Jobs

I got my first job the summer between my Junior and Senior years in high school. I had planned to go to college, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So, while I have attended a couple of semesters of college, I never really made it to college. Instead, I've bounced around many different types of jobs, learning a lot about a lot, and loving every minute of it.

My first job was at Burger King, Home of the Whopper! (that's trademarked, btw) My dad bought me my first car - a 1974 Oldsmobile Omega, 4 door, nicknamed "The Beef Piece" - and I was told that I would pay for my own gas and my own insurance. That meant I had to get a job. I did not want to work fast food, so I applied at every grocery store within a 10 mile radius of my house. None of them ever called me in for an interview. A family friend was working at Burger King and told me he could get me a job there. I relented not because he could get me in but because my dad was threatening to take away my keys unless I got a job - any job. So, I went down there and I was hired on the spot.

I was so sure that I would not like that job. I did not look forward to working there my first full week. But, it didn't take long to learn to like it. By the time I'd been there six months, I had made a lot of friends - some of whom I kept for life. And I learned a lot there. Not just how to grill hamburgers or fry french fries, but I learned about people, and about business, and about child labor laws. That was really important. But most importantly, it was there that I began to learn who I was to become - I was learning more about me. I worked there a total of 15 months before I quit. And the only reason I quit was because we moved - an hour and a half away. Too far to commute. But more important than learning a lot was I had A LOT of fun while I worked here. I met so many new friends. I got some old friends jobs there. And we made that place a fun place to work. I'll always have fond memories of this job!

After getting settled in our new community, I began searching for another job but no one would hire me. My dad had to make my truck payments and was pestering me to get another job, so I finally started applying at Burger King. The closest ones, for whatever reason, would not hire me. I had worked with a manager at "my" Burger King who claimed he was there for training because his parents owned a franchise in Redlands. One day, my brother and I decided to drive to Redlands to see if we could find him. We did find the only Burger King in Redlands, but not my old manager. But while we were there, I applied for a job. And I got hired. Since nothing else was being offered, I took it. I drove 35 miles one-way to get to that job. I think I spent more on gas than I made on my paycheck. But I was working, and my dad was happy. I worked there for 7 months. It was not as fun as my first job and I was a little disillusioned.

While I was running my truck into the ground with my long commute, my Dad was vigilantly looking for other prospects for me. One day, he saw an ad in the local paper for a home-health aide/companion for an elderly lady. Since I had been certified as a nurse's aide and was enrolled in an EMT course at the community college, he thought I had a chance to be hired. So I applied for the job. The family of the elderly lady lived in Beverly Hills, so I had to write a letter and send a resume. It was the first time I didn't have to fill out an application for a job. My Interview was over the phone and apparently, I made a good impression with my medical background. Either that, or I was the most qualified applicant. Either way, I had a new job closer to home.

