The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => People & Places => Topic started by: robot_god on March 23, 2007, 05:03:43 pm
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So recently I have been complaining that none of these online applications ever result in any contact at all. Every pharmacy I applied to last year never gave me a response in any form. Well I have been applying again this month and ironically, I received three responses this morning.
So now I don't know which ones to respond to. The first one might not have been technically received today; I checked my voicemail for the first time in over a week and there was a response from Walgreens. Walgreens is offering this summer internship that is basically exactly what I'm looking for: specifically for people with no prior experience in the field, lasts only for 12 (or 15?) weeks in the summer, and they offer experience in all areas of the field, not just retail community work. I don't know how long I have been sitting on this voicemail, it might be as long as two weeks, so I don't know if the boat has sailed.
Via e-mail sent last night I received another response from this same Walgreens internship program, from a different director, but it sounds like his division only deals with cites in the city (Manhattan). That probably would mean taking the Subway every day and their stores are probably twice as busy as anywhere else.
The one I am leaning to the strongest right now is at a hospital in Brooklyn, a teaching hospital regarded as the best medical center in BK. This one doesn't offer the width of experience that the Walgreens program claims to offer, but the pay is more than five bucks more an hour than anything I imagine that program is willing to give. However, I'm not really strapped for cash, so it's not a big deal. Not sure right now what the job entails but there is the risk of dealing with hella elderly patients in hospital beds. I could man up and tolerate it, but hella elderlies give me the willies. I don't know how they will feel about the summer-long duration.
Anyway, I don't know what is standard procedure in this situation. Should I set up interviews with them all, or be surgical with the ones that I'm most interested in? Should I target the job that offers the best work experience in the field that I will probably be working after I graduate, or should I go with the one that I'm more interested in with better pay?
Ya know, no pressure on yas all, I'll come to a conclusion myself on which to choose, I'm just airing out an interesting dilemma.
Hmmm, the medical center would probably look better on a resume, too.
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YES set up interviews with all of them.
I think you should never turn down a job interview even for a job you don't think you are interested in. You will learn something - about the job possibilities in your field, about interviewing and being interviewed - and you could be making contacts that will be valuable later. Also, there is nothing less stressful than an interview for a job you're not sure you want. So you have nothing whatsover to lose.
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Definitely do interviews with them all.
You'll find out more things about all the jobs and that'll help you decide... plus interview practice never hurts.
However. With the facts you gave me?
Here is something to always remember when picking from a collection of positive choices: in eighty years, no matter what you do, your corpse will be rotting in a box somewhere and... even if we all hit the cosmic lottery long-shot and there's some sort of afterlife situation, which summer job you picked one year will not apply to that Next Experience.
By that standard... the thing you would enjoy more will also give you more money?
Do that one. Your long-term options may or may not end up being influenced by this choice, it is kind of a crap shoot. Do things where you are having more fun and buy some more awesome DVDs than you previously would've let yourself buy.
Also, the subway is Terrible. The subway shouldn't be allowed as a form of extracting confessions, let alone part of a normal life.
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I agree with everything LFM says except - the subway! The subway is fantastic! the NYC subway is one of the greatest accomplishments of human civilization!
Dammit, it's my turn - I want to derail this thread into a flame war about the subway! You stinking Californian, you! You are not worthy to spit on the turnstiles of the The Subway!
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Yes, I like the Subway, but taking it four times a week would be annoying, since I don't like to leave for places early.
Also, as far as rotting in a box, I'm not so sure. What about quantum immortality? And if that doesn't work out then I want to be cremated. I would direct you to the wikipedia entry but I gotta run and you know the drill.
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I bespeak my hatred of The Subway not as a four year resident of Los Angeles but as a twenty-two year resident of small towns in the Northeast. This seems like an important clarification. I learned to hate the subway not as a jaded traffic-love-hating Angelino but as a scared hick with a hayseed in my mouth and a flannel shirt on my back. This is vital to understanding my arguments, which are the following:
The subway is covered in germs. The subway is full of complex memorizations of routes which do not fit in my head because I am busy remembering song titles and television shows from my youth. The subway is covered in germs. The subway is full of people begging for money and causing me to be Eight Hundred Hells of Guilty for not having the money to give them all money. The subway is covered in germs. The subway is being driven by someone I do not know at all. The subway is covered in germs. The subway is on a schedule that does not always cover my needs and is prone to large unexpected delays.
Also, the subway is covered in germs.
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I dont know what these people are talking about. I hate the subway. I don't take the subway unless it is like a matter of life and death. My friend even walks from city hall to penn station rather than take the subway. Its crowded, it smells, its covered in germs, people beg you for money, at $2 a ride it adds up.
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This is a point we agree on, arachnocapitalist.
Let us remember, when we are disagreeing on economic policy, that we agree on the subway being a crap concept.
