Wednesday June 27 Preparing for an interview

Primo and I are both as stressed as we can be. I got an email from Company A (Company B?) yesterday that they do want to interview me in person. This is the company that made me take the online intelligence test, a test that included 30 minutes of word problems, which I could have knocked out with no problem when I was 13 but have not practiced in a while. Here's an example:

If Steven can mix 20 drinks in 5 minutes, Sue can mix 20 drinks in 10 minutes, and Jack can mix 20 drinks in 15 minutes, how much time will it take all 3 of them working together to mix the 20 drinks?

The company informed me that I would be re-tested.

Great.

So I spent three hours yesterday practicing word problems.

I did math while I stressed out about the offer from the first company. It's not very much money and the benefits stink. They have a waiting period for the health insurance! You don't get coverage until the first of the month following 30 days of employment! I have never worked at a place with a waiting period. Waiting periods are for low-level, high-turnover jobs. It's almost an insult. That, plus the crummy plan - $2,500 deductible - makes my stomach hurt. Which is not a good thing if you don't have good health insurance.

One of the reasons I need a job ASAP is so that if Primo takes a leave of absence, we'll have the health insurance. He can keep his insurance while he's on a LOA, but he has to pay the entire premium for the entire time he'll be off in advance. Which would be a couple thousand dollars.

This is getting complicated.

And Primo is worried because he knows life will be very tough for his co-workers when he is gone. They are down to half the people they had five years ago but the amount of work has stayed the same. He does not want to burden his friends at work with additional work.

I don't know the answer to that one.

Anyhow, I have an in-person interview with the other company in 84 minutes. At 9:00. I have been up since 5:00 a.m. I couldn't sleep. Couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up, made my coffee, put the cats in the furnace room - they think that if I am up, they should be in the kitchen eating and then should have full roaming rights in the bedroom, but Primo was still asleep, and worked some more on interview prep. After I read "Miss Manners" online, of course.

Cross your fingers for me. They are closer, they wear jeans to work, parking is free instead of $100 a month, and the minimum salary we discussed, although still low, is 20% higher than the salary I have been offered at Company A (or B - I can't remember). Plus they are a software company, which means they recruit tech people, which means they probably have no waiting period for their benefits.