I've been kind of not looking for work for a while now. But unlike the last time I was unemployed for a stretch of months I'm not getting that cabin fever feeling that made me want to get out and back into the work force. On the one hand I doubt I could find a job in Quebec for another anglophone dominant employer that can pay as well as Aldo did.. so even bothering to look was beyond my ability. I couldn't convince myself of a less than marginal probability of success.
And on the other.. well.. the other option is to work with a francophone dominant employer. NOT INTERESTED.
Having to speak french at Aldo was all but mandatory because we have french employees at stores that needed support. But that's nothing like having french co-workers and a french boss to communicate with on a daily basis.
Because that actually became a thing by the end of things with Aldo.. it was like proof that all they cared about was pushing the anglos out. Or maybe it was that she was a raving bitch.. who cares.
Meaning I really really didn't want to explore that option. The other option was moving to Canada. One of those real Canadian provinces that don't have cultural issues. Just racial ones. I could probably deal with those.
Ottawa was out because it's too small and.. well just too small. And Toronto was just too big. Otherwise I don't have family anywhere else in the country so I'd be going at it alone. At least it would be easier in english-speaking Canada.
And well as much as I like some french TV shows (most recently Les Revenant and Le Bureau des Legendes).. working in french has no appeal to me.
Not, mind you, that my french is bad or anything.. it's just been close to 20 years since I was in a french class. Had you asked me last week I would have said getting a french job starting with a year old english CV.. I would have said.. nah that couldn't possibly work. This is Quebec!
I got an email on Friday and replied to it. Less than an hour later I got a call from a recruiter who is like.. we should get coffee later today. That would have meant a phone interview on Monday. Today I had a interview from their client. They are looking for an equipment installation technician. I can do that.
He kept asking what I wanted in terms of salary and I'm like I don't care. Which is my usual response because I don't.
But my phone died. So I switched to my tablet.
Literally two minutes later the recruiter tried to call. But my phone was dead so I called him from my tablet instead (thank Google for Google Voice).
He wasn't leaving messages so I called him back. He's like lucky you, the client likes your work experience and would like you to start soon.
I'm like ok wtv.
But I need a new phone. He'd also suggested I dress nice.. I'm like suggestions? He's like business casual until you know what the environment is like then do wtv.
Trying to work with a 3 year old Nexus, as of exactly next month, running an out dated version of Android.. with a flaky battery isn't going to cut it. Especially not when I'm not on a data plan and trying to use Google Voice to get out of having a monthly bill.
I'm going to have to step my phone game up. Get out of the stone age and get a real phone. Of course I'm still planning to use Google Voice because of the above situation.
Funny because late last week I went fake Ubering my landlord/roommate to the mall so he could pick up his expensive new phone.
The phone itself, an iPhone, and it's plan.. are ridiculously expensive. Worse is the amount more he has to spend to be able to carry it with him to the states for work.
I explained how Google spoiled me on that too because, being an american service, and not exactly legal in Canada, it would still be free for me to use it when and if the company sending me to work soon needs me to work across the border. We'll see how that goes.
But I just can't even stomach the amount of money people burn paying a carrier when GV runs a similar, and often times better set of services.. for free. The only trouble with it really is the call quality is horrifically bad. Not unusable but just really bad. Bad enough that if they DID allow us to pay for the service, I'd imagine the majority of users would jump at premium GV with better call quality.
As an object example though of a critically important call that I didn't miss because of Google Voice I can't consider a carrier phone and plan. They are trash. Had I been using a carrier mobile phone service I would have missed it. I don't think it would have impacted my getting the job since he was calling to confirm I got it, it still wouldn't look good.
Being able to reply back via SMS immediately is nice but being able to call back right away from another device? I can't step away from that.