The crowding is not so much a problem for me, as I am a Large Dude and used to being crowded, but for smaller people or people with space issues, it is probably hellish. The smell is not so much of an issue for me the times I have had to use a New York City subway because...
All the outdoors of Manhattan and Brooklyn and much of Queens smell overwhelmingly of urine and burnt hot-dogs to me.
I smell nothing but urine and burnt hog-dogs except in places where you are near one of those carts of vomitously-sweet flavoured nut vendors... a smell which is even worse than urine and burnt hot-dogs.
The cost factor probably varies from case to case, depending on how far you have to go, how many different places you have to go often, what kind of car you would otherwise have and how much you would have to pay to park it. If you have one or two long routes, the subway may be a cheaper-but-much-more-awful choice.
If you take many erratic short trips on the subway, it becomes insane on top of distasteful.
But the germs and the psychic overload of the begging... oh, man. Bad times. Bad bad times.
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Germs are good for you! Germs build up your immune system! The subway is a thousand times more convenient than driving and trying to find a place to park in New York! And better for the environment! And what is wrong with the smell of hot dogs! And how could the hot dogs be burnt when they are sitting in boiling water! What is the matter with you people! Hicks and wimps, all of you!
Also, I am a small person and I LOVE the subway.
So, did you set up those interviews yet, rg?
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Having experienced Boston's (T?) and the SFO Bay Area's hoity-toity (in relative terms) BART, let me extoll the virtues of BART. Its something like a subway, with fewer youth flinging themselves over the turnstiles and causing Madness, considerably less shrieking and squealing about through underground corridors with alarming flashes of high voltage, and the not-impossible odds of randomly encountering a carriage that was commissioned within the current century and may have a majority of its seats unslashed and windows spared from opacity by poorly removed graffitti and key scratches. It is a fine method for avoiding parking lot extortion in SFO or downtown Oakland. You can be reasonably sure that when a stain is observed on the seat upholstery, that it is due to spilled coffee rather than bodily fluids. Panhandlers usually stayed buried under their piles of newspaper rather than roaming the aisles plying their trade.
As a person of modest stature, I still avoid it at rush hour, because I am averse to armpits.
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I propose that BART's having not cleaned their seats since the Truman administration is legitimate cause for disliking it.
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Just set up the one with the hospital. Man, there goes my one weekday to sleep late. Guess, I'll worry about the other one tomorrow, it took them over a month to contact me, and it's specifically for the summer, so I doubt they're in any rush. I don't want to think about that shit right now, been a long week and I just want Friday to start already.
Germs on the subway? Pffff. Ever eat food? There were germs all over it. Touching the bars in the subway are no much worse than touching a dollar bill. And complex routes aren't a big deal, there are maps all over the place, and using maps is awesome. Plus it's so mysterious with all the tunnels, hella intriguing. But my favorite part are the musicians. So many interesting instruments and performances. Dude playing french horn in a quarter-mile tunnel lined with tile? Mad enchanting. And how do those dudes get those drum kits in there? Crazy.
I guess the panhandlers are a little annoying, but whatever, just shrug and they peace out.
I think we had a thread awhile ago about the subway, I said it rules because if you take the subway alone, you can never be sure if anything was real or a hallucination. What happens underground stays underground.
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Re: Interviews
Go to all of the interviews
Re: Subways
My only experience with subways is in London and they are fantastic. I've heard New York is dirty and the people are shit, but in London the underground is fairly clean and mostly the people are pleasant and polite. I never saw anyone that I would consider sketchy in any way. I'm sure I was the sketchy one becasue I didn't avoid eye contact and I talked to people. I rode the tube at all times of day and night. I went everywhere. I got kissed by a girl on the train, it was almost the highlight of the trip.
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I've heard New York is dirty and the people are shit,
You heard wrong, mister!
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The London Underground's really very nice until the police shoot you in the head seven times.
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I thought the bobbies were only allowed to scold you harshly, unless you have an Irish accent.
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You heard wrong, mister!
I stand corrected.
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Yes! Go to all the interviews! You have nothing to lose, and an interview =/= a job. You can always say no if an offer comes of it that you're not interested in. An interview will give you practice interviewing (so you can be ace when you're in one that really counts), and will also give you more information with which to make a decision about which situation you like best.
Let us know how they go.
I hope your "three hits in a day after a long time of nothing" is a sign of things to come. Mr. MoF and I will both be throwing ourselves to Scrutiny for Employment in the next few weeks. It is the suck.
Re: subways...
