I have not been homesick but I've also had things to do to occupy my mind. This also does not feel quite real being here. The apartment had shrunk in my head when I returned to Columbus so by the time I saw it again everything actually appeared to be bigger. It's a nice size for Jeff and me. One smaller room off the kitchen would be nice (so we could actually have some place to eat meals, even if at a cocktail table with bar stools) but what can you do.

We have a couch and coffee table coming on Wednesday. This will make our main sitting area quite a squeeze but it'll be great to actually have a place to sit down and watch TV! I've been sprawling out on the hard wood floors and it's highly uncomfortable. Our office is also a bit of mess due to the small space. With two desktops, printer, scanner and then Jeff's turntables and records plus a book shelf, yadda yadda....

I'm really craving my own desk space. We are currently sharing a "PTA" table (I'm not sure what they're really called, maybe a 4-6 foot long table?) and there's no open desk space. I like to be able to examine things I'm working on and have since been using the bed when I need to look over materials...but that's awkward b/c you're required to stand the whole time and you aren't really in reach of everything.

There may be space in the office to get another VERY small table in the space directly behind me but I don't know. I haven't really seen anything yet that would be appropriate and isn't going to cost a lot of money. I don't want to spend more than $100 on a tiny flat desk. It's more about creating a seat-level counter than anything, so if you have any ideas leave me a guestbook message ;)

So, I met with the Event Management company again. I am a little twisted on the whole thing. Overall, my impression is positive and I think I would like working there. But....

I am scheduled to meet on Monday (2/21). I am already DRIVING to the job (keep in mind this place is 45-60 minutes away depending on traffic) when they call to cancel/reschedule with me. Fine.

We plan on meeting on Wednesday afternoon and they promise to call me back later on when they have the details on a time. I wait all day and no one calls. Finally, I leave a voice mail for someone to call me back. I want to call the following day (2/22) but I don't want to seem annoying so I wait it out. I finally get a call about mid-morning and they have a time for me--how about 2pm. Okay.

It's Wednesday and they call around noon--they need to reschedule. Argh. I have a new appointment set for Thursday at 2pm. I am under the impression that I am being asked back to present the project I created. Although they received the hard copy I thought I would be meeting with other "biggies" with the company to kind of flow through my project and so they could also see my "presentation" skills, since, I believe, were this a true client project I would have to sell my ideas.

I practice doing my presentation, not really knowing what to do since I don't ever talk to clients to sell things (at the association I would work with members or committees...but since they're the experts in the profession I would follow their lead and expectations making sure it met our strategic plan and actually worked from an administrative perspective).

As far as speaking in front of a group goes that's fine with me and I knew I wouldn't have a problem with it. But I've never done sales and my brief experience with persuasive communication was limited to one class in college.

So, I leave 1.5 hours before my appointment. I figure since I'm driving during an off time it'll probably take me about 45 minutes to get there. This will allow me some time to just be there and review any last minute things and a few minutes for getting lost if that's the way things go (which is frequently the way thing go when I drive ;)

The last time we went we had directions from Amy, the friend that already works there. This time, I pulled them off of Yahoo maps. Well, Yahoo maps failed me...big time. It indicated the general direction of the freeway I was to get on but missed out on one key detail.....I was supposed to break off onto this other freeway, but the directions made no mention of this. About 45 minutes into my drive I realized I had probably gone too far and something was wrong.

I called Amy but got her VM so I left a message. Then I called Jeff who was being weird. I understand he is at work and that's not cool to be taking personal phone calls from the panicked girlfriend--on the otherhand, to just out right refuse to get onto a damn mapping program online to help me out seemed a little cruel. There was no way I was going to make it on my own and his only offering is "I don't know...no, I can't get on the computer."

I can tell he's hesitant b/c of his environment but it's like....i'm not going to the grocery here where I can go wander on my own, I'm on my way to a JOB INTERVIEW!!! Finally, he puts me on with a co-worker (er, I think it was his boss) who tries to steer me in the right direction. I want to just turn around and kind of start wherever I missed my exit, but he's telling me there's a game in the city and traffic will be awful on the direct route back. So he's giving me all of these alternative directions that I'm trying to scribble (while driving, while holding the steering wheel--did I mention I'm a cell phone newbie??) and actually understand what he's saying.

I get onto another freeway, which is supposed to give me either the exit I need or another freeway to hop onto. I see neither. What does happen, is the freeway I'm on, turns into a different freeway name. Okaaaay. I'm driving again, for quite a long while and I'm thinking I've gone too far. I am finally able to get ahold of Amy whom is able to turn me around the right way. It's kind of a nightmare though, because the exit I choose ends up taking me forever to turn around to get back on the freeway heading the opposite direction.

