People Leaving

My mentor is moving away! The woman who looked over me for my two years of student placement. She laid the foundation of who I would be professionally, and now she's moving to a faraway land!

I actually knew this would be happening for a while now. She occupies a couple of positions I was hoping to muscle in on after she left. But apparently she decided to firm up a leaving date right after I became employed full time *eyetwitch*

It actually stings a bit more than I thought it would. It's too bad we won't have any professional overlap anymore.

I've got a neighbour who is terminally ill with cancer. She's this elderly woman who has been my next door neighbour since I moved into where I am. She's had cancer for as long as I've known her, but she's got the tough kind of personality that always made you think she was unbreakable and going to live forever. Did I mention on my blog that when I didn't have Internet when I first moved in, and was camping at the nearest Tim Horton's for their free WiFi, a neighbour gave me her WiFi address? Yeah, that was her. I also may have mentioned that I preferred this neighbourhood over my old even though my old one was more high-end, because in this one, people took an interest in you, even for completely mundane things. You could buy a jar of peanutbutter and someone would ask you what you had, and later that day, someone different would mention they heard you had peanutbutter. Likewhys, if you stepped out on your porch you could be sure to be roped into a conversation detailing the happenings of every household in the complex. My ailing friend had a lot to do with that.

I went to visit her in the hospital. I've never visited anyone in the hospital before. I thought there would be a bunch of rules and regulations, especially because she's being kept in isolation. I thought someone would have to confirm my association with her, or at least someone would ask if I had any infectious conditions, but they just told me to pop a gown over my clothing when I walked in.

I saw her but she didn't see me. She was asleep and I don't know what the etiquette is surrounding waking someone while they are in the hospital. I tried whispering her name, then I tried theatrically whispering her name, but it didn't work.

When I came back, I ran into her family. I told them I'd visited her, and they told me that she had been moved to a new location within an hour of when I left. Just kind of weird, I'd dropped by after working sixteen hours in a 24 hour timespan,  then had to drop off some forms at a location that put me in her neighbourhood. I was tired but told myself I wasn't too busy to visit her. If I'd put it off, I might never have seen her again, but if I'd planned better, she might have seen me.

Piano Keys and Cream

Sometimes, due to the nature of my work, I get to go to an arcade. I don't play too many of the games myself, because nowadays, the rare arcade is mad expensive and I can't afford to play out of courtesy. But I accompany and play whichever two player games whoever I'm supporting requests of me.

There was a two player version of Piano Keys, which I think I mentioned I had as my first game app when I first got my smart phone. Pretty basic, you get four rectangles side-by-side, one is black, three are white. You have to tap the black tile as fast as you can and every time you do, the set of tiles is replaced with the black tile randomly repositioned.

This arcade version had four mammoth white panels acting as buttons in front of you and you pressed them as you watched a computer screen. The computer screen showed which tile was black and you pressed the key in front of you that corresponded with the black tile's position on the screen.

There were sixteen high scores recorded. By the time I was done, each of those high scores had been taken by me. Take that small children! Give the kids something to aspire to.

I was walking in the mall the other day and went by one of those stands with all the beauty products and the girls trying to hand out samples of skin cream. They usually don't pitch to guys, especially guys with no visible indication that they would use a product like that. One of them tried to hand me a sample and I gave her a playfully questioning smirk, half-shook my head, disengaged eye contact and continued my stride. But a second one pounced on me, somehow got me seated, and next thing I knew I was getting rubbed all over with a variety of creams and products. Girl was asking me if I was single, telling me I was beautiful but that I was ruining myself, telling me how she cares about me, offering me her contact information and wanting to stay in touch.

Almost worked. Had my debit card out and was about to drop $200,when I was suddenly washed over with a moment of clarity and said "Wait a second... No." Then she started haggling, offering more products for the same price with the "I'd only give this to you" angle. But I'd refocused, and she didn't really have a shot at that point.

I need a girlfriend.

Seems to be a new policy they've taken on. Every time I walk by one of those stands, regardless the sale girl, they've got some Joe blow type bloke up in their chair. I get approached by almost every one of them now, too, but now I'm just like "SCRAM!" and it's fine.

We almost had a bus strike recently. This would have been a lot more suspenseful if I had updated this blog when the date of the strike was still looming, but I didn't. It was going to be last Monday, and since I go to work Sunday night and get off Monday morning, I could get to work but not from it. Since I'm the only staff on site for my shifts and I work in a residential area at unlikely hours, carpooling wasn't really an option. I finally downloaded the Uber app, but even if they're cheaper than cabs, they are definitely pricier than the bus, and since I'm running so low on funds due to my first paycheque being pushed back, and all the work cancellations and additional fees for the prep documents and training for my new position, this was just really inopportune timing for me. They were supposed to know by midnight whether or not the strike would happen, but at midnight they announced that negotiations would continue throughout the night.

Since I'm awake for work, I can't just sleep through and check in the morning, so I got to be held in suspense until 3:00 AM when they decided not to strike.

