Friday Thirteen

I stole this from someone that posts a regular meme on every Thursday. I'm going to do it on Friday and go with the number 13 (as in Friday the 13th)

SO here is the theme this week:

13 Jobs I've had.

1. Paper Girl. Ya know, it doesn't really sound like much but it is/was. My paper route took me from just above city hall, through city hall, up main street, down holden st, into and up the concourse, up the dowlin block, up eagle street, around the library, and finishing off across from the post office. I was 11ish. I had 115 papers in total to deliver. I hated Fridays and Saturdays! On Fridays when we got paid I would stop off at Dream Machine and play there for a little bit - I was a regular at Centipede and Skee-Ball. I rocked. I finally gave up that route to Kim Santelli (I didn't know her at the time but she ended up being a really good friend of mine later in life). I used to skip people on purpose because I was lazy and didn't want to walk three flights. Later on I ended up with another paper route but that is another number later on!

2. Burger King Bi-atch. It was the only place that hired when you turned 15. I took it. I was taught chicken/fish/fryer first, then burger board, then whopper. I moved up to cashier really quickly and then took the drive through spot. Everyone wanted those jobs because you got to see and talk to people...but I got them because I was good with a register - always have been, always will be. I don't remember much about BK but one time they needed help in BK down south county and I ended up being the first person they asked to go down there. That was the first place someone asked me for a vegetarian burger...blew my mind and I think I asked them "do you mean cheese on bread? like a cheese sandwich? why even say burger then?". That was about it for that job, that was 16 years ago, I don't remember too much about it. I know I hated sterilizing.

3. Paper Girl. (Again) This time I had a route closer to home. Not that anyone is going to know this route, I do. I would pick up in front of my house and run up the street with three papers - (on East Main Street) then I would get settled with my papers - go down towards Berkshire Landing, up back towards east main, down towards main st, down gallup st, up park ave, over kemp ave, up towards windsor lake, down bradley street and then back home. It was QUITE a long route for me. Eventually I found out that my best friend's dad & brother had a route similar to mine (on the opposite side of the street of all weird things) so we got together and traded customers so I could stay closer to home. This was the route that had me deliver papers to my grams house - I stopped in one day to get a sprite and when I was done I thought I'd be badass and twist the can in half, as I did so I sliced open my left thumb. My gramp told me I needed stiches but I flat out refused.

4. Baby-sitting. This really was my job in my junior year. I would go over after school and stay with Dan (8 or 9) and Angela (baby). I earned my money damnit. The kid (dan) used to spit on me, he was super mean and very uncontrollable. I remember I found a tape in their house of Kansas and made a copy of it, because I am such a pirate. The parents were super nice and I still see them every once in a while when I'm home. Nice folks.

5. Stop n Shop. I had to bust my ass to get that job. I went in for my initial interview with tons of other people (it was a store that was just opening) and the girl in back of me got the job of cashier and they had told me there none left. My step dad called and ripped them a new ass and I got another shot at the job. We trained for quite some time and travelled to different stores to train. They used to have competitions for the cashiers to see who was the fastest with the best accuracy for onspot cash and price and I was always top 2. (see, still good with that register). I used to dream of the beeps - my alarm clock would often work it's way into a dream about work. hah. I remember working with Michelle Dorman and Jill Campedelli - one day on break Jill had a soda and was going to throw it away but she was going to throw it in the mail box on accident -she's a riot. I remember this is where I learned what "flavor savor" was (moustache). Yea, totally inappropriate from my boss talking about that huh? Also this was the place where I got to "check out" Judge Reinhold. and saw Christopher Reeves be a jack ass to a young fan and wouldn't give his autograph. Anyway - I quit that job. About a month or two before prom/graduation/college visiting days I put in for the days off...a few days before I put in a follow up note to ensure I got the days off and Bill (the boss) told me that he can't guarantee me those days off. I told him to go ahead and schedule me and I'll call in sick. So I went to my dads house and got job 6 and told Stop n Shop to go be badass elsewhere.

6. Mobil/Convenience Plus. So after I told Stop n Shop to go stick it I started to work at the Mobil station on Curran Highway and the one in Williamstown (before it was made over into a DnD/Mobil/Shell). The store in Williamstown was seriously a hole in the wall and it was right by a mental institution and we'd get all the whacko's in. It was torture. You never knew who was coming in and/or why - like the guy that bought 10 packs of cigarettes per day. The guy that owned a restaurant in North Adams that would come in and buy $400-$500 worth of scratch tickets per day. It was insane. I met Sinbad there. I quit working at Mobil when I went off to college, where I had a couple work-study jobs that I won't get into.

7. Cumberland Farms. This was the next job I had - it was the same as Mobil station only this was on Rt 2. People from NY going to Boston would drive it and vice versa. I'd often get tourists in and ask directions - I'd hand them a map. I'd get people come in and ask me where Rt. 2 was. Seriously buddy. I think I even saw a Ryder truck full of hippies (travelling in the back of the Ryder - so Illegal!