I have only ever experienced the Paris Metro,the Washington DC Metro, and the Chicago L. I have a love-hate relationship with the Metro. The quality of the experience (if being whisked underground at high speeds with strangers can be considered an experience from which one can reasonably expect "quality" of any sort) seems to vary in accordance with the French administration. I liked it better under Mitterand, but even under Chirac it got the job done. I like that it's relatively easy and cheap to get from any point in the city to any other point. Panhandlers make it uncomfortable but not unbearable; occasionally they add a bit of color to the experience which makes for better stories later. The flourescent lighting and depressing decor of some cars can suck the soul right out of a person, but some of the newer trains are quite luxurious as public transport goes. The fact that the Parisians have taken the time to turn many of their stations into works (http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/pictures/Paris_Guimard_Metro_Entrance.jpg) of (http://jim.rees.org/pcd18/2350.jpg) art (http://jim.rees.org/nikon02/1650.jpg) is pleasing. I'm sure other cities do this too but I saw none in DC or Chicago and as mentioned my experience with city trains is limited to those few cities; the Paris metro being the only system on which I'm certain I've seen almost every single stop.
I also like not having to deal with parking or navigating unfamiliar streets. I know my way around Paris quite well, via metro and foot. If I had to drive in Paris I'd be lost constantly and/or at risk of dying in some horrible traffic altercation (the French are not known for their driving skills, Le Mans Grand Prix notwithstanding). I like that I can go to a cafe and get totally ripped on wine, and then not have to worry about how to get home. As long as I get out at the right stop, and have a hotel within stumbling distance of the final station, I'm set.
I prefer trains to buses because there is always a train; every 90 seconds or so. With buses you're going on their schedule and if you miss it, tant pis. And on a bus, if there's traffic, you're stuck. I think city buses are pure torture. Trains are an at times inconvenient convenience, but worth the negatives, IMO.
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Yeah, city buses are teh suck. I love the El here in Chicago. It's dirty and nasty but it's glorious.
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I love the st louis metrolink... but I don't know where anything is that I want to go to. So I just ride it to the airport. And one time I rode it downtown.
I should use it more, but I am kind of worried about riding around randomly by myself.
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This is The Worst Thing Of All about subways.
There are subways that are not nearly as disgusting and awful as The Subway, the New York City subway.
These subways also pretty much don't go anywhere useful and, because of that, there are less people on them to make them disgusting and crowded and guilt-enducing.
Oh man, is the Los Angeles subway nice as subways go.
Oh man, the Los Angeles subway only connects a few points, none of which are convenient for anything.
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I love the st louis metrolink... but I don't know where anything is that I want to go to. So I just ride it to the airport. And one time I rode it downtown.
I should use it more, but I am kind of worried about riding around randomly by myself.
Where do you want to go? I'm pretty good on STL geography and far less prickly than MR. Q.
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god, I dunno. So far I have been to Mississippi Nights (which is now closed), the galleria (lame! but clothes... and Apple store.), my girlfriend's house (pretty cool, until her mom's boyfriend started trying to act like her Dad and she got all pissed), and the central west end. I mean... I just want to explore. But I don't want to get off at the wrong stop and have A Problem. I have a free metro pass.
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Go to the Botanical Garden and to Laumeier Sculpture Park. Also, the City Museum is cool.
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we drove my the city museum and I wanted to die. It was so awesome looking.
also, Q has pictures of the sculpture park on his Flickr and it looks awesome.
I will check these out, thanks for reminding me.
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It's dirty and nasty but it's glorious.
Jough gets it.
DC Metro sucks. I think partly because their main goal was for it not to be dirty and nasty. Unfortunately, there is also no glory.
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Jough gets it.
DC Metro sucks. I think partly because their main goal was for it not to be dirty and nasty. Unfortunately, there is also no glory.
It sucks because it literally never occurred to the designers that a person might want to go from one suburb to another. Or travel within the city. According to the Post[citation needed] the system was designed to get worker from the burbs into the city for work and back out again at 5 and that's it. No other use was envisioned and now it's too late to fix it.
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I just want to explore. But I don't want to get off at the wrong stop and have A Problem.
Don't be scared.
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I did ride the subway in New York. I forgot about that. We didn't go anywhere in particular we just wanted to ride the subway. There were like 10 of us riding together. The car was full of drunks, us.
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I come from an area that desperately needs a light rail system, but doesn't. Hampton Roads suffers from two obstacles - our system of municipal government, where each city works independent of the other and as a result will never agree on the implementation of something like this; and our geography, which limits the amount of underground digging that could be done to an area approximately six square feet in size.
Charlotte is building one. When I moved there, I was excited about the plans for light rail they had in mind, but people have since told me the ambitious plans have been scaled down by money concerns to one line that's going to be pretty worthless to the vast majority of the population.
I've been on three subways in my day - the (DC) Metro, the (STL) Metrolink, and the (Bay Area) BART. I found all three to be clean, nice, and an enjoyment to be on. I really enjoy traveling on light rail, but I accept that it may be because I've never been on New York's, Chicago's, or any of the other ones with Reputations.
