Tuesday, June 05, 2007

on deck

I'll be at
here
on June 19th. It looks pretty slick and I'm afraid I'm going to be out of place with my messy little felt dolls. But who knows...

I had a second interview yesterday with a store that sells paper and Gocco supplies. And it's lovely. And the people who work there are lovely. But the pay is incredibly bad.

I would start at what I made 9 years ago basically, and lose 1/3 of my income which is scary.
It might be too scary to make the leap.

Here are some +/- of the situation.

+ cute store
+nice area (probably wouldn't find dead hookers, used condomns and human feces-smeared socks outside of the store. All of which have been found outside of the prop shop. Hey, both places have the initials "PS".)
+learn skills like letter press and book binding
+there would be opportunities to grow and take on to earn more money.
+hours are from 10-7
+they have air conditioning (the work room at the prop shop can get up to 103 degrees in the summer, and this winter with one heater down, it wouldn't get above 54 degrees)
+probably wouldn't be as tired when i got home.

-if i chose to bus, then metro, then bus it would take about an hour and 20 minutes. which means if i work until 7, i won't be home until 8:30 and having dinner at 9
-i would absolutely have to take on at least one more part time job, and i wanted to get out of the job i have now so i can work more on my own art stuff. and i'm not going to sew on the bus. i'm sorry, but i'm just not.
- no sick days. limited health insurance (no vision...which i don't need, but i do enjoy a good sick day every now and again)
-i am by myself. i have no one to fall back on if i get behind in bills which i am barely making right now i would be completely screwed.

which i think maybe sums up what i need to do.
there's no way i can cut $10,000 out of my yearly pay and still live. there's just no way.
I would never see my friends, I'd be constantly worried about money that I would do nothing but work 24-7. Is that the kind of life I want?

But do I want to work in a 100 degree work room in the summer....

oh lord, help?

4 comments:

stinkybomb said...

that's a whole lotta stuff to take in. I would really hate to see anyone take a cut in salary. Only to need take on a second job. The perks do sound good but I feel the cons have me sold.
I wish you the very best in making this tough choice.

tinaseamonster said...

can't you get AC at your current work? you should complain nicely or tellt hem you have asthma and need AC.

Charming Vices said...

Why can't life be simple? The store seems like a good opportunity to learn new things but the cons are huge. I know it is a serious choice but your post was so hilarious. I love how you summed up the situation!

Unknown said...

H. forwarded your blog to me because I know what it feels like as an artist to want to give oneself to that passion but to have to balance that desire with the need to earn a living. It sucks to want out of a “great” job especially when one is good at it, but if you feel that way, you have to pay attention. On the other hand, some people insist that any decision is better than no decision, but I don’t think that applies here. The paper shop job isn’t a good enough alternative. Meanwhile be careful not to be too impulsive; do your best to make the current situation work a little better. (Plenty of people at my workplace buy and lug in their own small heaters and/or fans—and this is a big college that should provide better working conditions.)
Here’s a suggestion: write a “resume” and/or “cover letter” (Ask H--she and D seem to have that down) that describes the tasks that you listed for me at Artomatic when I asked you what you wanted to do and believe you would be good at. You need to identify the places to contact. Maybe the book, The 100 Best Art Towns in America (John Valanti ?) would be of some help or you could post a resume on Monster.com. (Perhaps a zillion people already suggested that.)