So... I take pictures.... I like to mark my photos with a copyright and my 'photo name' (which was MKB Photography, but come to find out that there is a business in Texas with THAT name).
So what to do now... I am going to take down the photos, FOR NOW... until I can find something fitting for me. Little ole, frustrated, sarcastic, spontaneous, in your face... ME
MKB simply stood for my initials Michelle Kruse-Barth.... BUT I could go with Michelle KB or Michelle B.... ORRRRRR I could go with my nickname and come up with something that has to do with Chelle or Chellbell....
CK (nope, not without some kind of name rights lawsuit from good old Calvin). and MK is attached to some shoe label.
Michelle KB - its kinda ................. blah
Michelle B - will have to see if there is some rapper or singer out there with the name already.
Chelle B - see above
MCKB - looks like something out of a Roman book, might as well just use all the initials then... MCKKB... bleh... a bit too much and two K's together look like kahkah.
And yes, I prefer something with MY NAME in it, after all I am the one who takes the pictures, not some utensil or catchy wind/sky name... JUST ME.
And I have to pay attention to businesses or names that already exist, I would really hate to get caught up in some copyright infringement piss war over a name. AND on the other side of the coin.... I want to be known for what I do... not someone else who didnt take the photo!!!!!
So here is what we have to work with
Michelle - 1st legal name
Chelle (pronounced shelly) - preferred nickname
Chellbell - other nickname
Christine - mitte
Kelley - my adopted name (I was adopted when I was 8 years old, long story, I dont care what anyone says, they are.my.blood).
Kruse - my blood family name and the most wonderful family ever!
Barth (pronounced bart) - My German married name.... BUT and no offense to my husband (who really doesnt take interest in my little hobby anyway)... Mama always said to never attach a mans name to a womans hobby(oooor mayyybe that was Grams). Then it takes away from who SHE is. :)
This is something that has to be permanent... something that sticks.... and something that will live on after I do. After all, the photos dont have a shelf life. Well not anymore with the digital age.
So........................ HELP ME!
24.11.14
Red Tape Bondage.... not for the faint at heart
I've applied at quite a few firms and offices for an Ausbildung. I either get - no call back, no answer (by mail or email or middle finger), no..... nothing. Sooooo, I decide to go to a Caritas help center for Auslanders (really starting to hate that word).
The Lady is kind and patient and has a knack for speaking in German in a way that a non-native speaker can understand. It is soooooo comforting to be understood at damn close to 100% and to understand as well. She points me in a couple different directions.
1. Altenpflegerhelferin (Nursing Home Nurses Aid) - 1 year school/work training and then employed... salary at about 1800€ ($2400) a month gross... not bad but the idea of wiping butts all day and cleaning up messes is not my kinda thing. BUT the thing is, once you have taken this route, there is usually NO moving up the ladder. You chose it, now you work it.... forever
2. Altenpflegerin (Nursing Home Nurse) - 3 year school/work training and then employed... salary at about 3000€ ($4000) a month gross... my kinda thing with being a nurse and all it entails. There is slight improvement for moving up and possibility of making further Ausbildung for Diplom (bit better than a bachelor but under PhD) and better ability to switch from Alten to a new area (but would have to do yet ANOTHER Ausbildung and the older you get, the harder they are to find.).
So I opt for door number 2... I am qualified, I know I can do the job and the pay is decent. taxes here run at about 30-36% and that includes... income tax, social security, retirement, healthcare, unemployment, nurses insurance, aaaaaaaaaand any club fees or union fees. so I can expect to take home anywhere from 2100€-1920€ ($2800 - $2560). So..... I write the Caritas lady and tell her I am intersted in the Altenpflegerin. A little bit hopeful seeing how there is a HUGE shortage of nursing home nurses here.
*** A little behind knowledge - Ausbildungs here are very specific... you train specifically for the job in question, Once you have completed the training and tested successfully, you are qualified to work ONLY in that field. So if I take a nursing home nurse, then I am not qualified to be a labor and delivery nurse. That is a whole new class that has to be tested out after more training. ***
I get an email back letting me know in a not so friendly way that I should take door number 1 because of my age and that I need evidence of Mittelere Reife (proof of passing the 10th grade in German standards) and then I am provided a link of how to get proof, thankfully in English, along with a short 'good luck'. And then nothing since.
In short... I kinda feel assed out because I am not German born. If it was not a good option for me then why was it offered? Am I supposed to take the shitty job just because im 44 and 'not from here'?? Man... talk about bursting a bubble. WTFingF????
