9.24.2002
JOBS -
So I'm sitting here in my office - which is still a strange concept to me, a room, a door, a phone, a PC, and it's all mine. Don't get too impressed though, no windows in the office, so it's not like I'm at the top of the heap or anything. Still it's nice to know I'm in the middle somewhere. Got me to thinking about all the "Real" jobs I've had......
1. McDonald's - My first officail paying gig. Got hired almost the second I turned 16, something about wanting to drive motivated me to apply. I spent 2 1/2 years flipping burgers, making salads, biscuits, unloading trucks, and yes even waiting on customers at the counter and Drive-thru. The average time of employment at the time I was there was 3 months, I somehow lasted 10 times that long.
2. Burger King - From bad to worse, but seeing as how my stay at the Golden Arches ended abruptly (by my own choice), it's an easy job to get on short notice. This was in 1988, a year in which i held 6 different jobs. Worked there 3 1/2 months or so.
3. Cedar Point - "The Enslavement Park" as it was called not-so-lovingly by its employees. I lasted 2 weeks here, the hours sucked, the co-workers were either drunks, morons, or a combination of both, and the patrons were worse. I did not work on any of the rides, though I did have the extreme displeasure of being on the Pirate Ship Ride when it's brakes failed. It takes about 45 min. for a Pirate Ship Ride to slow down all by itself. 2 or 3 weeks is all I lasted, and i topped it all off by taking a greyhound bus back to pittsburgh.
4. Southland Cinema 9 - You guessed it, a multiplex, crappy hours, lots of downtime, no surprise I made it 4 days, but I had to quit so that I could jump into the next gig.
5. Giant Eagle Meat Wrapper - Yup as smelly and blood soaked as a butcher without any of the financial perks that went with it. Now Giant Eagle was a Union Shop, which meant I had to join and pay dues. In return I got to work numerous 40+ hour weeks with no overtime, and no benefits, because until you worked some arbitrary number of weeks at 40 hours or over, you were considered "part-time", needless to say, managers were quite good at making sure you always had a 38 hour week in there now and again. 3 months
6. Mellon Bank - I was a module processor - which means I opened other peoples mail, took out the checks and sent them in for deposit. Then I would get a stack of xeroxed copies of said checks, and put them back into the right envelope, maybe circle a few things, staple a few things, and send it all back to the client. I saw some Big checks there - lots of zeros. I hated that job. Lasted about a year maybe - I'm trying to forget it ever happened.
7. TRM Cycles - over 7 years of service baby both full and part time. That was a dream job, just without the dream salary. But I met a lot of fine folks there, including Ruddy Burke (see below), Char Char, and Tom who is without question the best employer I have ever worked for.
8. Goodwill Industries - Slow season for TRM, needed to supplement my meager income.I was a janitor. I had already graduated from college. I was not happy. The upside was, lots of quiet time, nobody giving me a hard time. 6 months.
9. OneVision, Inc. - I was supposed to do tech support for this German Software company, but between my boss being obsessed with our company website, and everyone coming up with lame excuses about why I shouldn't go on service calls, I never learned the software well enough to support it. As a result when the Big Boss from Germany (Who I call the egyptian magician) came to town, he waved his wand and POOF! there went my job. 7 months.
10. Nameless Software Co. - These guys were a bunch of shifty, shady, crackpots. I should have seen the writing on the wall when I showed up for the interview in a suit, and the guy interviewing me was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that looked like he found them under the couch that morning, and flip flops! Not sandals but cheap dimestore flip flops! If these guys are still in business it is proof that there is NO justice. 2 weeks
11. MCC - Hooked up with Ruddy Burke again, in fact I would have never found out about this gig were it not for him. Saved me from total financial ruination. I pushed papers, sent e-mail, printed stuff out, played with computers, and discoverd the joy that was Napster while I was here. 9 months.
