Aw, hell no!

What a day, what a god damned shitty day.

Yesterday I got a letter from my employer saying that I no longer qualified for my benefits. The only reason I work at the place I do is to get health insurance. The way it works, I keep my benefits if I work 240 hours per quarter which boils down to approximately 20 hours per week. Not bad at all. Well, I knew I was cutting it close this quarter so I've been picking up extra shifts to make my deadline. Turns out my manager was misinformed and told me I had one more week to hit 240 than I actually had. Here's the real kicker: If I had known, I could have cashed in 12.88 measely vacation hours to complete my 240! I have those vacation hours to use I just didn't effing know!

SO, I called the benefit center today to explain what happened. Basically, I have to submit a written request to review my case but in the meantime I only have health insurance until the end of this month. That is not ok with me. I couldn't help it, I just busted out into tears right there on the phone with this lady. She was very nice but she wasn't saying anything I wanted to hear! I have appointments with my shrink scheduled, I have a gyno appointment next month, I have a prescription to pay for...so the only way to get continuous coverage is to pay for COBRA. $380 for COBRA. I nearly threw up in my mouth. The lady told me I would be reimbursed if my case got resolved and there was just nothing else to do so I did it. I wrote the check. I'm already overly stressed about money, so this is just...perfect.

I wiped my tears, showered, and then prepped myself to meet commercial casting director Tony Pinchette at the Network. In my trusty planner I have written that this seminar was scheduled to start at 7:00. As I explained on January 15, at the Network you get your audition slot as you arrive the day of the seminar. Normally, arriving 30 min. early is plenty of time to nab a slot within the first 3. Wanting to get seen quickly and be on my way, I departed around 5:45 and arrived at about 6:25. When I entered the room I was shocked to see so many people there so early! I was the 10th person to arrive. Disappointed, I dropped my stuff on a chair and left to go to the bathroom in hopes of killing some of my 35 minutes of wait time. When I returned to the room around 6:48, Tony Pinchette was already in the middle of his schpiel. What the? I didn't know what to do. I am fixated with getting to these things punctually and not giving a nonchalant first impression. It is my personal nightmare to be the annoying asshole that walks in late. But I couldn't stand out in the hall for the whole time! So I went in late. I was not publicly humiliated but I was personally humiliated enough as it was, I had missed half of the Q & A and Tony clearly saw me come in late.

After the Q & A, I talked to the monitor who told me the session had started at 6:30. This made everything else make sense except: I don't fuck things like this up! I don't haphazardly jot things down, I always double check...sigh...the monitor was really nice so all that was left to do was to sit and wait. After about an hour of waiting I checked in with the monitor again and was told that Tony was currently meeting with actor #4!!! WHAT THE? What the hell was he doing for so long in that room with each actor? After another half hour Tony was only up to #7. This is when I seriously started to melt down. I had dinner plans that I was very much looking forward to after this seminar that I was pushing back every 3o minutes. I also had had an absolutely wretched day. Why would it not end? This was ridiculous! This was excessive! Perhaps Tony Pinchette was giving long thorough notes or meticulously analyzing us or just waxing poetic but WHAT THE FUCK! Maybe Tony had nothing else to do that night but I started to feel like what he was doing was extremely disrespectful for actors #4-12. I actually started to get offended. Nobody else seemed hot and bothered but I'm no pussy! My time is worth more than a rat's ass. I was able to check my personal baggage at the door for maybe 90 minutes but after that, the extreme weight of the sack of bullshit that was my day broke me. I teetered back and forth for a moment, but then I had to take control into my own hands and leave. The monitor was once again very nice and very apologetic explaining that this situation was highly unusual but that I could most likely get refunded a credit for this seminar. I left and it felt amazing. I have no regrets. Knowing my fragile mental state it felt like I was truly taking care of myself and it was empowering.

I have 1 more credit with the Network and I'm not purchasing anymore. What I went through was ridiculous and I can't believe people participate in such an asinine system. One on One is #1 the most respectful organization to it's actors. You schedule a time, you arrive for your appointment, and then you leave. Meetings are stopped at 10 minutes because really there is no need for them to be any longer because you're not taking a class, it's just an audition.

So, I didn't meet Tony Pinchette tonight. But I did have dinner and relax and vent to my friend. So BOOOOO stinkin HOOOO!