So I call the person in charge at the nursing home and ask what I need to do to make this happen. And sure enough, yes... I do need the proof of 10th grade AND I also need to have my level B1 German language certificate. Plus another string of red tape that I already untied myself from and needed to be able to live here.
I am really starting to identify with the aliens in the USA that take the little shit jobs just so they can have money.
THIS SHIT IS NOT EASY!
So back to square one... the step that should have been in the forefront the entire time... THE LANGUAGE ZERTIFIKÄT... without it, I can do nothing more than work as a slave in a place that caters to underpaid overworked Auslanders.... its a revolving door and one I dont want to get stuck in.
I feel like my hands are tied... my feet are bound..... and I have a gag in my mouth. I am not allowed to do anything. Ich darf nicht! I'm starting to believe I just might have a bit of a masochistic tendency! (no, not really.... cause I don't take any pleasure in this but for some reason I keep going back for more.... FML!)
The Lady is kind and patient and has a knack for speaking in German in a way that a non-native speaker can understand. It is soooooo comforting to be understood at damn close to 100% and to understand as well. She points me in a couple different directions.
1. Altenpflegerhelferin (Nursing Home Nurses Aid) - 1 year school/work training and then employed... salary at about 1800€ ($2400) a month gross... not bad but the idea of wiping butts all day and cleaning up messes is not my kinda thing. BUT the thing is, once you have taken this route, there is usually NO moving up the ladder. You chose it, now you work it.... forever
2. Altenpflegerin (Nursing Home Nurse) - 3 year school/work training and then employed... salary at about 3000€ ($4000) a month gross... my kinda thing with being a nurse and all it entails. There is slight improvement for moving up and possibility of making further Ausbildung for Diplom (bit better than a bachelor but under PhD) and better ability to switch from Alten to a new area (but would have to do yet ANOTHER Ausbildung and the older you get, the harder they are to find.).
So I opt for door number 2... I am qualified, I know I can do the job and the pay is decent. taxes here run at about 30-36% and that includes... income tax, social security, retirement, healthcare, unemployment, nurses insurance, aaaaaaaaaand any club fees or union fees. so I can expect to take home anywhere from 2100€-1920€ ($2800 - $2560). So..... I write the Caritas lady and tell her I am intersted in the Altenpflegerin. A little bit hopeful seeing how there is a HUGE shortage of nursing home nurses here.
*** A little behind knowledge - Ausbildungs here are very specific... you train specifically for the job in question, Once you have completed the training and tested successfully, you are qualified to work ONLY in that field. So if I take a nursing home nurse, then I am not qualified to be a labor and delivery nurse. That is a whole new class that has to be tested out after more training. ***
I get an email back letting me know in a not so friendly way that I should take door number 1 because of my age and that I need evidence of Mittelere Reife (proof of passing the 10th grade in German standards) and then I am provided a link of how to get proof, thankfully in English, along with a short 'good luck'. And then nothing since.
In short... I kinda feel assed out because I am not German born. If it was not a good option for me then why was it offered? Am I supposed to take the shitty job just because im 44 and 'not from here'?? Man... talk about bursting a bubble. WTFingF????
So I call the person in charge at the nursing home and ask what I need to do to make this happen. And sure enough, yes... I do need the proof of 10th grade AND I also need to have my level B1 German language certificate. Plus another string of red tape that I already untied myself from and needed to be able to live here.
I am really starting to identify with the aliens in the USA that take the little shit jobs just so they can have money.
THIS SHIT IS NOT EASY!
So back to square one... the step that should have been in the forefront the entire time... THE LANGUAGE ZERTIFIKÄT... without it, I can do nothing more than work as a slave in a place that caters to underpaid overworked Auslanders.... its a revolving door and one I dont want to get stuck in.
I feel like my hands are tied... my feet are bound..... and I have a gag in my mouth. I am not allowed to do anything. Ich darf nicht! I'm starting to believe I just might have a bit of a masochistic tendency! (no, not really.... cause I don't take any pleasure in this but for some reason I keep going back for more.... FML!)
20.11.14
Struggles of the now Unemployed Auslanderin
So.... had a job, pretty much as a slave.... in a hotel.... as the FRÜHSTÜCK FRAU
Then the hole in my abdomen (a hernia) kept getting bigger and more painful from the work, not to mention I had to constantly push my intestine back through the hole.... so I go to the doc.
He takes a look at it, sends me to a surgeon.... Surgeon looks at it and sends me to the hospital to another surgeon.... He looks at it, sets a date for an operation. Not just some minor operation, nope... I get put to sleep, they cut a 2 inch incision into my belly button and sow my abdominal wall up. Then sow my belly button back together after they insert a drainage tube and attach that to a wound-vac that I get to carry around for 24 hours before it gets yanked out (by yanked, I seriously mean every indication of this word). This was on Thursday.
