I am going to be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this July. Camp, unlike regular NaNo, lets me write on something already in progress. So I am going to be continuing the adventures of Emily, my road-tripping protagonist. In anticipation of new letters from Emily, I am going to be posting a letter or two a day between now and July 1st so all of her letters will be on the blog. She is wandering about the country in a somewhat circular, clockwise fashion, so if you have any advise for her or suggestions of towns to visit along her route, please let her (and me) know in the comments. We are always looking for new places to explore!
Letter #1
Dear Rowan, April 1 Bend, OR
So, I quit my job today. I know, a
little abrupt, but what can I say, that is my news. Well, that and the fact I
am going to move, but that goes along with the whole quitting-of-job thing. And it is not an April Fool's joke, I think the joke has been me pretending that I was going to get anywhere staying in this town. I
quit my job because I just can't take people screaming and whining at me all day any
more. I feel like that job was sucking my soul out through my headset. At first
it was not so bad, there are always good customers and bad customers. But it
seems like the longer you work at a job like that the more jaded and bitter you
get, and the less you care about what other people want or what their problems
are. The bad customers stay with you and it gets harder and harder to recognize
or remember the good ones. My last customer was a man who apparently just
called to complain and insult whoever he got on the phone. When he decided to
stop insulting the company and start insulting me personally, just because I
was the person he got on the line, I'd had it. I asked him several times what he
was calling about and offered to help him with whatever the issue was, but he
just exploded. And when I said that I was trying to keep the call professional
and that I would appreciate it if he would too, he started cussing. So I took
of my headset and walked out. I didn't even put him on hold. I wonder how long
it took for someone to figure out there was a line still open. I wonder if he
even noticed I had left, he didn't give me time to talk when I was on the
phone, so I'm guessing that he kept going for a while.
My boss called me after a few hours
to see what had happened, and if I was going to come in tomorrow. What a place,
when you can leave a customer hanging on the phone, walk out the door, and not
get fired for it. At least they know that the job is that rough. I told my Sup I
was done and I hope to never have to put on a headset again. He said he was
sorry to see me go, but he understood where I was coming from. He is a
supervisor after all, and hasn't had to do more than a few hours of phone time
a month for at least a year. I don't think he could stand to go back on the
lines full time again either. Once you're out you recognize how bad it was while
you were in it, or at least that is what all the other guys I know who've
already quit have told me. I'm not sure if I hope it is true or not, it might
be too traumatic to look back at this job and see it as worse than it felt
while I was working. Working felt bad enough!
But that is that, I am now
unemployed. And I will never, ever, work at a place like that again. I think I
need to do something big though. I mean, quitting my job was big, but I think I
need a life change. I am going to move. And not just a down-the-block or
across-town move, I'm thinking a whole different state move. Not even in the
same part of the country, I want a complete change of scenery. I don't even
know where yet, I think I will just throw a dart at the map and go where it
lands as long as it is far enough away. Wherever I go has got to be better than
here, right? I mean, this isn't even home, its just where I ended up
after college. So much for moving for the job with the amazing promotion prospects. A job that got downsized, what,
three months after I moved? So this time I am moving for . . . Well, I don't
know what I'm moving for, but I know I have got to move or I will just end up incredibly overqualified in another dead end job doing mindless work for some other outsourced company.
What do you think, any states you're particularly fond of? I have no place in
mind, so a suggestion is as good as a dart. But don't suggest that I come live
with you, or that I go home. I am out here in the world and I want to stay out
in the world until I can prove, to myself at least, that I can make it out
here. I want to be somebody on my own account, not because my folks or my
friends got me set up somewhere.
I will be moving most of my stuff
into storage until I find a place to land, so if there is anything you want to
long-term-borrow, let me know. My fridge is huge, and the washer and dryer both
work great. I think I will rent this place out, rather than sell it. I know its
a little house, but at least its a house and not an apartment, so somebody has
got to think it would be better than having side-wall neighbors, or upstairs
neighbors with kids and a large dog, or oversensitive downstairs neighbors who want you to tiptoe in socks all the time. I mean, there are certainly worse places
than here. Hey, for that matter, if you want a change of scenery too, you could
move in here, then you could have the fridge, the washer and dryer, and even
the lawn gnomes! Not that I am encouraging you to quit your job, pull up
stakes, and move somewhere completely different too, I mean, a plan like that
is completely crazy. Who would do such a thing?
Enough about me and my insanity. How
is your job going? Better than mine, I hope. Is life treating you ok in your
neck of the woods? I know we haven't kept in touch much since graduation,
but life just seems to get in the way sometimes and things and people just fade
away once they are not right there with you any more. It's not like you mean for it to, its just that somehow keeping up ties just gets moved to a back
burner while more immediate life issues need taken care of. And sometimes you
forget what got pushed aside for a while. But I promise I will write you all
about my new grand life adventure. Writing is so much easier than calling for
me. I mean, you don't need me to call you with every single thing I do every
day, and letters are just fun to get in the mail. For now my address will be
the same old place, and of course there will be mail forwarding when I first
get a new address, so letters shouldn't be a problem.
And I have to ask the guy
question? Is there one? Are there several? Not that I have anyone in mind, I'm
just nosy. Obviously there is no such guy in my life at the moment, I mean the
guys at work were sweet and all, except for the few utterly repugnant ones that
are mandatory in that sort of job, but they were buddy-type guys, not
boyfriend-type guys. But that just makes it easier to pick up and go, right? No
guy to worry about or hang around town for. And the guy of my dreams might be
waiting in whatever town I land in, pining away because he has never found the
right girl, he has never found me! But this is the twenty first century, and I
need to go find him, after all. We modern girls have to do all the work now, no
more playing princess in the tower. Although I have always thought it would be
cool to live in a tower. Or at least a house with a turret. Or maybe one of
those upper-story bay windows with the built-in reading bench. Maybe I will
look for a place with one of those in my next town. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
But enough of my ramblings for now.
The point is that I quit my job, and I am going to move. I will move far away
and start over and things have got to get better in that new as-yet-undecided
place. That's the goal at least, and I am going to believe that it will
be true, and I am going to make it come true, dang it! If I can't make life
work out for me where I am and doing what I have been doing, then I need to make
a change. Since I already tried other jobs here, with no better results, then
it is only logical to try changing locations. Have I talked you into believing
me yet? Because I am not entirely sure I have talked myself into it, but I am
doing it, either way. And here I am rambling again, right after I said enough
of my rambling. Oh well, it is me, after all. I have never claimed to be brief
or succinct in my letters. Or in my conversations, really, but right now I will
just concern myself with my ramblings and randomness in writing, since my
conversations are random in completely different ways.
While I have said that I am
absolutely moving, which is true, I would still greatly appreciate your advice
or support or comments or whatever, really. Just to know there is someone out
there who knows what I am doing and has some part in the decisions of my life.
And then I can blame you rather than myself if things go horribly wrong! Or you
could get in an "I told you so," not that I will every admit it, but
you could say it.
Well, here I go off to begin my great
relocation! I will tell you all about it as soon as there is something to tell.
Write me soon!
Your friend,
Emily
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