The project coordinator position that I went for the other day will not be had by me. The company decided that I didn't have enough experience at it, even thought they weren't paying more than $35000 a year. But the woman at the agency offered me a temporary call-center position instead. Let me tell you about it.
In the US, they have something called open enrollment. Basically, during open enrollment you choose your benefit package for the year. You can make changes during that period of time, but not after unless you have a qualifying event. A large American company that provides housing to seniors across the country needs someone to handle its open enrollment for the thousands of its employees that do not have Internet access, or are not savvy enough to do it online. We essentially do everything for them.
The company at which I am working takes HR contracts and realises projects. They needed extra people for the open enrollment, so that's where I come in. One of the objectives of this project was that there can be no one on hold for more than 30 seconds or so. So we have a lot of people here doing very little, just so that no one waits for an agent. And this contract pays really well, and I can surf and read.
The problem is that it is still quite depressing. A lot of these people make between $10 000 and $20 000 per year. If they are single, then they are paying upwards of $1700 a year for medical, dental and vision care. If they have families, say hello to $4500 a year. Why? Americans have no universal healthcare. You'd think that since they pay fewe taxes and that wages are higher that it would all even out. You'd be wrong. I suspect that the salaries are higher in knowledge industries, but I am talking about cooks and maids. They make as much as they would here, expect that they pay up the ass to have any kind of insurance at all. If they get sick with no insurance, well, that's why poor people don't live as long, or look as good.
I spoke with a woman that could have been my aunt. She was Trinidadian and all alone. She had been with the company for a VERY long time, and was making just over $10000 a year. She had to pay out $1600 a year in insurance, plus pay her taxes, as well as everything else. It's heartbreaking. No wonder there are so many people that are so desperate. Not that we don't have desperation here, mind you, but I think I'd rather take my chances here, thank you very much.
I will be working every day (weekends, too) until next Friday, then I have a week off, then I work another week. I am shocked that I am having fun here. It's really not bad, even if they tell you when to have lunch and for how long. I have not yet heard back from anyone else about work, though. At least I won't starve any time soon. I was getting pretty hungry there.
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