AND, once I'm on this freeway, she explains that I will need to get off on a street road, turn back around and get back onto another freeway which will eventually give me another exit which will lead me to her job. Whew.

I realize, somewhere through all of this that I am going to be late. I am hoping only 15-20 minutes late but had no real clue since I wasn't familiar with where I was going. Called the office but got VM and left a message that I was stuck in traffic. It took me awhile and a couple of more phone calls through Amy but I eventually made it, and about 20 minutes late.

When I arrived the woman I was scheduled to meet was on the phone. She made me wait for another 10 minutes and when I apologized about the delay she smiled, waived her hand and mumbled some gibberish which kind of gave me the impression that it wasn't a big deal. So, if it was a problem she didn't make it out to be. I don't know if this was because I'm in Chicago so traffic is always an issue or what but hopefully it really was as minor as she made it seem.

I talked with her briefly at first. She kind of pulled me aside and let me know that they could not offer me anymore than what I had been making in Ohio. Infact, she wasn't sure if they could even match me, but she seemed confident that she could convince the president to do this if I was to be offered the position.

So, this is a little disappointing. I was all ready to negotiate something a little nicer than what I had and I think I had some reasonable arguments. (1) Probably the biggest reason would be the difference in cost of living. I'm at about 9% higher COL than in Ohio. (2) I was working in non-profit and I would be moving to corporate--usually a BIG difference. (3) Although my responsibilities went way beyond my title, I was technically still considered administrative in my previous job and by moving to this company I would be moving up to "coordinator" role. (4) I already know my benefits package will be less than what I had in Ohio so it would be nice to be able to make up for this with a higher salary. (5) Perhaps not the strongest argument, but I was thinking since I just incurred all these relocation costs plust I would be taking on a 60 minute commute, it would be nice to have the $$$ compensation or at least some sort of signing bonus, which perhaps they have, we didn't talk about.

Am I getting too far ahead of myself since I haven't even been offered the job yet?? Pretty much during our little aside talk she basically let me know that I've done great so far and everyone likes me and I got the impression that as long as the people I met with today liked me I was probably in.

The first woman I met with handled operations. She was great and I think I would like working with her a lot. She has a srong meeting planning background although has turned over into more management and operations since becoming one of the key players of this new company. We had some meaningful (or at least I thought ;) conversations about the industry in general and then I shared a bit about myself.

Another side grumble...sure, these people are busy, I KNOW, but she had at least four phone conversations while I was in the room, plus mid-conversation STOPS as she drifted into the thought of an incoming email. It was a little "la la la" on her side I would think and so I just sat there with good posture and a smile on my face thinking.....well, how very de-valued they were making me feel.

We talked for a good amount before I was switched over to one of the team leaders/managers. I also had to wait quite a long time to meet with her. Which is fine, I made them wait while I was lost except, what was strange was instead of having me move out into the lobby I just sat there in this woman's office. So I'm sitting there to the side while she makes calls, answers emails and shuffles through items in her room. It was more than odd I wanted to excuse myself to the lobby so I didn't have to pretend to not exist directly in front of someone.

Finally, I met with the manager who was extremely in your face and high energy (sort of like the president). She was a little too hyper for my liking but you could tell she was fun and just the type of person that most people like because of their quick mind and tell it like it is attitude. She hadn't read through my project or seen a resume so while she briefly skimmed my stuff she got right in my face and started asking me what I wanted to know.

I'm sorry, this is your interview, what do YOU want to know? I've heard you should always have questions to ask but seriously...by this point I've talked indepth with the hiring manager, the president and the director of operations, plus I've had Amy as an aid to get any other general scoop on the place. I really didn't have anything to ask of this woman so I struggled through a few pathetic attempts before finally focussing on her. They love to talk about themselves, right? She spoke so fast I spent most of my time trying to think of a question to ask her (about herself) before she finished the previous one I gave.

This seemed to work pretty well. I learned a bit about her background, she got to talk about herself and time was filled. I'm not so high maintenance. Assuming I get the job I hope I get to work with the other woman (they have a dual team set-up) rather than this one. Then again, this manager had a background in incentive planning, which is ultimately where I liked to end up. Who knows...as long as I'm doing meeting planning I think i'll be happy. :)

After that I met with the President again. (Who also answered a couple of emails and calls on my time as well) before settling down to talk to me. He had a nice comfy office with a lounge set up in front of his office. I made a terrible faux pas that I didn't realize until hours after I had left. First, we were sitting there and I placed my drink on the table. A few minutes later I realized my nice cold drink probably should be on a coaster. He had these fancy modern coasters in a holding device on the table. I pulled one out and set my drink on it.

