No Value!

Welp!

Once again it looks like I'm about to be unemployed.

A few days ago our workplace surprised us with an announcement that we'd be training an AI...very obviously to take over our jobs. So I did all that I could including

- Started aggressively applying for work elsewhere
- Continued doing as much work as I could at the existing job
- Signed up for all sorts of gig economy apps in preparation for unemployment
- Kept a careful eye on the company chats

Last night it was announced that there will be a "restructuring." Part of this will be the creation of eight full-time AI Quality Control Specialist positions...to replace the part-time Account Editor jobs (myself and my coworkers.) They are going to interview for the eight available positions this week, make their choices, and start their eight people on Monday.

I have to assume that this means if I'm not one of the few selected for full-time work, I'll be out of a job after the weekend.

So, if any of you have ideas for jobs--either remote or in/near Four Corners, Kissimmee, Clermont, or Orlando in Florida--I'd appreciate your suggestions.

Things that I'm already trying:

- Instacart (waitlisted)
- Doordash (waitlisted)
- Uber Eats (waitlisted)
- Amazon Flex (waitlisted)

- Papa Pal (Am already on their roster and will pick up work when it's available)
- Prolific (Already doing this, it only brings in pocket money at most)
- I have a Notary Public license that has thus far proved useless.

- Grocery stores (all including Target, Walmart, Publix, ALDI, Sprouts, Whole Paycheck, etc)
- Remote and in person data entry, admin, office
- Kennels and pet boarding, including previous workplaces
- All non-Disney theme parks, whatever jobs are available
- Government jobs for my local City/County, and attending a job fair next Friday for this as well
- Retail sales jobs that are not commission-based
- Checking tour, venue, and music-related sites for jobs (including local theaters, sports arenas, etc)
- Checking museums, tourist attractions, zoos, etc.
- I've applied to and passed several employment evaluations for transcription companies and have never once been actually called to do transcription, so please don't suggest this, I'm not going to waste time on it any more if there's no work in this field to be had.

...and I've applied for the existing position at my current job.

Things that I'm NOT doing right now:

- Waitressing/restaurants, because the pay is horrific + it's a massive energy suck, so I'm trying to avoid until I can't any more.
- Teaching music. I have a master's degree but absolutely zero teaching experience or background, this was never what I wanted to do with the degree or my life so please don't suggest this one.
- Overnight/3rd shift jobs. I will start applying to these if I have to but we're not at that point yet.
- Rideshare (Uber, Lyft): This would be a good option if I did not live in Orlando or if I lived anywhere near the airport. I may reconsider this later on if none of the food delivery options work out.
- Recertifying in something, out of my own pocket. If you would like to pay for my recertification by all means, PM me and we can set up a PayPal or Zelle deposit.

That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has suggestions to add to what I'm already doing, I'll listen and promise not to snark (for as long as I can, so until eighteen of you come to the comments to tell me I should be teaching.)

Also, if you have suggestions for things that a person who enjoys data entry might recertify in, that doesn't cost a fortune or years to qualify for and is not likely to be replaced by AI in the next five years, I'm all ears for that as well.

In the Toilet

I was up early on Monday but not 6am, because I'm already behind on hours + there is a work shortage. The AI has kind of messed a lot of things up, so the profiles it's touched are inaccessible to us right now. Of course. Go figure.

Not to be a pessimist but...I don't have a good feeling about this.

Because I'm an opportunist + constantly thinking way too far ahead, instead of eating breakfast first like normal I did an hour of work, just in case the little work available got snatched up. If I'm short on hours this week (which I will be) at least it won't be for lack of trying, and at least I want as many as I can get.

And lo, after just 1 hour 40 minutes of work we ran out of tickets to process. So it's good that I thought ahead or I'd have only gotten half that. While I waited to see if there'd be more work I applied for jobs, as many as I could find. Janitorial, grocery stores, office work, kennels, call centers. I'm still avoiding the restaurant industry like the plague if only because I know it'll be exhausting and it would mostly be nights. But if it comes down to it, those will be next.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

After lunch we had two wonderful surprises!

Surprise Number 1: Our second toilet showed up!

I am thrilled to death to have my own toilet again! (TMI WARNING: ....................... especially because my period just started!!................)
And it took the guy just 15 minutes to install it.

Surprise Number 2: My new trombone showed up!!

While the toilet was being installed the doorbell rang, and it was USPS with my Williams Model 6 trombone!
To catch you up if you haven't read my recent posts, a trombonist in New York wanted my Minick trombone and I wanted his Williams...both are rare trombones, so we agreed to an even trade. He should get the Minick on Wednesday.

Here are my two Williams trombones side by side. Mine is the one with the brown wrap on the neck and the darker finish.



It turns out that the serial numbers are only 29 digits apart! These trombones are incredibly close in age. I wondered whether they had been in Earl William's shop in California, back in the 50's, at the same time. Perhaps side by side on a display wall, or in cases on a shelf. And this could be a reunion for them, the first time they've been together since that time so long ago. It was a really nice thought.

Here is the master craftsman, Earl Williams, holding one of his horns (could it be one of mine?)


