When I arrived on the first day, I walked into the bank up to the fourth floor and saw that 8 to 10 people that started a few days before I had. I sat down at my computer and logged in. Management gave me a list of files and credentials to log into a few different databases. For the first day, I was downloading files from three or four different bank databases, saving them into a folder, and emailing them to a different location. I did this for more than 25 different mortgages on the first day. I was amazed how I was getting paid $17 an hour for this. Due to the sheer volume of documents to examine, a good part of my job was just to download files from one location and send them to another.
After management told us we could go home, I packed up my things and started driving home. However, the drive was absolutely miserable. My new job location was located 26 miles from my house and the most direct route there was the bypass around the major city. In the morning, the commute was fine, but at 5:30 PM, it would take me two hours to get home. During my first few weeks on the job, I was using so much gas that I had to fill up my tank twice a week instead of just once. Eventually, they gave us flexible hours so I immediately scheduled my 8 hours to avoid traffic as much as possible. By the time I started my first job, I had about $24000 saved up.
My spending habits also started to change. During my first job, I was spending only about $550 per month however I was spending much more with my second job. I had months where I spent $700, $800, and $900 regularly. Part of this increased spending was due to the fact that I was making more money but the other reason was because I knew my job was only temporary. It felt kind of nice to spend a little money. During March and April, I also had a few car related expenses. I spent some money on repairs and a few hundred dollars on new tires.
By the time I started my new job, I had begun talking to Julia again and I saw her a few times. I remember why I wanted to see her again. When I was employed again, I didn’t feel like a loser anymore. She was just a friend that I like to be with. Nothing would ever come of it and I was sure of it when I saw her in February of 2012. She was talking about how her boyfriend was so cute about messing up her birthday and then making it up to her for Valentine’s Day. In her words, he was so cute even when he screws things up. I knew it would go nowhere. What I had with Julia was as good as it was ever going to get.
But then in April 2012, things started to change. On a social media site, she mentioned that she was sad. That was the description, nothing else was said. We met for coffee one night in April and out of the blue, she told me that she broke up with her boyfriend. My suspicions were true. The signs had sort of been there. Ting told me Julia was having problems with her boyfriend. Julia told me that her boyfriend was planning to move to Japan in a few years so she knew her relationship wouldn’t last.
March 2012
For the month of March, I spent a total of $825.03. I was over budget by a few hundred dollars but I felt okay to spend again because I would be working again. My insurance premium was $203.40. I spent $213 on gas by filling up my tank 6 times. My new commute was miserable. Mornings were okay but coming home in the evening would take me 2 hours. It got to the point where I had to fill up my tank twice a week because I was spending so much time in traffic. I spent $165.05 on fast food by eating out 18 times. I spent $65 on business related expenses. The cost was to file an application to be approved to sell insurance. I spent $21.94 on new clothes. I also spent extra money going to some restaurants with friends before my employment started.
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