I have been working since I was 15 years old.
My first job was at the local pizza parlor that was owned by two brothers-in-law. O and L.
They were tough bosses, fair. The uniform was ugh - white pants and their flimsy logo'd tshirt. White pants?!?!? What chubby 15 year old wants to wear that? But I did. And I answered the phones and fell in love with the pizza boy. I was always on time and always worked my shifts.
I picked up a delicious pizza there last week. I walked in the door and L said "VON!!! How are you? How is your family?" Yep, they still love me. They don't ever, ever want to hear that I am nearly 40, but they have a soft spot in their hearts for the chubby little blonde who worked there for two years when she was in high school.
When I was 16, I got a job at a hardware store. I was a cashier. I was always on time, fell in love with the lumber yard dude. I wore a gold smock with the logo on it - a big smiling beaver. I worked a lot, was always on time. I moved on up to the service desk. I still had to wear the gold beaver smock, but I learned how to price out lumber and custom doors and do mathy stuff. On my last day, three of the lumber yard guys sang "End of the Road" by boyz to men as I walked out. They gave me flowers. I'm still friends with a couple of people I worked there with.
When I was 19 I decided I didn't want to go to college anymore, I was going to go find a real job. I signed up with an agency and quickly found a job working as a file clerk at an insurance company downtown. The big leagues!! VonParents were happy for me and bought me a lovely business casual wardrobe. I had pretty dresses and even a trench coat. I took the el every day and went to the Art Institute for lunch breaks.
Right around 21, I was an asshole, and I got fired. I was on the phone with my boyfriend and friends all day. This was stupid. I learned my lesson. I'm still friends with one of the people I met there.
I got fired in August, so I took a month off and hung out in exbestie's pool. All day. Every day. I still lived at home and didn't really have bills, so I wasn't worried.
September I walked into another agency in answer to an ad they had placed for some job in a bank. Instead, they hired me to work there, at the agency. I was 21 and placing people 10, 12 years older than me in jobs, and fixing their resumes. We drank beer on Friday afternoons. I'm still friends with both of the awesome women I worked with there.
When I was 22, I started to look for something else, I liked my job, and the people, but I needed more money. I found a job at AutoParts Place really quickly.
I was 22, and a receptionist with a 10 minuted commute.
I LOVED that job. I was there over 10 years, and I kept moving on up the food chain. I went from one job to the next to the next to the next. I went from a department of 12 to just me in Chicago and the rest of the department in Boston. I fell in love with a warehouse dude, got engaged to him, and called off the wedding and the relationship all while I worked there.
I held out for more - money, responsibility, whatever - until I couldn't anymore. I decided on 1/1/07 I would look for a new job. I found one in July. The CEO of AutoParts Place even flew out before I left, and visited me.
"So, where are you going?"
"Big Stupid Company"
"Ah. I can't talk you out of it then."
"Nope:"
**hindsight makes me wish he had**
I am still friends with MANY of the people I worked with there. As far as work families go, we were/are extremely tight. We weathered business changes, great joys, horrible sadnesses, crazy people and crazy times. I feel fuzzy warm love for several of the people I worked with there.
I loved my last job. I did. I learned so much from some incredibly smart people - smart women. Women who I admire and will remember.
But, I'm not sure I'll be friends with many of them. Not by my choosing. I haven't seen M since December. Lots of empty promises that we WILL see each other, but even those are getting less frequent. There are so many people I do not miss (see yesterday's post).
Is it because I worked with a lot of sales people? And in general, I distrust sales people? I don't know why.
This whole post originated with the thought that I MUST have value, I MUST be a good person, or friend or something, or else why would all of these people, going back 25 years, even want to stay in touch with me? I may have lost that direction along the way as I typed. It became kind of a chronicle of jobs.
Whatever, it's Friday. So I can do what I want.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Looking back
Ya know, I'm getting over my last job. Finally. Sure, I miss the people (most of them), and I miss the perks and hours and all of that.
Yes, I had it GOOD. And I know that. I worked my ass off, but I had four weeks of vacation, seven "summer Fridays", two personal days, a bunch of holidays, an hour lunch, an unenforced dress code.
