Mandarin/English Interpreting

December 21, 2007 (old blog entry)

I’ve been doing this over-the-phone Mandarin/English interpreting job for about 6 weeks now. The satisfatory points for me is only about 70%.

Sure all the clients I’ve been helped complimented on my customer service and linguistic skills, and always very much appreciated what I have done for them. Whether it’s to help them activating new credit cards, starting new electricity service, seeing doctors, reporting to the insurance company for car accidents, getting the police officer over to deal with an emergency… All and all, I did contribute a bit of myself to make their lives easier.
But, I just don’t feel like I can keep doing this job for any longer…

The super low hour pay is the majoy thing. $7.50 an hour is the most dreadful hour pay I’ve ever had in the U.S. (FYI, the lowest legal wage in San Franciso is $8.25 per hour). Oftentimes, I made fun of myself that I should find a cashier job at “Trader Joe’s” or “Whole Food”, at least I can get the 20% off employee discount buying groceries.

The 2nd thing is, I can’t really “interact” with people. One fun thing about teaching is you get to get direct feedback from students every day.That’s a big reward from teaching jobs, considering the low-paid, time-consuming and mind-exhuasting nature of teaching. The students acoomplishment is the biggest reward for teachers.

Anyway… I’m still searching for a better job. Meanwhile, I’ll keep serving limited-English-speaking Mandarin speakers, and keep learning from them.