TERMINATED, a personal life update

I was fired.

The organization, which depends on grants from foundations and citizen donations, has not taken in as much money lately. Wonder why? It's because we're in a deprecession. So they've been cracking down on people's fundraising requirement.

Canvassing is part of my former job. I was supposed to canvass (go door to door or stand on the street asking people for contributions) 25 days before the summer, at which point I would canvass all over everyone's ass for the entire summer. By that I mean, I would direct a canvass office. In years past, I've heard they hadn't fired people for sucking at canvassing. But this year, a bunch of people who weren't cutting it were given a week to prove they could average $120/day.

So I went to Chicago to prove myself. After 4 days, having only raised $90 total, they went ahead and fired me.

It's possible the org had other reasons for firing me, but I don't really think so. I bring it up because I wasn't actually incredibly effective at my job. Or maybe I was. The org motivates people by highlighting their inadequacy, so it's hard to tell when you actually did a good job. Also, my supervisor was in Chicago and was slow to respond to my voicemails, which I initially thought was great, but then towards the end, I realized I wasn't getting enough supervision (one check-in call per week), which meant that I didn't know what I was doing (not my fault--um, entry level staff in another state??) which meant that I didn't always succeed, which meant that I didn't always enjoy what I was doing. The paycheck pretty much became my motivation to keep the job toward the end. And my amount of motivation corresponded to my compensation, which should give you some indication as to how hard I tried when I raised an average of $22.50/day.

The bad news is that the job paid me and gave me health insurance. It was also a meaningful way to spend 8 hours of my day, working on issues close to my heart such as public transportation, financial regulation, and health care. Now I have to come up with something to replace it.

The good news is that the job paid me so very little. They could have paid me in like postage stamps or something for how much I made. What they did give me is valuable experience and training that I should be able to parlay into something that makes me feel warm inside and pays me in currency.

The other good news is that I worked in the midwest and am no longer tied to it. Well, Ann Arbor is a sweet place and it tries to be a city, and I like it, and supposedly it's beautiful in the spring/summer, but it was freezing cold (-15º??) when I was here and it's still a part of the midwest. Midwest=beer pong. That's how I would sum it up. I can now return to Utah=friends=social scene=girls+Protons=more girls=no money.

Oh, so my plan first though is to go visit some friends from work in Boston and try to get some interviews for jobs on the East Coast=DC, New York, Boston. I'm leaving bright and/or early tomorrow and driving there. I intend to be there 4 or 5 days, at which point I will drive back to Ann Arbor for one final relapse to pick up my stuff and drive back to Utah. At which point I will see you, probably, because if you're reading this, you're most likely one of my friends who lives in Utah.