Hey, sorry about the delay in posts, but I can't log into my blog while at work and by the time I get home I really don't feel like looking at a computer anymore. Sam has been wanting to go out all the time recently. Friday after work we headed over to Tina and Lukes place for drinks and to hang out with some people there. We got home shortly after 12am and Sam got a message from Charles to hang out or something, so he headed downtown and just crashed there for the night. Saturday I had to work 1-9pm, our schedule at work is weird, it runs from Saturday to Sunday, so even though I worked 50 hours this week, only 42.5 of them will be on my coming pay, Saturday's shift goes on the next pay period. I have Today and Thursday off this week and then for the most of November. I was filling out my timesheet and noticed that we get paid 200% for any hours worked over 40, which is a nice incentive to say the least. I am a full time "flex" employee though, so my schedule can be anything fro m 35-44 hrs a week, but they were asking people to work overtime, so I don't think I will have any trouble getting my hours. Sam has Thurday off as well, I think I'll get Gizmo a hair cut, get myself a hair cut and Sam and I will probably go to a movie. Anyway...after work yesterday Sam and went out with Melissa and her husband for the Halloween festivities downtown. Sam went and bought a whole costume, he was a Sultan. On the way home from work, jenn had a CD playing in thec ar from the Disney movie the Lion King, so when I saw him in his Sultan costume, I immediately thought of Aladdin. I hadn't had a chance to buy a costume, but he picked me up a some devil stuff before he went to work. I had the horns, a tail, a feathery necklace, and a little pitchfork. I must say... (not to toot my own horn or anything)... that I was pretty damn cute! (toot-toot!) I'll upload the picture I took before we left. We headed down to Charles' apartment shortly after 10pm. Ronn and his girlfriend were there as well, she was a nymph of some sort and he was a pirate, Charles was a devil as well. (Melissa was a 1940's pin up girl-fancy dress and Justin-her husband- was a hockey player, there was nothing scarry about their costumes though, they could have added some fake blood to the outfits and been dead...oh well...at least they had costumes). I had alot of fun, but slept in ridiculously late today;) I think the clock said 12:50pm when I rolled out of bed. I had been trying to get up relatively early everyday so that I don't feel as though my day is wasted (working 12-9pm). Sam had bought my costume and my liquer for the whole weekend and paid for the cabs on Friday night.
I haven't heard back about that government job, I don't know when they are supposed to do call backs, the guy never mentioned. oh well. I appreciate all the crossing of various body parts for luck on my behalf BTW!! Let shope it works! Anyway I'm going to go eat a donut I bought earlier!! :)

I fogot to write in my last post that Sam and I had gone out Friday night. We went downtown to his friend Charles' apartment and then walked over to Nickyzees at about 12:30am. Sam treated me to beer while at Charles' and bought me my drinks while out. We had alot of fun, it was pretty slow at Nickyzees and it was nice to go out somewhere and actually dance. I met Sams co-worker and his girlfriend Christina. She was really sweet and kept telling me she thought I was beautiful. She was a real confidence booster and put me in a good mood. We stayed a Nicky's until close at 2am. Sam had to work a twelve hour shift the next day, but wanted to stay out anyway. He is alot of fun when we go out, I'm glad that he got over what ever it was that he had a problem with and wants to go out with me again, for awhile he would never come out with me and friends to clubs. Work has been alright, I'm doing better now that I've been on the phones for awhile. I wouldn't mind getting out of the call centre business though. I went for the general knowledge testing for the customer service representative position with service Canada this morning. I think I did well enough. It was a two part test, the first was 50 multiple choice questions that we had 12mins to answer, he told us that we wouldn't be able to finish it, but do as many as you can. I think I did alright on that, some of the questions were alittle confusing, but I tried. Then there was the second part that we had an hour to do. I took 45mins to complete this part and I know I did much better. It was still multi choice, but also some fill in the blank. It was spelling, grammar and some math. Basic math that I knew how to do, just percentages and multiplication and division. I did forget to put my preferences for shifts on the test though, I'll call and leave a messge tonight. I don't want to do any term work, permanent full or part time depending on the hours and wage. There was probably about 20-25 people at the testing. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

