Well life just gave Nathan and me an odd twist. Nothing bad, just something that will change things and affect our lives based on my decision. However, technically I consider it our decision since it affects both of us. I’ll explain. Fair warning, it will be a little long. =P
I got offered a job. o_O It was quite startling since I was not looking for one. I have too much going on to even consider it. So I’m sure you all can imagine my surprise when I got called by the place I volunteer at.
Basically, one of the women there will be retiring in September. I knew she was older, I just didn’t know she was considering retiring this year. So she apparently made that official at the first of the month. I volunteer there infrequently, since I already put in the hours I needed to when I got my bachelors, so I was unaware of it.
I only work there maybe once a week if that. I just keep going there since I figured it couldn’t hurt to keep getting experience, that and they’re always needing help. My family is in PA, so working on the holidays so others can spend time with their families, was something I don’t mind doing.
Now I’m not done with school, so obviously I don’t want a full time job. That would be insane. They are aware of this of course, just as they are aware that I don’t have my Ph.D yet. But I do have my bachelors so that makes me more than qualified for what they do want.
So if I say yes, I would start working next month. The person who is retiring would spend the next three months training me to do her job. Three months since it would only be part time, fifteen to twenty hours a week. When she retires, I would still only work part time, at least until I get my Ph.D. At that point things would be reviewed and I would be moved to full time.
So honestly, this has me going… WTF? o_O I mean I understand why they looked for a student who has their bachelors but isn’t finished getting their Ph.D yet. With all the stupid budget cuts, it means they can offer me less since I’m not done yet. And with all the volunteers they get from the school, they can also do fewer hours too. That means no insurance, but that’s fine, since once I’m married, I would have insurance through where Nathan works. But still, this just came out of nowhere, or at least it feels like it.
Now there are some definite pros to this. The tuition rate keeps going up, all you students know what I mean, and the increase in my scholarship isn’t enough to match it. Part time work, even at lower pay (which is still decent enough) would really help to cover that gap.
Plus, I’d be working in my field. I have friends who are, no joke, working fast food while they hunt for something in their chosen field. Finding something right now is really, really tough. So I’d rather not end up doing the same thing. Technically I could not work at all since Nathan does well enough, but that would feel wrong to me. I didn’t go to school just to turn around and get married and never use what I’ve learned. I would go nuts.
So from an economic standpoint, I would be insane to turn it down. However, here’s where the con’s come in. Once I took over in the fall, most of my hours would end up falling on the weekend days that no one likes to work. If you think about it, that’s pretty fair since I am a student so having work separated from school as much as possible, is a good thing.
So my biggest con is it would make wedding plans a thousand times more difficult. I would no longer have holidays off. I was planning on getting married the day after Thanksgiving. They have said they would try to work things out, but it’s not that simple when you’re a paid employee vs. a volunteer.
So yeah, that’s the deal. I would have a job, but time off for the wedding and a honeymoon would be difficult. We’re already leaning towards accepting it. We have to decide by the end of this week. Nathan and I are thinking of either having a very brief ceremony with family only, or waiting until next year.
Or we could go ahead and get married in the summer before school starts and later have a reception with each family when we can visit them. We don’t know what we’re going to do just yet.
Anyway, in wedding news, I’m actually going to end up wearing my mother’s dress. It was her idea. The only drawback, I’m a little smaller than she is so it will have to be taken in so it will fit. It’s a beautiful dress so I really like the idea, even if it’s more modest than I would choose. =P At least Nathan hasn’t seen pictures of my parent’s wedding, so it would still be a surprise.
