Goodbye, Lazy Summer!

It's official: I have a job. But before we all mourn my loss of freedom, I won't actually start working until June 24th. Yeah, just less than two weeks from now. That means I can stay up late and sleep late and have more slurpee adventures and just generally waste my time in pursuit of enjoyable yet unproductive pursuits.

I am excited to start working, not just because I need the money. Last Wednesday I interviewed with The Generations Network, a network of companies involved in family history research including Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker. I was interviewing for an entry-level position verifying the accuracy of historical data and other similar tasks. The interview went well, and I had been waiting to hear back from them. Though I consider myself to be a generally patient person, waiting is never fun. The longer it took for them to get back to me, the less assured I felt regarding my chances.

I finally received a phone call this afternoon from David, one of the three people who conducted my interview. He asked if I had a few minutes to talk, I told him I did, and he proceeded to offer me the job. I accepted readily, not only because of my financial need, but also because I had a good feeling about the job. Earlier this summer I nearly took a job, but as I thought more about it, I didn't feel like it was the right place for me. Partially responsible for that decision was the fact that I was being offered $8/hr, but after interviewing with The Generations Network, I felt good about accepting the job for the $9-9.75 salary they listed with the job posting.

As David and I talked this afternoon, he told me that they wanted to offer me a starting salary of $12.25/hr. This was a very pleasant surprise, nearly three dollars an hour more than I would have accepted. He also told me that after a few months I would be eligible for a raise depending on my level of proficiency. Good to hear. All in all, I feel really good about this job. It's full-time and will give me the hours I want (Monday through Friday, 8-5) while keeping my nights and weekends free. Just in case I ever want a social life or happen to have a summer fling.

I do wish I could start sooner. I need money for my trip to Madison and Chicago at the end of July, but everything will work out. I realized the true silver lining to starting so late is that my beard, now one week old, will have another two weeks to reveal its splendor, and that is exciting. If my beard's happy, I'm happy.