On Friday I get a call from my boss asking me to come into work. HUH? Um, WHAT? I had been telling her for weeks about my surgery. She understood clearly what the surgery was for. Hallo? So I let her know that I have to go in for my after OP appointment on Monday and I will contact her and let her know what he says.
Monday after the doc appointment.... I am not allowed to do ANYTHING short of sleep and eat for a week. No strenuous activity for 2 weeks... NO work for 3 weeks and no sports for 6 weeks. So, I take this nifty little piece of printed paper signed by my doctor (der Arzt hat mir Krank geschrieben.) to my boss at work and let her know that I cant work for 3 weeks. She grunts and says 'Oh mein Gott, die Ganze Monat.' (Oh my god, the whole month) then she takes the carbon copy and says she needs it for the Krankenkasse (which here is where bosses get reimbursed for money they paid to people who can not work for a length of time). So according to the law here on Mini-jobs, I should get paid for a certain amount of hours while I am not working for 3 weeks. At least that is what the law says. I later find out that not all places of business follow these laws and usually never in the cases of AUSLANDER (not from this land or as we call them, aliens).
Did I pay my taxes? yes.
Did I give plenty of notice? yes.
Was I registered into the Mini-Job Central? Yes, by my boss.
Was I paid under the table? No, I was paid normally.
Did I receive any money for being unable to work? No, and with plenty of illegal excuses.
So, what to do? I am making an appointment to resolve it with the place that is in charge of enforcing these laws.
I quit my job... no, don't want the unemployment... but just being treated unfairly and illegally (or here they call it mishandel or mobbing) makes it not a job I want to ever go back to. For any reason, WHAT SO EVER. Fuck that! and fuck them.
I hate being unemployed but I hate being mistreated more. So, I am standing up for what is right.
More on the job happenings later, for now I am searching for something a little more me worthy. :)
I'm really beginning to hate being here.
Then the hole in my abdomen (a hernia) kept getting bigger and more painful from the work, not to mention I had to constantly push my intestine back through the hole.... so I go to the doc.
He takes a look at it, sends me to a surgeon.... Surgeon looks at it and sends me to the hospital to another surgeon.... He looks at it, sets a date for an operation. Not just some minor operation, nope... I get put to sleep, they cut a 2 inch incision into my belly button and sow my abdominal wall up. Then sow my belly button back together after they insert a drainage tube and attach that to a wound-vac that I get to carry around for 24 hours before it gets yanked out (by yanked, I seriously mean every indication of this word). This was on Thursday.
On Friday I get a call from my boss asking me to come into work. HUH? Um, WHAT? I had been telling her for weeks about my surgery. She understood clearly what the surgery was for. Hallo? So I let her know that I have to go in for my after OP appointment on Monday and I will contact her and let her know what he says.
Monday after the doc appointment.... I am not allowed to do ANYTHING short of sleep and eat for a week. No strenuous activity for 2 weeks... NO work for 3 weeks and no sports for 6 weeks. So, I take this nifty little piece of printed paper signed by my doctor (der Arzt hat mir Krank geschrieben.) to my boss at work and let her know that I cant work for 3 weeks. She grunts and says 'Oh mein Gott, die Ganze Monat.' (Oh my god, the whole month) then she takes the carbon copy and says she needs it for the Krankenkasse (which here is where bosses get reimbursed for money they paid to people who can not work for a length of time). So according to the law here on Mini-jobs, I should get paid for a certain amount of hours while I am not working for 3 weeks. At least that is what the law says. I later find out that not all places of business follow these laws and usually never in the cases of AUSLANDER (not from this land or as we call them, aliens).
Did I pay my taxes? yes.
Did I give plenty of notice? yes.
Was I registered into the Mini-Job Central? Yes, by my boss.
Was I paid under the table? No, I was paid normally.
Did I receive any money for being unable to work? No, and with plenty of illegal excuses.
So, what to do? I am making an appointment to resolve it with the place that is in charge of enforcing these laws.
I quit my job... no, don't want the unemployment... but just being treated unfairly and illegally (or here they call it mishandel or mobbing) makes it not a job I want to ever go back to. For any reason, WHAT SO EVER. Fuck that! and fuck them.
I hate being unemployed but I hate being mistreated more. So, I am standing up for what is right.
More on the job happenings later, for now I am searching for something a little more me worthy. :)
I'm really beginning to hate being here.
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