If variety is the spice of life, then my life is Indian food. I have had a lot of different jobs. You know those people that can always say, “Oh yeah, when I worked at the INSERTRANDOMPLACEHERE we did it a little differently.” Yeah, that’s me. Understandably, this is probably incredibly annoying. The first comment usually made is “OMG where haven’t you worked?!”
I truly have worked in a huge variety of industries. Actually, I think that is what makes me good at my current job. Having all of that work experience comes in handy when dealing with difficult people.
Here’s a list of all of the places I have ever worked. Well, the ones that I can remember anyway.
- Babysitter: Started around age 10. Did this throughout middle school and high school. Happy to still do it for kids that are not monsters.
- File Clerk: I got this job around 8th grade helping out the podiatrists office where my mom worked. Did this for about 2 years, off and on.
- Transcriptionist: In high school, I competed in machine transcription. Because I’m a huge nerd, and I type fast, it was a natural fit. It was just occasionally helping out the podiatrist my mom worked for. This was sporadic.
- Sales clerk at a used book store: This was probably my favorite job of all time and the one I will go into more detail about first. I did this job for 3 years in high school. Eventually, I became the manager. The owner was one of the most influential people in my life and the day he passed away was one of the saddest days in my life.
- Owner. In high school, I started my own online book search business. This lasted about a year. I think I was about 16.
- McDonald’s employee. This was the worst 6 months of my life as a senior in high school. Working in fast food was gross. The hours were long, the pay was terrible, and this is the moment I started to gain weight. The only bonus was that my co-workers were awesome. I didn’t last long here.
- Assistant Manager at Godfather’s Pizza. I think technically the term was ‘shift lead’ but it was the same premise. My first year and a half of college I worked here. I got promoted pretty quickly and still remain friends with the woman who was the manager of this place. Awesome people and the job wasn’t terrible. Only left because the place shut down.
- Sales clerk at The Bon Marche. The Bon, as we lovingly called it in the ’00 years, is owned by Macy’s. For areas that didn’t have Macy’s they had The Bon. Eventually they all just merged into Macy’s. I was a sales clerk in the home electronics and domestics area (think blenders, pots & pans, towels and sheets). This was for about 6 months while I finished up college. The discount was amazing. Working on commission was not.
- Receptionist. After I moved to New Jersey, when I was about 20, my first job was for a fancy schmancy skin care salon in Red Bank, as the front desk receptionist. The owner was a very difficult woman but I made it work for almost a year.
- Hospital Food Service. I moved onto the hospital in the area working in the cafeteria as a food service worker. This was not a glamorous job (think hairnets, rubber shoes and scrubs) but it paid well and had awesome benefits. I was here about 6 months before getting poached for a new job.
- Salon receptionist/assistant manager. A friend from the old salon I worked at hooked me up with this job. It was a huge salon and the job paid even more than I was making, all under the table. I was about 22 so who cared about benefits at that point, amiright? I was here for over 2 years and loved it. I had amazing co-workers, many of whom I’m still friends with, and I learned so much about management.
- Receptionist at pet grooming salon/kennel. Around this time of my life, I moved back to Oregon for a few months. I needed to get my head straight. I got a job at a local pet spa and boarding facility. I ended up working here the entire time I was in Oregon.
- Salon Assistant Manager. I moved back to the east coast and got a job at a fancy salon in Manhattan, on Madison ave. I found my calling in being a manager and loved the creative environment of salons; I still do. The free services didn’t hurt either. I got tired of working weekends so soon moved on. I stayed about 8 months here.
- Office Manager for doctor. Through a hookup from a friend, I was offered another great job as an office manager for a prominent neurologist in Manhattan. The pay was great, benefits were good and the hours were “normal” which made for a better social life. The doctor was incredibly difficult to work for but I stayed here about a year and half.
- Personal Assistant. Yet another hookup from a friend. I became a personal assistant for a film producer. This job was another one of my favorites. The hours were easy and flexible, the pay was the best I’d ever had and the job was rewarding. Eventually the family had some financial hardships and I was let go because they could no longer afford me.
- Supermarket cashier. Times were tough and I had to do what needed to be done. I got a job at Stop and Shop as a cashier. I started being groomed for management pretty quickly. Things came to an abrupt halt when a manager found out I was gay, and didn’t take kindly to it. I was forced to leave.
- Call center rep. My career in publishing started after that so it worked out well. I got a job at Newsday as a call center rep for their new, local office. I loved it and eventually was running the technical support for customers. We decided to move to Los Angeles though so I was forced to move on. Through a connection from my boss, I was able to land an interview at the Los Angeles Times when I got out there.
- Data Entry Rep/Tech Support/Email Marketing: Now, my current job. The networked connection landed me to my true career in email marketing. It took a lot of roads to get here, and to figure out what I really wanted to do, but I found it. I truly started at the bottom and have worked my way up. I’ve been here for 6 years and counting.
- Social Media strategist/web producer/transcriptionist/mystery shopper: I’m all about the side hustle. Even though I have a full time job, I still find hours to fill up with freelance work. I enjoy doing social media for a local business as well as the University I attend, being a mystery shopper for various grocery stores, movie theaters and restaurants and have gotten back into transcribing.
I’ll go into detail on some of my favorite, and least favorite, jobs in later posts. Through all of these random jobs I have really come out on top. I finally found my niche (marketing), I was motivated to go back to school (almost done!), I’ve learned to deal with all kinds of people from a variety of backgrounds, and I am able to bring a unique perspective to things because I understand so many different viewpoints. Now I have a career, along with stability in my life, with a pretty wide open, bright future ahead of me.
All of this does tend to make me a pretty difficult customer. I am a big advocate for customer service and it irks me when people act like the customer is a nuisance.
What have been some of your favorite or least favorite jobs? Do tell!
Mixtape Musings 