Diary 31st Of July to 3rd August 2017

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Diary Monday 31st July 2017 The month dies today, though I at least got paid, if only to lose half the money to direct debit bill payments right away. I got lots of groceries in and caught up on preparing my talk on comics for Friday. Diary Tuesday 1st August 2017 A whole new month and the heart of a very cloudy Summer. Another quiet day dominated by bill payments. I got an interview call invited me to a sales centre dealing in energy advice for Thursday. More bill chopping my welfare payment down before my eyes today. Diary Wednesday 2nd August 2017 The community centre here in Preston is in the process of launching a book club and I was invited to help organize it. The first meeting was poorly attended with myself, the librarian who might be bringing in books for us and one other lady attending. We talked about our respective tastes in books and it was soon apparent that some readers in the group have adult learning issues so we may be reading children’s books and young adult material which I fine by me (I often read kids books anyway) though some readers hoping for more sophisticated books might feel held back. We are arranging further meetings to work around this and we really need to publicise the group more too to get it off the ground. My monthly bus pass, which saves me some money on fares, was due to run out today so I got a new one that will last me another four weeks. Diary Thursday 3rd August 2017 My job interview was quite early this morning and it was raining as the call centre proved awkward to locate in the midst of a remote anonymous looking business park. I was told before going that the job involved advising people on how to save on their energy bills. At the interview, after completing a reasonably short application form, I learned the truth. Things went badly from the start as the interviewer looked at my CV and decided that having had lots of job, I wasn’t someone who stayed with any company for long. I defensively pointed out that many of my jobs have been temporary agency casual trade positions. I was annoyed that the very same CV that had impressed him enough to bring me in for an interview was now used so negatively towards me. Then he explained the fine points of the vacancy. My role if successful, to convince the people cold called to invite someone into their home to assess their household energy needs, but with particular emphasise on getting them to change their windows as the company is just into selling its own brand of double-glazing. I’d be paid a meagre sum for my first four weeks before being expected to depend on commission only for successful glazing sales. At this point I shocked the interviewer by telling him that I had no desire to work for him, and I left. I disliked the whole deceptive approach I would have in getting someone into potential customer houses and my income depending how well the second sales team did even if I got someoe to let the sales reps in. As I waited for the interview I overheard the staff meeting where the manager who was about to interview me berated everyone for using the sugar provided for teas and coffees too quickly and telling them to cut down on usage or buy their own. So glad I walked out. I attended the job club in the afternoon, and got invited to their next Summer coach trip, to Skipton, in Yorkshire, later this month. I hope I am free to go there. Back home I finalized my script for the history of comics talk I’m giving tomorrow. Arthur Chappell