I have been so friggin tired all week long, I work the 1pm-9pm shift and walk 45mind to work everyday, so by the time I get home I just bundle up on the couch and watch t.v. I had a good week though. The phone calls are getting easier and I know what to do with the different types that come in. I also have been going to work alittle happier since about Wednesday. Tuesday evening I came home and received a message from service N.B to come in for an interview/knowledge testing group thing at the Fredericton Inn on Thursday Oct 18th/07. If I do well at this first stage I think I'll get a real interview and then possibly a job with the government. I would be a customer service representative. So I would be doing exactly what I do now, but better pay and better hours. Wish me Luck!! :) I don't even remember applying for this job, it must have been through the Federal student work thing I applied for ages ago. So I have been alittle happier all week long, knowing that if I get shitty hours for the shift bid with accenture, I might not even be there to worry about it. For the shift bid we rate the different shifts from 1-16 based on which ones we would prefer to work. Some of the shifts aren't really that bad, still working 1pm-9pm but your days off aren't consecutive (ex:Sun and wed) which I really don't want. The one to nine shift really doesn't work for me anyway because of the shitty bus schedule. I am number 22 out of 25 people on the shift bids, at least I'm not the last one. Accenture does offer a pretty decent medical plan as well. I signed up for mine real quick on Thursday. I get 80% coverage for prescriptions, dental and vision (I think) and then an ESP plan of some sort I didn't really read it well and then they give me money at tthe end of the year for the money left over. I've gotta go feed Gizmo, write later...

We weren't supposed to go on the phones until today, but they surprised us Friday afternoon and told us that they were really busy and needed everyone on the phones, so we started Friday. I decided that I wanted to work by myself and took calls alone (instead of listening to a person in my training class and switching to take calls after an hour). We all took calls for about 2+hrs. It really wasn't to bad going it alone. But today we had to be on all day and I decided to pair with Alicia. We made a really good team. I was super nervous when I was taking the calls (she jokingly let me know that I was going first), but she helped me out alot while I was talking with the customer and I did the same for her when she was on the phone. It was alot easier to think and know what to do when you didn't have to talk to the customer. We put the customers on hold an awful lot, but they had music. It was really nice not being yelled at, people were very thankful for any help that we gave them...it was nice. For some of the calls we just transfered them to another department. The time went by REALLY fast. There isn't much wait time between calls at all. (not even a minute). I get to do so many different things as a customer service representative, no scripting at all! I can put everything into my own words (using jobaid-terasen aid for help). We do softskills training all day tomorrow, so that should be an easy day, maybe boring, but easy. I mean....really now...do many people have to be "trained" on how to be respectful and nice to people when they call for customer service? We do some more doubles calls Wednesday and then we all have to go on alone. It is really helpful having another person in training right there and listening to the same call. When the trainer is busy, it was nice to have someone there that might remember something you didn't and vica versa. The only problem with working this 1pm-9pm shift is that there are no buses at all!! I would have to catch an 11am bus to get there in time and there isn't another bus unitl 10:20pm for me when i'm done work. I walked there this morning(left at 12pm) and got there at 12:45pm and thankfully Jenn got picked up by her boyfriend and offered to drive me home. I found out that the people who got trained from 4pm-12am got the 11am-7pm shift for their practicum while the staff that trained in the morning (7:30am-3:30pm) got stuck working the 1pm-9pm shift!! Weird. We are servicing different companies, but I didn't think that mattered as much. Oh well at least for this month I get paid an extra dollar an hour for 7pm-8pm-9pm. It's a nice way to entice people to work past 7pm I guess. I also found out that I have the entire Turkey weekend off! I work until 9pm on Friday and have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. Sam is going to go to SJ for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (he didn't want to give up his Sunday shift). I might be able to get a drive with his parents from SJ to Freddie on Monday..hmm.....I'll have to ask about that. That way I would only have to worry about getting to SJ. Longer post later :)