Only later did I think back to that moment and realize i had my drink sitting on the coaster UP SIDE DOWN. It would be like hanging a poster backwards or something...it's like, sure, i suppose that works but that's NOT its intention. Oh, how embarrassing. So the decorative part of the coaster was FACE DOWN on the table while the adhesive part was up.

Lol, depending on your personality that could be the deal breaker for a lot of things. I don't usually consider myself ditzy but that definitely qualifies. I'm horrified that I made such a small but dumb mistake. I mean, if someone did that in my office I would definitly make fun of them, lol, it's just so common sense that....well, only half-way joking--would you want to hire someone that didn't have normal social skills and understanding of everyday things like coasters??

BUT, overall all I thought all my interviews went well. Here I practiced this whole sales and marketing campaign for my project and no one asked about it at all. Fine with me. I just talked with everyone, shared some of my experience, learned more about them and the company and that was the day. I was there for over two hours.

They hope to have a decision made by mid this week. The drive home was crappy but I was just happy to be done with the interview so it didn't bother me. The president asked me to seriously consider the ride home and the commute and really ask myself if I was ready to do this. He said that some people can do it and some people can't and I need to find out what kind of person I am.

I *think* I could make myself do the commute if I really enjoyed the job. But, to be honest, no, I don't think I'm the long commuting type. At least, not if I have to drive. It's one thing being able to hop on a train. I mean, it's still an hour of your time and sucks, but at least then you're just paying for train ticket and not all that gas and wearing down your car and soul making that drive. When I worked out at this restaurant during school and I had to leave 35 minutes before my shift. I only worked there for 3 months but that drive started to make me crazy.

I remember Jeff saying it didn't bother him. Well, it bothered me. This was of course before the day of books-on-tape which I now frequent and love. My radio is awful so I pretty much don't get radio stations most of the time, or I get 1-2 dominating streams. That doesn't help. It also doesn't help that I really dislike driving in general. I mean, I hate driving.

So, here I am, unemployed but thinking I was on my way to good fortune with an exciting event management company that would allow me to get a taste of corporate, experience a variety of events and do some travelling and now all of a sudden I'm wondering if it might be a mistake to accept this job (assuming they offer).

I really thought I could make more $$ in Chicago if I switched over to a bigger company or went the corporate way. This is corporate but it's a smaller company. I understand they need to get on their feet, especially after doing a big hire (they will be hiring anywhere from 2-4 coodinators/managers). But, am I selling myself short by the compensation? I know meeting planning can involve long hours but I had one person claiming work until 3am and another saying 8pm on a regular basis. Another said the company is still trying to figure out the whole "work/life balance thing."

Ahh! Do I want to be with a company that is still figuring itself out? I *do* like structure and this might be a little too out there. I mean, hopefully by hiring more people, the hours won't be so constantly terrible, but....

all of a sudden I'm supposed to take on an hour long commute (or more accurately, add on 1.5 hours to my day, since I had a 15 min. one way drive before), plus work longer hours (er, a lot longer hours)--with less pay, fewer benefits, no personal office?

:( I don't want to only whine...I knew things wouldn't be the same here. I figured "fa sho" my office would say goodbye and that my commute would increase by a lot BUT...I figured more pay. I don't know what to do.

I haven't made contact with any other companies so I don't know how hard it will be to actually begin interviewing with others. I'm more experienced now, but even still...when I first graduated it took me THREE months to even get an interview. I luckily then got the job, but I mean....I can't afford to go three months with absolutely no communication with any company. I would prefer to go about 1.5 months at the most...I could probably go 2 but if there weren't any good leads by that point I would definitly have to find a part time job to get some sort of income.

I do have some savings but it's meant to be just that--savings. I don't want to blow everything I have by being poor and unemployed. I've got high rent and a batch of new bills coming my way.

What should I do? I think...if they can at least MATCH my salary I will take it. I would like to discuss how I might be compensated in other ways (what's the vacation, 401K) and what the salary evaluation points look like (am I waiting six months for a potential increase or....?).

If they can't match...I probably will decline. I based my budget on what I was making before and it's not pretty as is. I literally can't afford to be paid any less. I was only making 30,200 that isn't a lot of money. Especially for living in a big city I think it's sad they work their other employees so hard and these coordinators aren't even making 30 grand.

We'll see. Who knows...maybe I won't get the job and this won't be an issue. I do want the job....but I have my doubts. The general attitude of the office...I wasn't made to feel very important or valued and I think while the interview is more impressed upon me and what I can bring to the table the company should be just as aware of what they can offer as well. Is that too much to ask?

Stateroute, please I need your advice. Scudly, others?