A couple of good things

[Tomato]

I know it's really unusual for me to come on here with good news about my life (I'm really not that bad usually, but my life took a falcon punch to the nuts for a while there) buuuut... I have somewhat good news. After about two weeks of stressing about none of the applications for medical jobs seemingly going anywhere and worrying about whether or not to apply for unemployment or get a crappy retail job just to get by, I got interview request from two of the separate hospitals I applied to.

Now, the jobs aren't perfect here... they're part-time, and I'm going in just as a Phlebotomist so it's not like I'm getting doctor pay or anything. But it gets me in the door, and it looks a hell of a lot better on resumes than "Taco Bell" does. I'm a bit nervous about the interviews, but I'm confident enough in my skills at phlebotomy that I *should* be fine... but for those of you who believe in prayer, I could use it 

That said, I would also warn people not to do anything on a particular level of stupid the next few days. While it's not nearly as important as "I might have a job!" Mattel has been issuing statements about most of their upcoming DC toy lines being cancelled due to "poor sales." As a toy collector who bought almost every single 4" YJ figure as soon as it became available (only exception being one of the Wal-mart exclusives, and those were just pointless), almost all of the GL Classics and Movie Masters, much of the Batman Legacy line, ~30 DCUC figures, AND subscribed to this year's Club Infinite Earths... well, disappointed is an understatement.

[BentonGrey]

You got it 'Mato, we'll keep you in our prayers.  That's good news man!  It may not be perfect, but I always say, 'work is work.'  That's nothing to sneeze at.  Hopefully this is the beginning of a new, brighter chapter my friend.  Congratulations on getting the interviews, that by itself is pretty awesome.  Good luck man!

[thalaw2]

Will keep you in prayers. 

You might want to explain Phlebotomist for those members what don't know all them fancy medical terms.  Of course I don't need a explanation...why just the other day I was walking down the street and thought...that's a lovely Phlebotomist over there.  You see I use those fancy Latin terms alls the times.  Yesir, ya gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to get one over on me.

[BentonGrey]

Haha.....that made me chuckle.

[Tomato]

It means I'm a vampire.



No, seriously, Phlebotomy is the medical term for taking blood from patients.

[Deaths Jester]

It means I'm a vampire.



No, seriously, Phlebotomy is the medical term for taking blood from patients.

And you call me a dirty undead thing!  At least I don't drain victims blood!!!

[Tommy Troy]

CG on the job!  Getting a job during a depression is no small accomplishment. 

I only hope that all you work won't be in vein....   

[ow_tiobe_sb]

That said, I would also warn people not to do anything on a particular level of stupid the next few days.

You might want to define "stupid" for those members who either warrant that modifier or who simply do not know when to suppress the urge to submit a post that warrants that modifier. (Case in point.)

Good luck, lad.

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[BentonGrey]

CG on the job!  Getting a job during a depression is no small accomplishment. 

I only hope that all you work won't be in vein....

Ohhh....it hurts, it hurts....

[murs47]

Phlebotomy and collectable figures....you somehow managed to intertwine the two in a topic. Amazing.

[deano_ue]

It means I'm a vampire.



No, seriously, Phlebotomy is the medical term for taking blood from patients.

so you finally admit it huh, so do you sparkle as well you big fairy

[Tomato]

I have know idea what you're talking about TUE. Vampires that sparkle? Such nonsense.




[chant] ThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilightThereisnoTwilight[/chant]

[Cyber Burn]

Best of luck 'Mato. I'll throw some prayers your way.

[Tomato]

So, first of my two job interviews went fairly well I think. I definitely showed that I wasn't some ignorant yuk off the street, as I clearly knew most of the big stuff already ("Ask name and date of birth", "make sure tubes are labeled" that sort of thing). Supposed to hear back from them in about a week, fingers crossed and all that.

The second job is a bit more complicated... after playing a bit of drawn-out phone tag with them to get the details right, I ended up scheduled for two interviews: A one hour phone interview at 11am next Monday, and an on-site interview next Tuesday at 11:30.

So yeah, I get to look forward to stressing out about both the interview I had AND the interview I'm having the rest of this week. Fuuuuun.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Best of luck to you there Tomato.  Although to be honest it all sounds a bit dodgy if you ask me.  'Taking' blood from patients is it?  I know your game son.  In fact I think there were a few phlebotomists in my old school...

[Podmark]

Good luck Tomato.

Now about all this blood...what do you do with it? Is cloning involved? Are you the Jackal?

[The Hitman]

Good luck with the new job, Mato! And from one DC Universe Classics collector to another, I am throwing all my hope befind the line not getting cancelled!

[Cyber Burn]

Good luck Tomato.

Now about all this blood...what do you do with it? Is cloning involved? Are you the Jackal?

Cloning??? Keep him away from Murs.

[Tomato]

Good luck with the new job, Mato! And from one DC Universe Classics collector to another, I am throwing all my hope befind the line not getting cancelled!