And much, much more.
But, here's the thing. They let ME go, and kept Lazyoldbitch?
Lazyoldbitch is 900 years old. She'd use a steno machine if she could. She's lazy, rude, nasty, and evil.
And, they fucking KEPT her.
At my job before the last one, the President used to ask of his people - "What are the working hours I am getting from this person?" That stuck with me. I'm going to be totally honest. When there was work to be done, at both of my last jobs, they got 95% working hours from me. Yes, I internetted, and chatted with my bestie. But I worked my ass off.
Lazyoldbitch?
Even though she was forced to come in and be at work 37 hours a week, she still got out of actually working. She would waddle in the door at 7:58. Then she would stink up the bathroom for about 20 minutes. Then she'd have to chat with her buddy (who also did much less work than I did) for another 30 minutes. Then, as her people started to arrive, she'd sit at her desk and have her second breakfast of the day. Her own people told me that they "knew better than to speak to Lazyoldbitch before 9am!!"
Um, even though her start time was somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30?
She would then shuffle some stuff around her desk, say nasty things to me, chat with her family long distance on the phone and on facebook.
Lunch time was always a treat. She'd shovel food in her face while playing solitaire (God only knows how she got to keep that on her work computer, while everyone else's had to be removed). She would then make sure her people weren't paying attention and would them put her feet up and read her book for another hour.
She only ever moved quickly at the end of the day. She even had permission to leave early every three weeks to have her nasty stringy frizzed out hair done. Um, what? Her "working hours" were about 1.5 to 3 a day.
So, as I look back - I have stopped being sad and saying "why me?" and started getting angry and saying "why NOT HER??"
If that company thinks she has more value than I did, then it's a damn good thing I am not there any more. She's a piece of shit.
If karma is real, I'd love to be there when it bites her in the ass.
I'm hoping to see her again someday soon. I just want to walk up to her and tell her she is a hateful, ugly and lazy bitch. Then I will walk away and never give her another thought.
Yes, I had it GOOD. And I know that. I worked my ass off, but I had four weeks of vacation, seven "summer Fridays", two personal days, a bunch of holidays, an hour lunch, an unenforced dress code.
And much, much more.
But, here's the thing. They let ME go, and kept Lazyoldbitch?
Lazyoldbitch is 900 years old. She'd use a steno machine if she could. She's lazy, rude, nasty, and evil.
And, they fucking KEPT her.
At my job before the last one, the President used to ask of his people - "What are the working hours I am getting from this person?" That stuck with me. I'm going to be totally honest. When there was work to be done, at both of my last jobs, they got 95% working hours from me. Yes, I internetted, and chatted with my bestie. But I worked my ass off.
Lazyoldbitch?
Even though she was forced to come in and be at work 37 hours a week, she still got out of actually working. She would waddle in the door at 7:58. Then she would stink up the bathroom for about 20 minutes. Then she'd have to chat with her buddy (who also did much less work than I did) for another 30 minutes. Then, as her people started to arrive, she'd sit at her desk and have her second breakfast of the day. Her own people told me that they "knew better than to speak to Lazyoldbitch before 9am!!"
Um, even though her start time was somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30?
She would then shuffle some stuff around her desk, say nasty things to me, chat with her family long distance on the phone and on facebook.
Lunch time was always a treat. She'd shovel food in her face while playing solitaire (God only knows how she got to keep that on her work computer, while everyone else's had to be removed). She would then make sure her people weren't paying attention and would them put her feet up and read her book for another hour.
She only ever moved quickly at the end of the day. She even had permission to leave early every three weeks to have her nasty stringy frizzed out hair done. Um, what? Her "working hours" were about 1.5 to 3 a day.
So, as I look back - I have stopped being sad and saying "why me?" and started getting angry and saying "why NOT HER??"
If that company thinks she has more value than I did, then it's a damn good thing I am not there any more. She's a piece of shit.
If karma is real, I'd love to be there when it bites her in the ass.
I'm hoping to see her again someday soon. I just want to walk up to her and tell her she is a hateful, ugly and lazy bitch. Then I will walk away and never give her another thought.
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