Recently, I got two part-time gigs. I'm a freelancer, so I'm not an employee at either place. Neither one is my ideal job, in any way. But it's money.
Today, I was talking to the woman in charge at one of these places. She's been training me, and she's been very nice. We were talking about a workshop that's going to take place on Friday. She asked me about my skills in speaking the local language, since the people who signed up for the workshop are local. She doesn't expect me to have complete fluency, or to be able to understand complex sentences, but I did come to realize that she wants me to stand up and make a 20-minute speech without reading off a paper. (I had thought that this would be acceptable, to read the speech, but she says it's not.)
Furthermore, this workshop involves children. I am not a kid person, not by any standards. The parents will be there, but I am still not a kid person. I've never worked with them, don't know what to do with them, and the thought of having to entertain kids in addition to everything else is damn near horrifying.
I came home and started looking for other jobs. Preferably, full-time. What bothers me is, I was only hired a few weeks ago. I had my doubts about the job even then (spending a fair amount of time on my feet, for one thing), and that was before I found out that I would have to be dealing with children.
I'm torn. The woman who is training me is one of the owners of the business. She's been nice, but today the way she talked and acted was different. I can't quite put my finger on it. She told me to dress nicely and wear my hair nicely, which makes me wonder just how ratty she thought I looked. She's never made any comments about my appearance before. And the whole thing about the speech before the workshop...
I don't like the idea of quitting a job after just a few weeks, and I do worry about how she'll take it, but the more I think about it, the more I think that this is my best option, even though it means making less money in the short term. What are your thoughts?
Today, I was talking to the woman in charge at one of these places. She's been training me, and she's been very nice. We were talking about a workshop that's going to take place on Friday. She asked me about my skills in speaking the local language, since the people who signed up for the workshop are local. She doesn't expect me to have complete fluency, or to be able to understand complex sentences, but I did come to realize that she wants me to stand up and make a 20-minute speech without reading off a paper. (I had thought that this would be acceptable, to read the speech, but she says it's not.)
Furthermore, this workshop involves children. I am not a kid person, not by any standards. The parents will be there, but I am still not a kid person. I've never worked with them, don't know what to do with them, and the thought of having to entertain kids in addition to everything else is damn near horrifying.
I came home and started looking for other jobs. Preferably, full-time. What bothers me is, I was only hired a few weeks ago. I had my doubts about the job even then (spending a fair amount of time on my feet, for one thing), and that was before I found out that I would have to be dealing with children.
I'm torn. The woman who is training me is one of the owners of the business. She's been nice, but today the way she talked and acted was different. I can't quite put my finger on it. She told me to dress nicely and wear my hair nicely, which makes me wonder just how ratty she thought I looked. She's never made any comments about my appearance before. And the whole thing about the speech before the workshop...
I don't like the idea of quitting a job after just a few weeks, and I do worry about how she'll take it, but the more I think about it, the more I think that this is my best option, even though it means making less money in the short term. What are your thoughts?
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