Marz and I watched Rudolph last night--didn't remember it at all from childhood. What a freaky story--I loved it! especially the line, "Bumbles bounce!"
(Even though what happens to the Bumble, having all his teeth extracted by a hermaphrodite elf dentist, is really gruesome and surreal.)
I woke up feeling bumbly, having dreamed I was being paid $1.44/hour.
I'm just starting my 3rd month at work. I'd thought I'd be OK with my low pay:
with the 15-cents raise I negotiated for my starting salary--all they could pay, they said, "to someone with no experience in activities"-- I make $1 less per hour than the City paid me to check coats & bags.
I see my job as a paid internship, to learn and get experience with people with dementia. But I guess I'm building up some resentment.
Trouble is, I'm getting experience, but I'm not learning much except what I teach myself (which is a lot), and what the residents I work with can show me (which is also a lot, but not, of course, analytical).
Most of my coworkers don't seem to know more about dementia than I do––some, less––and those who do know more are busy and I rarely see them.
My boss tells me I'm wonderful, which is nice, but I don't want praise, I want some on-the-job training, which they implied I'd get (since I had "no experience"). Instead, she seems to think I'm already doing everything right––researching, planning, shopping for and leading activities, from stretch class to sewing group––and has nothing to teach me.
(Could this be true? Is this a pitfall of being a middle-age worker with a young boss?)
I'm not sure what to do about this low pay, no training.
If nothing else, I'll just keep reading and watching videos about dementia, learn by interacting with the residents, and look for a better-paid job in 10 months. And bounce like a Bumble.
I woke up feeling bumbly, having dreamed I was being paid $1.44/hour.
I'm just starting my 3rd month at work. I'd thought I'd be OK with my low pay:
with the 15-cents raise I negotiated for my starting salary--all they could pay, they said, "to someone with no experience in activities"-- I make $1 less per hour than the City paid me to check coats & bags.
I see my job as a paid internship, to learn and get experience with people with dementia. But I guess I'm building up some resentment.
Trouble is, I'm getting experience, but I'm not learning much except what I teach myself (which is a lot), and what the residents I work with can show me (which is also a lot, but not, of course, analytical).
Most of my coworkers don't seem to know more about dementia than I do––some, less––and those who do know more are busy and I rarely see them.
My boss tells me I'm wonderful, which is nice, but I don't want praise, I want some on-the-job training, which they implied I'd get (since I had "no experience"). Instead, she seems to think I'm already doing everything right––researching, planning, shopping for and leading activities, from stretch class to sewing group––and has nothing to teach me.
(Could this be true? Is this a pitfall of being a middle-age worker with a young boss?)
I'm not sure what to do about this low pay, no training.
If nothing else, I'll just keep reading and watching videos about dementia, learn by interacting with the residents, and look for a better-paid job in 10 months. And bounce like a Bumble.
