Wednesday, March 04, 2009

F&FFF: The Socialization of Blochers

I had a job interview today, and the dogs went to the veterinarian. So let's delay the end of my Reid Park series for another day and get caught up with more current news. This entry also marks our return to Steven's Feline and Furball Friday, on a Wednesday yet.

The day started way too early, considering what time I went to bed; but I shouldn't complain. At 8:30 AM, I had been asleep for about 3 hours when the cell phone rang. It was one of my recruiters, setting up an interview with people from the nonprofit she'd asked me about the previous afternoon. Hooray - except that I was now too wired to go back to sleep. I think I managed another hour on my third attempt - and that used up the time I was going to spend washing Pepper for her 12:45 PM vet appointment.


Cayenne and Pepper at Valley Animal Hospital. Cayenne was there as
moral support for Pepper.
From Trouble Dogs

As I did with Cayenne's vet visits last August and September, I took both dogs to Valley Animal Hospital, although only one of them had an appointment. I figured each dog would be less anxious with the other dog present. Secondarily, if it turned out that I needed to do anything medical for the other dog, she would be there without a second trip.


The exciting sound of a dog yelping behind closed doors.


Waiting is the hardest part.


Interesting sounds and smells behind closed doors in two directions!



Anxious and restless - but happy!

When the vet staff looked over Pepper's adoption papers, which I exhumed from a box night before last, they discovered that she was actually due for a booster shot last November. Oops! The good news was that her new rabies and parvo-distemper shots would be good for three years. Because they go to the dog park all the time, both dogs needed Bordetella (Kennel cough) shots, and I got them a one-year pack of oral preventative for heartworms and three other parasites to share for the next six months, to avoid the cost of new testing if I let their medication lapse. And finally, the vet and her assistant hold me that Pepper has gained four pounds since last summer, and is now about five pounds overweight. They gave me a Hills brand measuring cup and we worked out how much wet and dry food the dogs should get moving forward. It was good to take the dogs someplace other than the dog park and PetSmart, not just for the medical side of things but also so they can interact with more people. They both did very well, except for the part when Pepper wandered through an open door in search of the source of more doggie sounds while I was trying to pay the bill.

In a way, spending money on the dogs now was an act of faith that things will get better, and we'll be able to afford everything thy need and deserve. For the first time in several months, I had a job interview! It was very interesting, too. I'm going to stick to my usual policy of not identifying employers and potential employers too specifically, but this is a non-profit organization you've all heard of. The accounting functions are being consolidated to a regional office, and I would be the coordinator between them and the local office, doing some local functions such as billing and collections and pulling reports.

Overall, I think the interview went well, and it would be something very different from sitting in my accountant-hermit's cave, oblivious to the world. I did my best to show that I would be comfortable with the social interaction of it, even the collections part, which honestly would be a little bit of a challenge for me but doable. I hope I wasn't too sappy when I invoked my mom's work with the Mental Health Association over 40 years ago, when she hired me for the summer as her assistant.

I should know in the next two weeks whether I get the job. Even if I don't, I'm encouraged. Just getting an interview and performing well at it, on four hours of sleep, makes me feel like a confident and competent professional again instead of an unemployable schlub. We'll see what comes of it!

Karen

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sending good luck and wishes on the job front!

Florinda said...

Good luck! I've spent my career working in nonprofit accounting (although never for nonprofits anyone has heard of) - it has its assets and liabilities :-). Hope it works out for you.

Jama said...

Good luck , I hope there's some good news soon.