8. Walmart. I ran register for a while - Like I said - I rock the register. Then one day they said "we need help in the Radio Grill" and put me in there. GOD I should have protested. Once I was in I couldn't get out. Everyone that was there quit leaving me and one other chick to work the entire schedule. Management wouldn't help. I'm not so good with food industry. Then I got to run the damn place - I begged management to get someone in there so I could leave. No go. I did like doing the ordering though, that was fun. I hated closing up - people were asses. Specially the workers - they all went on lunch at the same time and wanted their food at the same time. Like that was going to happen. I finally got out of that job when one day I got a call from my mom "get your resume together and get down to city hall" word! Oh and the only reason I stayed on at Walmart so long is cos it paid the sorority dues and housing fees to live there.

9. NAMEFCU - That would be a credit union. It was me and Gail. Oh Gail, how I miss her...she made me laugh and laugh. My mom worked down the hall in the Mayor's office and could hear us giggling like school girls. She told the best stories, and they were animated stories. She is the one that got me hooked on the Harry Potter series. I just love her. Anyway - the job was super neat but it was only part time. I got to do credit reports, write checks, fill out loans, process loans for approval, balance the statements, deposits, payroll...just about everything. I loved it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Then...I moved :/

10. CVS - Had this job while I worked at NAMEFCU - needed to make rent, right? It was stupid, lots of people buying cold medicines, buying pictures, and stealing condoms.

11. Subway - So like I said - I moved. Not only did I move, I moved to Alabama. To a town that has a population of 1,053. I could go to Phil Campbell and work at the Piggly Wiggly or drive into Haleyville (birthplace of 911) and work for Michelle's friend Shari (who has since died) working at Subway. I chose subway. Only because the piggly wiggly reminded me of price chopper and i hate price chopper. The subway was ok to work at, itself, I learned all i needed and I sliced veggies and onions, and prepped the bins and the meats, made the bread and stocked whatever...ya know the usual. The job itself was a job, it got me back home eventually but here was the kicker - it was in the deep south. On any given week I would encounter 4 types of people - The Religious, The Southern Woman, The Civil War Fighter, and The Footballer/Cheerleader. All typical of the south. Religious folks would all ask "have you been saved?" each and every time they came in. (I just started saying yes to get them to leave me alone), The Southern Woman with her big hair and drawl would say stuff like "Is it true ya'll yankees shoot each other dead up there?" - yea lady, that's why I'm still alive. The Civil War Fighter would come in with his t-shirt on that said "and the south shall rise again" and I'd think - only to have the yankees put you down again. and of course the footballer/cheerleader coming in being all teen-ager like and creating headaches. I learned that any stereotype I knew of the south did exist (like when three old guys were waiting in line and they were talking about the 2000 election that was currently being recounted for the umpteenth time one guy said "well if anything happens to Gore we'd have a damn Jew in the whitehouse" !!! he said that, no lie) but I also learned that not everyone down there can be stereotyped...I ate at tons of mexican restaurants (the ones up north suck, by the way) and a few road kill cafes (they will cook your kill if you want them to). Oi BUT nothing is better than driving down the road flipping through one MILLION stations of christian music than coming upon a peanut stand and getting nice hot peanuts in a shell and eat them all the way home!

12. Capital Motorsports. So I got home from Alabama to Massachusetts and got lucky. I applied to an ad in the paper for a invoicing clerk and I got the job, BUT it was part time. My bosses were impressed by my computer knowledge/abilities that they hired me full time - half to do invoicing and half to do their computer work. I did so much there I don't know where to start - I stated off running credit cards and labeling boxes for delivery then I started to occasionally take catalog orders to taking little orders to taking FULL time orders. (Mark down SALES on my resume) Then I also managed the photograph library with all the parts we sold (race car parts btw) and took pictures of items we didn't have in the library. THEN I was the co-ordinator for the catalog and was in charge of keeping prices up to date as well as the layouts. I also managed the magazine publications (ON TOP of my sales job) and then we started up the website (which is just like the catalog) complete with shopping cart and online ordering. The website I created in 2001 is still in use with very very very minor updates (mostly just new items and pricing updates). I created the beast and it still lives - It was an enormous undertaking. I taught myself how to use Front Page to do the job and used Photoshop ad nauseam. GO ME! My co-workers were funny but my bosses... They were a husband/wife team, really small company (10 or 11 people). She doted on her dogs and was a work-a-holic and perfectionist. Drove me insane most of the time. He was a big ol bear, and if you listened really close (or just happened to be in the next room like I was) you could hear their fights. Nice. Knock 'em down, drag 'em out. She was a bear. But...now that I don't work there I miss it. I dream about the place often and always think about the wife asking me to take my job back. hah. I could tell you stories and stories about the people we talked to on the phone. Lets just say that amateur race car drivers are a few nuts short of a tight tire.

13. IBM. Current job that I have here in Minnesota. I do a lot of everything from creating projects in a database to creating resource records in it. I manage the data going in and coming out and oversee the world wide team to make sure they are also doing the same (I have counter parts in Japan, India, Israel, China, Egypt, Korea, and Germany). I don't do just that, but I really prefer not to talk too much about my current job.
I can say that a lot of people come to me for technical support and I am QUITE OFTEN simply amazed that these people work at IBM too. - "How do I close the program" (use the big red "X" at the top of the screen). I love the people I work with and my team mates out in Vermont

SO there it is folks - my 13 jobs. (I had more but cut a few out because they were stupid like the time I worked at Cascade and slit open my finger - that's all I remember, or when I worked for the Sierra club and worked for like 2 weeks and quit because I can't sell cookies to a fat girl with PMS...soo...not my complete history but some of it)