Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
On May 31st, Small Dog decided they no longer needed two techs at the Manchester location. For various reasons, they decided that they no longer needed someone with 25 years experience who was certified in consumer and server product lines. No, instead they wanted someone younger, less experienced, and willing to work for less money. So, I was out.
I spent June looking frantically for a job. It’s scary out there, but I was hoping my Apple skills would help. I applied to work at one of the local Apple Stores, which didn’t go as well as I had hoped. The Salem and Nashua NH stores were not hiring outside candidates, so they sent me to the Burlington Mall store in MA. I thought the interview itself went well, but the store was full of kids half my age. Then I read an article that said Apple likes to hire young people who have drive and energy but no business knowledge. Skills can be taught, but passion comes from within. It also means they have no previous work experience to compare their current job to, and are willing to work for low pay. I saw a survey that said the average salary of an Apple Genius was $17 an hour in the Boston area, but the New York Times article contradicted that, saying one of the Geniuses at the Salem store made just $11.25 an hour. I was making more than that at Small Dog, so a lower pay plus Massachusetts taxes would be a demotion and a half. I was a bit disappointed that Apple decided they were not interested in me, but it was for the best.
I sent my resume to Systems Plus Computers in Lebanon NH. They were not hiring but I figured they’ll never hire me if I don’t send them a resume. Two days later I got a call from the service manager saying one of their Mac Techs was going part time to pursue a job with veterinary medicine, so they needed a replacement. I drove up for an interview on Friday, and was hired the following Monday. I started work there on July 2nd.
So, good news that I have a job, but bad news that it’s an hour or so away. We already knew that I would have to move anyway, since heating the place I am in now was ridiculously expensive last winter. I swear, finding an affordable apartment is harder than finding a job. Every place I have looked is either too expensive, too run down, in a bad neighborhood, or too far away from work. Many of the places I have seen are priced way too high for what they offer, but I guess the landlord figures they will get it because so many people are looking for rental property now that everyone’s losing their houses. Still, that doesn’t give anyone the right to charge $900 a month on a tiny place with rotting walls, moldy refrigerators, broken windows, and carpets that smell like cat piss.
We filed applications on three places so far. The first one was a nice little place in Grafton that used to be a school house; the woman renting it had lived there 10 years and was now renting it out. She liked us, we loved the place, but there would be trade-offs to live there: no cell service, and the only Internet provider was Fairpoint. She ended up renting it out to a young couple who were moving into their first place together. Odd thing is that they didn’t seem like they were going to last the entire term of the lease, yet she took a chance on them anyway. Her loss when they bail on the rent mid-winter. The second place was a nice apartment in Warner – new carpets, large rooms, but maybe 40 minutes to work. It was mid-way up Route 89 so Paula’s commute to visit wasn’t as bad. When we applied, we were told no one else had shown an interest. Two days later I get a call saying they rented it out to someone local who taught school and needed a place to stay in a hurry. But, they just happen to have a town house available for $220 a month more than the apartment. Yeah, take your bait and switch and shove it.
The latest place is a large apartment in Grantham. There are four apartments in the building, but because of the arrangement, we’re not sharing a wall with anyone. It has a nice kitchen, plenty of room for our furniture, and a bedroom and a half. It’s got Comcast high speed internet, which means I can work around sketchy cell service with Google Voice (or a mini-cell later on.) It has washer and dryer hookups so we can keep our front loaders. It’s 15 minutes to work. It has a yard and plenty of parking. It has everything we need. Now my fingers are crossed that this is THE place.
I have worked for Systems Plus for two weeks. I already love it, and I can tell they are all happy to have hired me. I came in with 18 months Mac repair experience plus certifications, so they didn’t even have to train me. It was pretty much “here’s your desk and some tools, go to it.” I’m still learning their process as far as paperwork is concerned, but that’s to be expected. Right now I am sharing a bench with the tech who is now part-time, but I keep running out of work space, so they are moving me to my own larger space on Monday. I like to work on 3-4 repairs at once, so I’ll finally have the room to do that. Yesterday I was sent out to do an installation for one of their larger customers, so I guess they have already decided I can be trusted to be professional.