I seem to recall a web page where a couple of people managed to ride through all stops of the NYC subway in the course of a day. As I recall, it wasn't a simple task, and required a route plan going in - delays on the way made it sketchy whether they would succeed or not.
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paul-- the real issue is that being from the nice ol' suburbs, I am not scared. And then things happen like... a shootout on the road north of me? And I start thinking that maybe I should be more scared. I walk down that road all the time late at night if I can't sleep.
my reaction to deserted streets, boarded-up-windows, and shitty old buildings is... "oh, man, cool! look at these cool old brick buildings!" Then my friends who are from st louis laugh, and tell me never to go to this area, ever.
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paul-- the real issue is that being from the nice ol' suburbs, I am not scared. And then things happen like... a shootout on the road north of me? And I start thinking that maybe I should be more scared. I walk down that road all the time late at night if I can't sleep.
Those shootings involve people who have personal issues with one another. They have no beef with you, you're safe. Besides, that shit very rarely happens in the middle of the street or in any kind of public place. [omitted]*
*I was going to quote FDR there, but decided it was too cliche.
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yeah. I just have no way of judging what is a dangerous area and what is not. So I try to be Safe.
I mean... I'm not going to be afraid to walk around where I live. I am not going to be afraid to walk down the street parallel to campus just because my friend's friend got mugged at gunpoint there, either.
I will explore sometime, in the daytime. Not alone.
Hopefully.
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Those shootings involve people who have personal issues with one another. They have no beef with you, you're safe. Besides, that shit very rarely happens in the middle of the street or in any kind of public place.
In Denver that kind of stuff happened a lot, and it often involved bystanders. Don't kid yourself into thinking that it only happens to other people. I'm not saying you should be paranoid, I'm just saying that it never hurts to take a few precautions.
If I were you, I'd play it safe, go during daylight hours, and bring a friend and a cell phone. If you go to concerts at night, then bring a friend or a few friends and stick together. There's other common sense stuff too, like not listening to your iPod, because tons of kids have been mugged for theirs. If you must listen, then get black ear-buds instead of the iPod white, and only put them in one ear so you're still alert to your surroundings.
You don't have to look like the baddest guy around, just stay low-key and appear calm and confident, and always look like you know where you're going.
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yeah.
one time I was following these kids to get somewhere, and I finally just called "hey!" and explained that I was following them to get to the party, and that I didn't want them to think I was some creepy murderer or mugger or something.
...they all burst out laughing. "dude... you are not really intimidating looking. at all."
so I don't have to worry about looking like the baddest dude around.
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I did a thing at Boston College one summer (between 11th & 12th grade) where I essentially took 12 semester units of lower division college credit while living in dorms with other kids who were in the same program (although their classes varied depending on interest; poli sci, art, what have you). Anyway, I was all of 16 and didn't know anyone, so I'd do stuff like ride the T Green Line to downtown and check out Paul Revere's house, or Sharper Image, or the street where the molasses flood of 1919 happened etc. One night I was walking back to campus from the subway and saw one of my classmates ahead; a young lass from Long Island who I fancied some. In typical teenboy manner I followed along about 30 yards back, trying to figure out what to say to her, the best thing she was wearing to compliment her on, etc etc. After a bit it occurred to me the route she'd picked to go back to campus was kind of strange - there were some weird turns here and there - and damn was she walking fast. Finally we got back to the dorms, but she ducked down a hallway before I worked up the nerve to say hi. The next day, of course, I learned that I had terrified her (she was too scared to turn around to see who was 'stalking' her) and felt really bad.
Awkward.
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She was terrified that you were going to ask her for a date.
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There is a wide variety of public transportation experiences. I've done DC, NYC, Paris, London, Chicago, PDX, Anchorage (what a joke), and some smaller bus lines in places like Cancun and shit. I ride on the Max train to the airport periodically when my lovely wife is at work or at school and is unable to provide me with a lift. One time I was on there for about 45 minutes and the whole time I was on there, this crazy old woman was talking to her lizard, which she had just sort of cradled in her arms (probably went about 3 pounds or so - not a particularly small lizard, but not a Komodo Dragon).
Also, I met two pre-teens on the Cancun bus line who were sans parents and absolutely hammered. I worried for them a great deal. But you just gotta embrace the experience. The DC public transport isn't great, although the US Capitol subway system (http://www.clouse.org/capitol1.html) ain't bad. Of course, it's of limited utility, but there's less urine smell - although when Bob Packwood (or Ted Kennedy - YMMV) was riding it it could get kind of rank.
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Job offerings update: It's not down in ink yet, but basically I got the hospital job.
They want hell of hours though, which I didn't expect, but whatever. Maybe I'll learn some time management skills for once.
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>,_<
**cries**
Oh, look at that - we have a smilie for that
:'(