Remember how my recent dilemma was on whether or not to go to University if I was accepted, since I finally received a position with a sustainable income after making my application? Well, it's not a hypothetical anymore, my preferred university just offered me a spot.

(Note: This is my 700th blog post)

First Shift

Finished my first shift with Hatts Off. It's an overnight position, so it started Sunday night and ended Monday morning. Last time I did an overnight was at Dare, the cookie factory where they had me counting wafer cookie sheets on my first shift, which is worse than counting sheep for making you drowsy, and then they had me acting as an Oven Room worker, but I spent all my time in Packaging, because at Dare, for whatever reason, they only have male Oven Room workers and only female Packagers, but there was a heavy lifting position in Packaging.

That was the gap summer between year 1 and year 2 of Social Work, and Liberty Staffing was giving me regular short-term assignments at Well.ca, Bird Packaging, Dare, and some plastic company, which were all on the same street. Liberty owns that street.

 I also did overnights before college, as an assembly worker for LPP, as a machine operator at Linnex, and I did rotating shifts at the Linimar Centre. Never done it for a social work field, though. I don't hate nights, but rotating is brutal, since you can't get your internal clock used to anything.

Before my first shift, I worker with two Extend-a-Family contracts, which means that I managed to work seventeen and a half hours in under twenty four hours, not including travel time.

Whooooo! Those are HOURS baby! For someone who hasn't been getting enough of them, that's satisfying.

My first shift was night of the full moon. This sketched me out because at both UMAB and Safe Management training, they really played up the ominous nature of the full moon, saying it's the worst day of every month.

Was fine though. I may finally have developed a sustainable way of living. Only took me until I was twenty-freakin'-seven. The question now is what do I do if I get accepted into university. I'm an ambitious person, but after dealing with so many unwanted challenges for as long as I have, there's a real temptation to just set up camp, make money, pay off my credit card, put money back into my savings, take driving lessons, and know that, if I keep doing tomorrow what I did today, I will survive.

It was a weird day in general, though. Daylight Savings time, my brother's birthday, full moon and start of my first shift.

My brother's 25 by the way. Quarter century, it's kind of a weird one. 26 and 27 have been more comfortable because they aren't round numbers like that. He seemed to take it alright.

Hatts Off

In posts previous, I've mentioned that there were things happening, but I couldn't comment on them at the moment, and this was contributing to my post frequency slowing down. I also said that you would hear about all the behind-the-scenes details when they came about.

So here it is. I've been accepted as a Child and Youth Worker for Hatts Off. It's a full-time gig. I'm holding onto three of my Extend-a-Family contracts and my Safe Management Instructor position, as they don't interfere with my new hours and I need to maintain my position as a Direct Support Person to stay a Safe Management Instructor. But I just had the difficult conversations with four support contracts recently that I wouldn't be able to continue supporting them.

The first half of my week-and-a-half of training, the part that took place in Hamilton, was for UMAB (Understanding and Managing Aggressive Behaviour), specific to Hatts Off.

I've had to get a Criminal Record Check, Medical Note, Immunization Record, Child Welfare check, copy of my First Aid and CPR certificate, UMAB certificate, reference sheet, void check, and have had to attend Policies and Procedures training since being offered a position.

They called me after Extend-a-Family offered the increase in hours and pay. They were one of the group homes I'd applied to before I became desperate enough to try industrial work. After EaF offered me enough to deter me from working factories, I continued for a time before getting the call from Hatts Off.

I figured I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me, and I hadn't guaranteed interest so there was no dishonesty in my part. But by the end of the meeting, they said "Welcome to the team" and offered their hand. I wasn't about to call their bluff, so I shook it.

Gave me an extensive list of documents needed to start things off. My Child Welfare Check was $20, my Criminal Record Check was $25, and my medical note was a whopping $100. Leaves me at a $145 loss, not including cancellation fees that I had to make to collect these documents.

It's a group home position. It's for youth, not developmentally disabled individuals, which branches away from my efforts a bit.  After my station as an Independent Facilitator and being trained to see group home positions as belonging to the "Old Story", this feels like I'm falling from grace.

But whatever. If there wasn't enough room in the New Story, I'll just have to join the old one.

Train the Trainer Completion

Well, I am now certified to teach Safe Management. This was probably the most highly intensive training I've ever done. In First Aid training, NVCI, and the standard Safe Management, we had open book tests, and in New Story training, and Path and Map training, there really wasn't a test at all. You couldn't really fail. In Train the Trainer, there's a closed book written test, you have to do a presentation, and you need to instruct physical interventions. You need 80% or higher in all three categories. I had so many things I wanted to do when I had "free time" during this training, but I wound up spending most of it studying. After the written test, I found everyone in the hallway trading views on how they felt they did and sharing their answers. It was like being in college again. All five days are half physical interventions, so it's kind of physically taxing as well.

But I made the grade!

