A Brief Rant

Lest you think all is perfect and hunky dory in the land of the Mini Van Mom, I am about to vent a few frustrations with my kids HERE - instead of at them. 

Oldest Child-
Is going to grad school at a major state college in a major university town.  He and a friend of his are planning on rooming together this fall.  They've been to this town - TWICE to look at schools.  Neither time did they actually sign a lease, they just looked and came back to do more research.

Oldest child has to report to school on Aug. 14.  That means he should move in a couple of days before, don't you think?  And, with just a little over 6 weeks to go, you'd think they'd have a place to live all lined up, wouldn't you? 

The answer is NOOOOO!  They had planned on heading up over the weekend to sign a lease on an apartment.  They had an appointment at the apartment they wanted on Saturday.  Thursday afternoon, they got a call letting them know that their last apartment vacancy had just been filled.  I called around Thursday afternoon and found that there were only 6 - SIX - complexes with unfilled vacancies.

Honest to God, just a little over 6 weeks away, and they still haven't found a place to live?  In a major university town?  They're competing for space with other grad students, undergrads, and new professors who are just moving into the area.  AND - he doesn't want to drive - so anyplace they look has to be either within walking distance or on a bus line.

Now that's not asking too much, is it?


Middle Child-
Had lined up what he thought was a "sure thing" job.  An internship.  He applied back in December, before the deadline, and the person who told him to apply told him "not to worry, you'll have a job come summer".

I know the idiot who promised him a job, and told him not to count on it.  He told me it would be great because it would pay for his tuition this year.

You can already see where this is going, can't you?  He was offered other jobs.  Real job offers.  He turned them down, because this idiot had promised him the job.  He even called the idiot a couple of times to check on the progress of the job, so that he didn't turn down actual real job offers, and was promised that "HR is working on it."

5 days after school let out  in May, he finally got a notice from the HR department that they weren't going to hire him.

I'm more than a little upset.  First, I'm upset because he passed by on solid job offers that he would have loved because he was chasing the all mighty dollar instead of going for at least one job that would have made him happy all summer long.

Secondly, I'm upset with the idiot who didn't have the guts to say to him "Hey, it looks like this might not work out.  If you've got another job offer you should take it."  Even more insulting, we saw the idiot last weekend at Relay for Life.  He wouldn't look at middle child, or speak to him, and didn't have the guts to say "I'm sorry that didn't work out."   Even after middle child went over to him and said "Hey!  How's your summer going?"  He still wouldn't talk to him.  He looked through him as if he wasn't even there.

And that really, really, really cheeses me off!!

Youngest Child-
Has been applying for jobs consistently since spring break.  She's been called in one at least one interview a week.  Obviously, she hasn't been hired yet, but here's the bigger question:

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE LET YOU KNOW WHEN A POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED????

Honest to God, I know I had this happen to me multiple times when I was searching for this job.  HOW do people NOT let anyone that they've interviewed know that they weren't chosen for this position?  For God's sakes, this is the computer age.  You have to apply for a job electronically, how long would it take for someone to send an e-mail that says simply, "We hired another candidate. We enjoyed meeting you.  Thank you for your time?"

Where is the courtesy?

WHERE????? 


Just in case if you're wondering - oldest child and his friend went up to the college over the weekend with their fathers and instructions to NOT return until they had signed a lease.  They managed to find a beautifully built, new townhouse apartment ON the bus line, within 4 miles of campus.  The rent is more than reasonable.  OK, when you live in the DC suburbs, every rent everywhere else seems more than reasonable - so what I think of as reasonable might not actually be all that reasonable to someone from somewhere else in the country. 

One problem down.....