Nobody's Bitch

So through a random set of circumstances I got back in touch with an old former employer and he invited me to come in and work starting today. He didn't use the word work, just "you can learn stuff while you're waiting", waiting for a real job I guess.

I came in, got acquainted with everyone, and basically started producing valuable work. At around 3, just as I was about to ask to speak to him, he calls me in to his office to chat. Fine so I sit down and right off I start asking him if this is a job or a volunteer position. Basically he tells me I'm working for free for three weeks just to maybe be considered for a position afterwards. This didn't sit well at all. Then he went on and on about the great projects and interesting things that they've got lined up, and how there are lots of Waterloo grads who are *dying* to volunteer. I sat there and got a sore neck from nodding so much, all the while I was steaming mad that someone would try to take advantage of me like that, especially a trusted former employer.

For some reason, I didn't raise my concerns right away, I sat back in my shit-coloured cubicle and stared at the screen. Couldn't write another single line of code. I sat there for half an hour and decided I'd better speak to him some more. So I went back to his office and said that the whole setup is not sitting well with me. And so we politely debated for a while, him saying that this is standard hiring practice for the company, me saying that it's not something I'm willing to do. Eventually it wound down and I shook his hand and left. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you nuts, don't ever be shy about talking money up front, if you know that you're worth something, then don't let people take advantage of your potential naivete just because you're young and lacking "real world" experience. I'm pretty satisfied with how I handled things, although I am becoming jaded with the whole work thing, I haven't even had a job yet and already it's sucking the life out of me.

One small step for man...

Today we saw the successful launch of the manned SpaceShipOne private commercial craft. It soared 100km above the Earth for 3 minutes of weightlessness and then sailed back to the Mojave desert airport from which it came.

A little later in the day I went out with a girl and did some exploration too, in the front seat of the starship Corolla. Captain Kirk would have been proud!