I basically only ate shawarma that week. I was being reimbursed for food, couldn't find a grocery, we were in Western University's Community Conference Centre where they had a cafeteria shawarma joint where I ate lunch, and then there was a place called the Barakat just off campus which was shawarma and that's where I had most dinners. Even in Oakville, the only place I could find in the neighbourhood that was open on a Sunday night was a shawarma place called Chef's Door.

I should have bled them harder for food. I had $50 per day, and I think I averaged like... $20.

It's pathetic how quickly I get attached to people. Even just after the five days, I was like "Oh no, the team is being broken up!" At least I wasn't alone in my sentimentality, as some of us traded emails and told each other we'd be in touch. I... kind of think our life paths are different enough, both in terms of career and geography, that it's not realistic to expect a follow up from either myself or the others.

Train the Trainer

So I'm partway through my second set of training sessions, and this time all my living accommodations are funded, which includes travel cost, food, and a hotel room. On Sunday I set out for Oakville, where I would stay overnight and begin my training the next morning. I was a little sketched, because this journey would require me to take on another two transit systems, the Missisauga MiWay, and Oakville Transit.

Both took Presto cards, but they don't clock distance, as the Go buses do. So you don't clock off, you only clock on, and even though they have the same Presto machines as the Go buses do, none of them work. There's a different side-machine that takes it. So first time I got on the MiWay, I used the wrong machine. Then I tried to tap off when I didn't have to.

Looks like Presto takes off a flat rate in both Mississauga and Oakville, and it seems to act as a replacement for the bus pass. I take the bus enough that I can't imagine a cash rate ever being preferable to a monthly bus pass that offers unlimited use, even if you get a discount for Presto.

I was really disappointed that I didn't get to ride one of the accordion buses. At the transitway that connected me between Guelph and Hamilton, and Guelph and Oakville, I saw for the first time a strange form of bus, two bus-lengths wide, connected in the centre by a curving section that looked like the expanding and contracting centre of an accordion. Since I had to take MiWay to Oakville, I was hoping I could ride one of those since I'd just recently had the opportunity to ride a double decker, but I was unlucky and only got a standard-format bus.

I guess I've been in enough hotel rooms that the novelty has warn off and my eye has become a bit more discerning. They got me a room at the Monte Carlo Inn, and I couldn't help but notice that the base of the bathroom faucet leaked when you turned it on, that the floor-mounted door stop wasn't actually mounted to the floor... It was just kind of sitting there. The door-mounted doorstop was missing the knob at the end of it, so it was just a coil, and there were holes in the bathroom door where something had been mounted previously. In addition to the regular accommodations, they offered a safe, which I haven't seen offered at other places. Was just a bit interesting.

So the next day I head out to training. I show up, the woman sends me to an empty room and says this is where we're meeting. I'm about half an hour early so I'm not surprised I'm the first one, but at about five minutes to our starting time and me being the only one in the room, I get a bit concerned. A woman steps in, asks me if I'd got the email. I say I hadn't. She tells me everyone's meeting at a Tim Horton's down the street.

I think that's a bit odd. Who hosts a five day training session at a Tim Horton's? But I head down. They said the group would have signs up but I don't see anything like that. A man asks me if I was there to meet a group. I say yes, and he says they're leaving in a white car.

So I run out, flag them down and hop in their car. Turns out we're carpooling back to the office. The people training were just dropping their cars off since there wasn't enough space in the office parking lot.  Since I don't have a vehicle, it made it kind of a pointless treck but oh well.

So we get back, and the content of the session is a bit different from what I was expecting, so I ask if this is Train the Trainer. Turns out, no it isn't, that's in London Ontario, which is closer to Kitchener than Oakville.

I call my boss and she's really apologetic. She calls me an Uber and we go all the way from Oakville to London. By the time I get to the session, it's more than halfway through the day.

Got a new hotel room. Because of the short-term arrangements, she was only able to get me a suite at the Windermere Manor. Just for the first two days though, now I've transferred to a standard room. So in the past couple weeks, I've been in five cities (Kitchener, Guelph, Hamilton, Oakville and London), I've used three transit systems I've never used before (Go, MiWay, Oakville Transit, plus I'll have to work my way back from London and I've used Guelph and Grand River Transit as well) and I've been in three different hotel rooms.

I can even compare the suite and a standard room at this hotel, which I never really thought I'd have the opportunity to do. Basically the difference is the suite has a living room and the standard doesn't. The suite has two TVs and two sinks while the standard has only one of each. The suite has a microwave and the standard doesn't. The standard, though, has a desk while the suite doesn't. Not having a microwave is kind of annoying, but otherwise I wouldn't pay more money for the suite. I spent all my time in the bedroom anyway, didn't need the living room.

The hotel is right on a Pomemon Go Pokestop. It's like a hotel perk. I can collect items every ten minutes from the comfort of my bed.  This is how I learned I'm not technically in London. I caught a Pokemon and it was listed as having been caught in Arva, Ontario.