in-hand, please give them my information. Or give me their information. I'm going to the stake center on Tues night for the employment thing they do each week, so I'll see what kinds of leads I can get there.

The moral of the story here? Try not to be "too smart" for your job. It could lead to unemployment and some smashing compliments from the higher ups!