The Job That Ate My Brain

Dreama posted this and I like following up on things like this, since it really made me reflect on some of my old jobs.

God, some of them sucked. Also, I'm not naming some names just because I could see this stuff coming back --even after all these years and biting me in the ass.

First job to last job, FYI:

1. Cashier - Yep, lame-o minimum wage job for a mom-n-pop store. Only there was no 'pop,' but a French Canadian family consisting of the grandparents, their son and their daughter and her 2 boys. They were in one location for 17 years, then brought me in had to move 2 weeks later. One bad decision saw them losing money quickly and then the big comics boom hit and they couldn't keep up to the speculators buying dozens of copies of every comic. Somehow they'd order the worst crap in the hundreds and get stuck with it.
2. Pizza Crew Leader - Took a job at Little Caesar's right after high school and only lasted a year. Minimum wage again and despite being a friend of the manager in high school, he treated me like scum at the restaurant. Refused to promote me despite my work record and threatened to have me fired after a bunch of us decided to go see Batman Returns one night after our shift was over. Gotta hate camaraderie in staff, eh? I think he was even more annoyed when I quit.
3. 'Map Boy'? - Basically tabulated a ton of information on Earthquakes for an emergency preparedness consultant office and learned a whole load of information of what to do in and after an earthquake. The boss retired after the city we were contracted to decided the odds on an emergency in the region was miniscule. Stupid city.
4. Salesperson - Second foray into the hobby and comics industry. It had been a huge sportscard store before a guy I knew from the first job bought it and hired me. Everything was cool for a few years, but I got to be good friends with some of the customers and when one of them bought me dinner, the writing was soon on the wall. The NHL strike totally did in the sportscard aspect and the day the strike was over, I was let go. Found out after 8 months of unemployment that he'd been giving me a bad reference. Most likely because he was pissed I left him with a bunch of stock I'd ordered and never bothered to go in and actually buy.
5. Research Assistant - My favorite history prof hired me to compile a database of written works by women in Victorian England. I blew him away with the amount of work I found and had done more than he expected by the third month in. Unfortunately, the university refused to pay me over the summer after running me through a series of hoops. Forced me to apply for a student loan to prove "need" before they'd pay me and then I didn't get the loan. Turns out I never needed the loan in the first place and the total asshole in the financial aid office basically told me not to come back to the office. I threw a hot chocolate at him in frustration. After he retired, I became good friends with his wife. Go figure.
6. Office Manager/Location Scout - working at a Modelling agency, I discovered an interesting fact about the Vietnamese owner. He had absolutely no business sense. Believe it or not I actually worked there for about 18 months, but saw 7 other staff members come and go in the same period of time. Most people quit after they had someone threaten to beat up the boss for unpaid wages. Oh, and our office was in a pink building. Yeesh.
7. Site Interpretor/Vignette Actor - Worked at a National Historic Site. Loved my co-workers and hated one of my supervisors. We got on each other's nerves so much I actually pointed out to him that I carry a gun at one point because he never said a plain 'hello' but also said 'greetings and halogens.' I hated that!! They moved me into an office job (hehhe - his office job) while he took an extended vacation. After a few uncomfortable meetings where I somehow managed to sit between 2 people warring with each other, I left. Best memory was of the guy who nearly keeled over trying to stifle a laugh when the superintendant commented on the stuffed beaver "don't you just love touching the beaver?" Still makes me laugh!
   
8. University worker - Held down so many different jobs at the university that I wouldn't have enough room to list them all. I was basically a "jack-of-all-trades" and went wherever needed. The politics in a university are the most horrible I've ever come across. I'd go where needed and yet couldn't get hired on full-time because I "didn't have the qualifications." Finally got "in" after 4 years and got pushed out of my job to make way for a woman who'd told her boss to "fuck off." I paid the price and when I complained the union rep tried to get me fired. A year later, after the Sex Caffeine fiasco, I ended up back in the position only to get bumped by someone with much more seniority after 3 weeks back on the job. Went to a new department where I got to work with the infamous Co-Workers From Hell. Got a chance to go back to the 10-month then 3-week job for a third opportunity (by which time I was labelled a 'drifter' --stupid politics). After 2 weeks I was asked to resign (and gladly did) because I'd been "too friendly" with the students. No, not sex. Just constantly watching out for them because the Boss From Hell was verbally abusive to some.

I miss like one of these jobs and that's it. Isn't that sad?