12. UNM Gallup - After getting hitched, moved to New Mexico, and sat on my ass for about 8 months until I got a gig working in the IT department of the Branch Campus of UNM. Recently was given a promotion (hence my own office) and the title of Technology Development and Training Coordinator. That means I teach Teachers! yikes! been here about a year and a half so far....
go and tell me all about it
So I'm sitting here in my office - which is still a strange concept to me, a room, a door, a phone, a PC, and it's all mine. Don't get too impressed though, no windows in the office, so it's not like I'm at the top of the heap or anything. Still it's nice to know I'm in the middle somewhere. Got me to thinking about all the "Real" jobs I've had......
1. McDonald's - My first officail paying gig. Got hired almost the second I turned 16, something about wanting to drive motivated me to apply. I spent 2 1/2 years flipping burgers, making salads, biscuits, unloading trucks, and yes even waiting on customers at the counter and Drive-thru. The average time of employment at the time I was there was 3 months, I somehow lasted 10 times that long.
2. Burger King - From bad to worse, but seeing as how my stay at the Golden Arches ended abruptly (by my own choice), it's an easy job to get on short notice. This was in 1988, a year in which i held 6 different jobs. Worked there 3 1/2 months or so.
3. Cedar Point - "The Enslavement Park" as it was called not-so-lovingly by its employees. I lasted 2 weeks here, the hours sucked, the co-workers were either drunks, morons, or a combination of both, and the patrons were worse. I did not work on any of the rides, though I did have the extreme displeasure of being on the Pirate Ship Ride when it's brakes failed. It takes about 45 min. for a Pirate Ship Ride to slow down all by itself. 2 or 3 weeks is all I lasted, and i topped it all off by taking a greyhound bus back to pittsburgh.
4. Southland Cinema 9 - You guessed it, a multiplex, crappy hours, lots of downtime, no surprise I made it 4 days, but I had to quit so that I could jump into the next gig.
5. Giant Eagle Meat Wrapper - Yup as smelly and blood soaked as a butcher without any of the financial perks that went with it. Now Giant Eagle was a Union Shop, which meant I had to join and pay dues. In return I got to work numerous 40+ hour weeks with no overtime, and no benefits, because until you worked some arbitrary number of weeks at 40 hours or over, you were considered "part-time", needless to say, managers were quite good at making sure you always had a 38 hour week in there now and again. 3 months
6. Mellon Bank - I was a module processor - which means I opened other peoples mail, took out the checks and sent them in for deposit. Then I would get a stack of xeroxed copies of said checks, and put them back into the right envelope, maybe circle a few things, staple a few things, and send it all back to the client. I saw some Big checks there - lots of zeros. I hated that job. Lasted about a year maybe - I'm trying to forget it ever happened.
7. TRM Cycles - over 7 years of service baby both full and part time. That was a dream job, just without the dream salary. But I met a lot of fine folks there, including Ruddy Burke (see below), Char Char, and Tom who is without question the best employer I have ever worked for.
8. Goodwill Industries - Slow season for TRM, needed to supplement my meager income.I was a janitor. I had already graduated from college. I was not happy. The upside was, lots of quiet time, nobody giving me a hard time. 6 months.
9. OneVision, Inc. - I was supposed to do tech support for this German Software company, but between my boss being obsessed with our company website, and everyone coming up with lame excuses about why I shouldn't go on service calls, I never learned the software well enough to support it. As a result when the Big Boss from Germany (Who I call the egyptian magician) came to town, he waved his wand and POOF! there went my job. 7 months.
10. Nameless Software Co. - These guys were a bunch of shifty, shady, crackpots. I should have seen the writing on the wall when I showed up for the interview in a suit, and the guy interviewing me was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that looked like he found them under the couch that morning, and flip flops! Not sandals but cheap dimestore flip flops! If these guys are still in business it is proof that there is NO justice. 2 weeks
11. MCC - Hooked up with Ruddy Burke again, in fact I would have never found out about this gig were it not for him. Saved me from total financial ruination. I pushed papers, sent e-mail, printed stuff out, played with computers, and discoverd the joy that was Napster while I was here. 9 months.
12. UNM Gallup - After getting hitched, moved to New Mexico, and sat on my ass for about 8 months until I got a gig working in the IT department of the Branch Campus of UNM. Recently was given a promotion (hence my own office) and the title of Technology Development and Training Coordinator. That means I teach Teachers! yikes! been here about a year and a half so far....
go and tell me all about it
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