All posts by Becca

Xeroxing thru Summer

I started my summer internship at a marketing company last Wednesday, the day after I got home from college. I don’t really know what I was thinking, saying that I could start work the day after I got back except $$$$$$.

I wish I could say that I got the job all on my own, but I know one of the managers at the company, as well as two people that used to work there. I didn’t know this at the time, but my best friend’s sister-in-law works there, too! She said something to me the first day, but I just thought she was being super friendly because I didn’t know who she was, haha. Her mother works there too, and she introduced herself to me today. I was like shee! So many people! What a small world, eh? However, I almost wished I didn’t know anyone there, because every time I make a mistake I feel like I’m disappointing them. :/

The job itself is fine. It’s really boring, but it pays well – I think. I actually don’t know how much I’m making yet; they have been really unorganized about getting me into the system and getting payroll and everything set up. I didn’t even get my paperwork until the third day. It’s like I just showed up and they were like hi! Get working! I honestly have no idea what the dress code even is. I assume it is business casual but there are a lot of people that wear jeans, so I just need to ask someone if it is appropriate for me to wear jeans, too. Because that would be great!

My job is pretty simple. The company works with car dealers (like Kia, Fiat, Jaguar) and my department that I am working with works with Subaru. So Subaru sends us claims and I have to print out all the claim forms and the emails they send us. And then I scan them into a program and enter the claims into the system. And I open mail, and do other random things when we’re all caught up that my supervisor would like me to do. It’s kind of tedious, and really boring, but I’m very thankful that I have a job – and it’s not working at a movie theater!

My supervisor is very nice. She is always more than happy to answer questions or gently tells me when I’m labeling something wrong. She also makes sure I know where I’m going. Like today, I couldn’t remember where the hiring manager’s office was on a different floor, so she just walked me there.

The drive is pretty bad. I have to drive downtown and take all the busy highways. I have always smugly laughed at all the suckers that had to drive in stop-n-go traffic to get to work and back while I fly by on open highways. But now I’m a sucker stuck in traffic. :( Without traffic, it would only take me at tops, fifteen minutes. Now it takes me closer to half an hour to get there and about forty five minutes to get home. It kills me. -_- I do feel kinda cool, working downtown. Like I’m a big shot business woman, hahaha. JK. Only kinda.

I work full-time, which is nice. Andrew is staying in Kansas City all summer, so I wanted to keep busy so I would maybe not miss him so much. It’s only helping a little bit. I’m hoping to save up money so I don’t have to take out any loans for next school year, and whatever after that I’m saving for the wedding. :)

We finally picked a date! It took us a while because Andrew is studying abroad in Spain mid-June to end of July, which didn’t leave us a lot to work with. But we decided on August 8th, 2015. So excited!! :)

My eldest brother Ryan is getting married this weekend, so all of my dad’s side of the family from Pennsylvania will be coming in. It’ll be loads of fun spending time with them because they are all so crazy. Andrew is coming in for the weekend as well, so I’m really happy I get to see him soon!

Until then, however, I’ll just continue scanning and printing, scanning and printing… :P

8 Comments Work

Spring 2014 Semester Review

Wow, what a tough, rough semester. I am so thankful that I am done and that I am laying in bed at home in St. Louis writing this out!

Accounting 211

This class was a lot harder than it really should have been. My professor was pretty awful. It was a woman, which I was kind of more excited for because most of my professors in the business school are male, but she was a typical blonde: super ditzy, always flirting with the cute quys in the front row, super forgetful, and super unorganized.

Unorganization in an accounting class is pretty uncalled for. I mean, it’s accounting. That’s what they are known for. It was just frustrating having to deal with her. She would get super offended too when students said she was wrong about an answer to a problem or just differed in opinion on a subject.