I'm pretty sure it's cancelled regardless of what they do at this point... DC hasn't exactly treated its properties well of late, and Mattel has taken the brunt of a lot of it. They oversold the heck out of the Green Lantern film, which bombed, they've been selling not one, but TWO lines of YJ figures for a year now, only to have over half the season delayed for "DC Nation" so Kids weren't buying the toys... it's been a mess. And it's probably not helped at all by DC's little "New 52" nonsense, not only because the new "modernized" DC flies right in the face of everything DC Universe CLASSICS stands for, but also because I suspect DC leaned on Mattel to start pushing out new 52 figures before they were really ready to.

Conversely, Hasbro (Marvel toys) has had a pretty good run of late... the addition of the Marvel universe and the smaller movie lines means they can make more characters, spend less money on materials, and generally make more money (something Mattel has outright REFUSED to do, because "small toy lines are only for kids, and kids don't want articulated, detailed figures; they only want pointless gimmicks!"), Marvel's movies have been pretty much back to back successes of late, AND they just brought back the Marvel Legends line, which pretty much set the standard for how comic book figures should be made.

So yeah, Mattel has had it's butt kicked this last year. I hope we'll see some better luck with TDKR and with Club IE, and that the time away will give them time to get their sheet in order for DC All Stars or whatever other name the line takes from here on out... but we'll see. Mattel hasn't exactly been the sharpest tool in the shed of late, if what I'm hearing from TUE and other collectors is right.

Edit: Well, on the upside, I checked Matty's official site and it does sound like most of the YJ figures that were previewed (Artemis, Green Lantern, Superman) have already been produced, and the others (Manta, Cap Marvel, Red Arrow, Freeze) mightpossiblyperhaps end up on their website "no promises though."

Edit2: Firstly, I dug a bit deeper and discovered that the "one and only wave of 2012" Mattel kept talking about was not DCUC wave 20, since supposedly that "last wave" comes out in August. Second, I was able to find and purchase the least interesting characters in the last YJ wave on Ebay (GL and the green Robin variant) so hopefully Superman and Artemis will start filtering  through and I'll at least be able to include them.

[Tomato]

... so, for those still wondering: Yes, I'm now more or less back in the work force.

The "problem" I have now is the opposite of what I had before: I've accepted one of the positions already, and I'm still interviewing for the other one. Thing is, I like the first one more... I get more hours, but it's a lower end job (Phlebotomy vs full Medical Lab Tech) so I get paid significantly less per hour. However, because the first is at a full hospital (second is a clinic) there's also more room for growth in the long term. However, the second is more fluid in terms of what hours I can take if I want, and it is a full lab position. On top of that, because it's a smaller clinic, they'd be training me to help other sections if necessary, which would give me a broader experience in the medical field, on top of the fact that the job pays more (21/hr vs 14/hr) and is a full Med Lab position.

Personally, my preference is to go with either just the first (because as I said, there's more chance for me to make an actual career there) or a combination of both temporarily since they're both part time. However, I was wondering if any of you had an opinion on the matter.

P.S. I apologize for being misleading with regards to mattycollector hosting YJ stuff... the retail guys keep saying they wanna stock the last few YJ products on the website, the website people keep saying retail is the best shot. It's... annoying.

[Cyber Burn]

Going from my own past experiences, I would be careful about jumping into a job strictly for the money. Take your time, figure out which would be best in the long run, and go from there. You're fortunate that you're young enough to benefit from this, whichever direction you go, best of luck.

[Tomato]

... Except I'm not... I'm taking the one that pays less short term because I think it'll be better long term. 

[Cyber Burn]

Apologies, I must have mis-read, I thought you were still deciding.

[Tomato]

Well to be fair, I may not have been clear about my meaning: I wasn't deciding whether to take the more career based job (that one I've already accepted), I was just deciding whether or not to do the higher-paying job on top of the other one because both are part time at the moment.

Either way, it's not going to happen now. Even if I do manage to get the second job after the interview I had today (it wasn't BAD per se, but it didn't go nearly as well as the other one) there are a number of issues I have with the job itself that make me very uneasy (First job- Eh, you might have to do a few non-job specific things like moving boxes or whatever, but for the most part you're doing the job we hired you for; Second Job- Oh, btw, we'll need you to go through a month of training so you can not only do your difficult and mentally-draining lab job, but also when you're not overwhelmingly busy you can help all these other sections when we don't staff enough people to handle the work load.) not to mention a total lack of benefits compared to the first job.

[Podmark]

Well the way it sounds it seems you made the right choice. Good luck with the job Mato.

[BlueBard]

Be sure to save this for your memoirs, Tomato:  "The Launching of a Phlebotomist: Avoiding The Splatter"

Grats!

[BentonGrey]

Be sure to save this for your memoirs, Tomato:  "The Launching of a Phlebotomist: Avoiding The Splatter"

Grats!

Haha, good luck 'Mato!