Considering that these horns were made around the same time, it is surprising and fascinating to see how differently they've weathered time. Mine has never had a repair (knock on wood!) and is in all-original condition, which is exceedingly rare. It had one owner before me who took incredible care of it and preserved it to the best of his ability. Despite those efforts, mine has intense lacquer wear which is why it has a darker color. It's also got chipping and pitting where you grip it, and the metal has worn so thin where the mouthpiece attaches that you can see the leadpipe underneath. But I love it. It's like a well-loved stuffed animal :)

James's trombone (Trombone Guy's name is James) has had a LOT of work done. There was damage done to the neck at some point, and ripples and dents in the brass where you can see soldering, patching, and refinishing repair work. The hand grip is not original, and looks like one of the grips made by Bob Williams (Earl Williams's son) and the bar where you hold the slide is also a replacement part. The leadpipe has been removed and/or is removable, which is a customization (Earl always had his leadpipes built in and not intended to be removed.) Finally, the whole horn has been relacquered, James thinks sometime in the 1960s (I think it was done later than that but won't argue.) All of that said, whoever did the repairs did an excellent job. Appearance-wise James's horn actually looks newer, but that's only because of the relacquer job.


Now for how it plays. I was startled to find that the "new" Williams sounds significantly different from my own Williams. I'm going to need more time to investigate, but my first impression was that compared to my horn, this one is more "mellow" and "centered." When I played the two horns back to back, mine felt somehow "raw"...it's hard to describe, it was like the sound from mine felt "sharper" than from the other Williams. The responsiveness of both horns, though, is excellent.

Ok you get the idea, I'm nerding out.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

I reeeeeally wanted to keep playing the trombones for like, the next four hours, but had to get back to work. It was very hard to focus! Then while I was working my boss from the Main Street Philharmonic texted to ask if I could do a full-day rehearsal tomorrow! YES!! I'm bringing the new horn and will play it! So excited!

I've got to remember to be careful, though, because James hasn't received the Minick yet. Even after it arrives safely I want to confirm that he's happy with it before considering the trade complete. I'd be careful of my own horns anyway, but will be EXTRA careful on the off chance that he changes his mind and wants the Williams back.

For dinner I made us a pork tenderloin which was just "ok," with potatoes and broccoli.
We watched the Home Run Derby and I packed for my impromptu rehearsal day tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Disney rehearsal was fine. We played through the Halloween music and that was fun.
Cruella de Vil! Poor Unfortunate Souls! Grim Grinning Ghosts! Pink Elephants on Parade!
There are only four pieces, I wish there were more!

After that Kristen (trumpet) and I were left alone to practice/memorize, and we both got to play two sets in the park because she hadn't done the Frozen Medley yet and I hadn't done Prince Ali. It was nice to get those locked in. It was hideously hot with a heat index of 105°F, but since I wasn't there as a working sub I had plenty of time to cool off and relax. And so did the guys, because their last two sets were canceled due to thunderstorms/lightning. Sweet!

It was my first rain day at Disney. I enjoyed seeing people coming and going in ponchos, muttering about keeping their costumes dry (even fast food servers have such elaborate costumes here) and trading rumors about the duration of the storm.

After rehearsal I came home, ate grocery store sushi and chatted with Jameson. Eventually he started watching the Home Run Derby and/or whatever competitions that entails. I'm not a baseball fan but do find it fun to watch.

Unfortunately for me I got some really bad work news. Well, potentially really bad.

Basically, my employer is "restructuring" around their new AI.
And as part of that "restructuring" they've decided to "replace" all of the 30-some part-time, contracted Account Editors (that's me) with just eight full-time "Quality Control Specialists." They are going to select their eight employees from among us by the end of the week, and start them on Monday.

I am highly likely to be out of a job in the next five days.

Great! Just great. I expressed interest in the new position because I feel there's no other choice if I want to be employed come Monday, and because I most certainly could do the job. And I spent the rest of the night applying to jobs like a crazy person, just anything I came across that looked like something I could do. Each application takes a LONG time to fill out, so I only probably got five-or-so sent before 10pm.

I will wait until Monday to see if my employer will keep me as a full-time employee. And if they don't, I'll have to do Prolific surveys and Papa Pal work until I can find something. I don't know what else to do.

Was really hoping...well it's stupid to even say what I was hoping. I'm worth nothing and here's the proof. All that's left is to go as far as one can go on one's own fuel when one is not wanted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, as you can imagine I didn't wake up in the shiniest mood. Up at 6am of course, because even if I'm getting shit-canned I want to get as many hours as possible on my way out.

While Jameson was at the gym I vacuumed and checked on my bananas. They're looking good, I think I might actually get to have edible fruit, finally, after like four years!


For dinner I made us an interesting recipe from iRick, it's another keto one but higher in protein so I'm ok with it :p
It's an air fryer empanada, made with ground chicken as the "crust"! The filling on these was "Jalapeno popper" so cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and chopped jalapeno, and the outside was coated with Parmesan and a little dry ranch seasoning powder. For mine I used vegan cream cheese (lactose intolerant.) They were very delicious. We are planning to make a chicken parm version, a chicken pot pie version, etc etc.


--------------------------------------------------------------

The good: we got our toilets installed finally, I got a beautiful trombone, I had an unexpected and enjoyable Disney rehearsal, we had tasty keto empanadas.

The bad: the existential crisis of suddenly having my financial security plummet out from under me. That, and James was supposed to get the Minick today and it got delayed, and now he may not get it until Friday. I'm very stressed out about it and just want him to get it, and approve of it, so I can consider the new Williams my own.

Thursday: Taking the trombones to my local guy so he can have a look, clean them up, and of course enjoy playing them. + work and job applications.

Friday: workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork apply for jobs workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork apply for jobs. Possible interview for the full time spot, if the have any interest in me.

Weekend: more of the same + hopefully a drink.

Monday: unemployment, I assume.