We did a ridiculous amount of group projects in there, too, which were a complete waste of class time. For each chapter, we had an in-class activity (I felt like I was in elementary school, and not in a good way) and then we had two big group projects. Let me explain how stupid they were. For absorption costing (which is just a way that you can allocate your costs in a business) we made paper airplanes and wrote down what our costs were. What a waste of time.

But I’ll stop ranting about this stupid class now. Just hallelujah I don’t have to take any more accounting!

Credits: 3
 Final Grade: A

Finance 325

This is the first finance class I have taken, and oh my gosh, my professor was such a hoot. He was just the craziest person I have ever met. Imagine him talking like Al Capone and you pretty much have his voice. He would go on side rants all the time about the importance of life (not money, family) which would be interesting, but not related to finance. So he wasted a lot of class time when it could have been used to better prepare for the midterm and final.

Which brings me to the sucky part of the class. Your grade is 50% midterm, 50% final. That’s it. So stressful. He was a good professor, but the way the class was set up made me stress so much. I’m not the best test taker – I tend to make stupid mistakes and get confused or not understand what the question is asking. So I got my first B in college in this class. :(

But honestly, I was super proud of that B. I only got an 85% on my midterm and I barely studied for the final (completely accidental). I was laying on the floor the night before studying and kept falling asleep so I thought, “I’m just going to get a really good night’s rest and wake up in the morning to study so it’s all fresh in my mind.” So I set my alarms for seven and went to sleep. I didn’t wake up until 15 minutes before the final started. I freaked out. I was crying on the way to the final and crying on the way home after the final. I was so sure I had just completely botched the final. But somehow I pulled a B so I’ll take it, a little grudgingly.

Credits: 3
Final Grade: B

Business Law

What a stupid class. It was so nitt-picky and over things I would never use in my life. My professor was a lawyer and just so weird. He would talk to international students like they just got off the plane yesterday, like they were just idiots to American ways and history. Heck, they probably know more about America than I do and I’m American!

Tests were what the class was made up of, and they were all ridiculously hard. A lot harder than they should have been. He thankfully gave like a 10% curve on each test, but even so, I only pulled an A-. :(

Credits: 3
Final Grade: A-

Communication Studies 110

I really tried to push this stupid class off as long as I could. I hate public speaking, but even more so being graded on it. It was as stupid and dumb as I thought it would be but thank goodness it’s done and out of the way now.

We did have to write a tribute speech, though, so I wrote one for my grandpa back here in St. Louis. When I finished, I formatted it so it would be easy for him to read, made him a cute little card that said I loved him, and sent it in the mail. My mom said that he read it and just bawled, that he couldn’t believe all the nice things that I had said about him and that no one had ever paid tribute to him like that. He called me and thanked me and said he really appreciated it. My sister said that he shows it to everyone now, that he loved it so much. :love: So there was that positive from that class.

Credits: 3
Final Grade: A

Business Statistics 309

The class from hell. Ugh, what a hard class. My professor wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t really good. He was just a “PowerPoint professor,” someone who stands in front of a PowerPoint and reads. Which I don’t know about you, but statistics is pretty hard to learn by a slide. There were a few days in the end of the semester where he taught just by his own notes and everything was so clear. Kind of disappointing that he limits himself and the students so much by it. But anyways, Done with statistics forever! Hallelujah!

Credits: 3
Final Grade: A

My overall semester GPA was a 3.74 which brought my cumulative GPA to 3.914. Not to shabby. I wish I would have done a little better, but I did the best that I could and that’s all I can do.

This was my hardest semester so far, which is why I was practically nonexistent the last four months or so. I just never had any time. It was hard, too, because I really hated all of my classes. They didn’t interest me, in fact, it was things I didn’t like. It made me really wonder if studying business and finance was really what I wanted to do with my life.

I thought about transferring to the school of education for elementary education, but ultimately I decided that that wasn’t really right for me either. I think I just had to get through these courses, and I just happened to take them all at the same time. I think that maybe the next semester will be kinder to me. :)

7 Comments Academia