What Rhymes with Bob and is Really Hard to Find?

It starts with a J ends with a B and has a big fat O in the middle!

Next month would have been one long year of unemployment, and the official end to my dearly appreciated unemployment checks. I was hoping that all my temp jobs would extend my checks, but they did not. But I don't need an extension, I finally got a job!

Ernst has been bugging me for the longest time to look for work at EdJoin, the site for jobs with school districts. I couldn't believe there would be any jobs there, after all aren't the school districts laying off hundreds? So after getting fed up with Craigslist, I gave it a shot, but I had serious doubts at getting a job at a place that is all about kids.

My lifetime resume of working with children is long and rich, but there is nothing recent to add. "Goo gooed with Adela at the Romanian meeting, played pots and pans with Elliot, charmed a baby at Trader Joe's" is not exactly what they are looking for in a teacher's aid. So I went to the site with a huge load of doubt. But there it was, a job that just screamed out, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!

There on the site was a job opening at Maintenance and Operations (M&O) for a local school district. It is a substitute position for a dispatcher, the person who gets calls from the schools regarding maintenance issues and vandalism, copper theft, broken stuff etc. Then the dispatcher calls the proper department or authorities. A few years ago I would have just passed this up. Me, a dispatcher? Work at a school district? Video cameras? Alarms? Me? But, that was several years ago, since then...

...my last job at KMM which I loved and where I had the world's greatest boss, was heavily involved with them. We (they) were (are) updating the low voltage systems for all the schools in the district, one of the largest in California. The aging schools are getting much needed new fire alarms, speakers, clocks, bells, and video surveillance systems. I worked with the people from M&O to keep their hard copy records up-to-date as we finished each school. Many times I went to the M&O office, and my boss gave me a tour of all the new video surveillance they have keeping watch over the schools.

I have never felt so comfortable walking into a job interview, I knew where it was. I had met the director, who was leading the process. I have never had such a serious interview either. There were two people conducting it, they had sheets of paper in front of them with little circles to fill in rating how I answered the questions. (Give me a 5, please give me a five, no wait that is upside down, fill in the other one). But you know an interview is on the right track when you spend several minutes talking about how great your last boss was, they agree and say what a great man he is, and you know he is the first person on your list of references! The man who will be my new boss actually asked me, if you get this job would you leave it to go back to your old one? Yikes, was that a trick question or what? He answered it himself, of course you would, they are a great company. I'm glad I let him answer that one.

I had to wait a week to find out, but HR called today to offer me the position. I still don't exactly know what my schedule is, it may be quite erratic and may include the graveyard shift at times. At this point, it doesn't matter. It is a job with the schools, the pay is so much better than anything out there on Craigslist, it is fairly close to my house, and did I mention it starts with a J, ends with a B and has a big O in the middle? After almost a year of looking, I am thrilled. I can't wait to tell all the little kids I know that Jessica will be watching them on hidden cameras!