Her name was Paula and she was 85 years old. She had once been married to a man who made millions of dollars in the perfume industry. After he died, she married a man who squandered away her millions. When the bank account read less than one million, the second husband killed himself. He was in his 80s. After he died, her son and his wife stepped in and took over her finances. They sold the Beverly Hills home and moved her to Wrightwood. By this time, she wasn't cognizant of everything going on around her so there were no arguments. She was very complacent to let her son tell her what was going to happen. By the time I knew her, senility had already set in, and she was physically deteriorating. My job was to get her out of bed, feed her breakfast, get her bathed and dressed, take her on walks when she was able - push her in the wheelchair when she wasn't able to walk, take her to her doctors appointments, feed her lunch, and then, if she wanted to, she could watch one hour of television every day. Her son, George, was a teacher in the valley somewhere and had long commutes. He left the house every day before the sun came up and returned long after I left for the day. George's wife, Cynthia, told me that she was not going to take care of her mother-in-law, it was not her job. I would do that in George's absence. By the time I left at the end of my shift, George would be due to return within the hour, and Cynthia felt that was about as much time as she would spend keeping an eye on her mother-in-law. Obviously, there was no love lost there. I never did hear that story. I heard a lot of stories, but never from Paula. She very rarely spoke other than to say, "Thank you, Dear," or to ask for something specific like, "Do you have the time?" She was born in Holland, so was fluent in Dutch, Flemish, French and English. One day she asked me what time it was in all four languages before I understood her. One day, I asked her why she didn't talk to me. She said, "I've been talking for 85 years. I figure I've said all I have to say." She was a funny lady! Drama and boredom came with this job. It was one of my favorites. I lost this job when Paula passed away. I had known her for the last 15 months of her life.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do next. I had decided to take a vacation to visit my old stomping ground and see old friends. I stayed with my aunt, and while I was there, she told me that I could get a job where she worked. She was a telephone operator. I had never done that, so I applied. Because I was Paula's niece, I was hired on the spot. I went home and told my mom I found a job and I was moving out. I was 20 years old... it was time. So, just like that I became a telephone operator - oh excuse me - a Telereceptionist. I worked for an answering service. We answered the phones for business professionals whose work depended on after hours calls, like doctors, for instance. In fact, doctors offices were our most predominant customers. I did this for 8 years. (This is the longest I will ever hold a specific type of job, tho not always with the same employer.) My first employer was TAB Answering Service, who later became Alert Communications. I was able to work my way up in this job. I started at a grunt, or operator, answering phones on the swing shift - 3pm to 11pm. This was the busiest shift because offices typically closed at 5pm and we took over. I really loved this job! I guess that's why I did it for so long. Eventually, I became the evening supervisor, then the assistant manager, then the manager in charge of voice mail. Not long after I was hired, my Aunt was made assistant manager. When she retired, I was offered that position. I don't know for sure if it was because I was her niece or if it was because I had proven that I could do the job. Either way, I learned a lot as the assistant manager. I was in charge of scheduling employees hours and billing. That was fun. I only left that industry when I started my own company with my ex-sister-in-law, Shirley.

Before I get to our company, while I was still a Telereceptionist, my first husband and I had moved to Las Vegas. I was working at an answering service when one of our customers offered me a job. This was for a nurse staffing company, or nurses registry. They staffed local hospitals who were short of nurses with nurses who were willing to work the extra hours. Hospitals used the registries to avoid paying their staff overtime. Oftentimes, their staff would be the ones sent to work the shifts. But because they were sent by our company, they were no longer employed by the hospital and were, therefore, not paid overtime. I liked that job because I got to deal with the medical industry, to which I had always held an attraction. I left that job when we moved back to CA, where I got my job back at Alert.

With the advent of the automated system, the answering service industry began it's decline. The company I worked for had about 10 offices in the surrounding area. As customers canceled our service, the company began to close and combine offices. When they finally got to my office, I was moved to the nearest neighboring office. I was the assistant manager/voice mail manager at the time, but because the office I was moving to already had one of those, I was demoted. I received fewer hours. My check took a huge hit. I had gotten Shirley a job with Alert and when they closed our doors, she was let go. (Not everyone was given the opportunity to move with the company... there simply were not enough jobs.) So Shirley and I discussed it and decided to start our own business. We cleaned houses. It did not go well at first. We just didn't get enough calls. But then she learned of a program run by the state of CA where they (the state) would pay someone to do specific things for elderly and disabled persons. Her mother lived in a senior community and there were a lot of residents that were looking for someone to come and help them. So we started doing that. We started with her mother, of course. And her mother, who we called Mama, loved her daughter so much, that she told everyone about us and eventually we ended up with so many clients that we had to separate. She would take one floor while I took another. This wasn't my most favorite job, but I liked it because I got to see different people every day and I got to hear a lot of stories. My limited medical background came in handy with some of our clients. I had one lady who was diabetic and had arthritis so bad that she couldn't give herself her insulin injections... so I did it. I also took her blood pressure and tested her blood sugars every morning. I had Nicolas by then, so he stayed with Mama while Shirley and I roamed the building. Sometimes he would get to come with me. He was such a good helper - even at the age of 2. And the residents loved seeing him. Well, most of them anyway! With this job, we did everything from cleaning apartments and laundry to grocery shopping. Some clients were once a week, some were two or three times a week and some were daily. One elderly lady hired us to check on her every day. She had a tendency to fall and no one would find her for hours. So Shirley checked on her in the morning and I checked on her in the afternoon/evening before leaving the building. I did that for three years. I left this job when I moved to Las Vegas. Shirley had to give up some of our clients when I left. She kept those that she favored and those that received the most hours from the state. She had to give up those that required medical care cuz she didn't know how to do that - that was my area. She never took on any new clients, even when those that she had began to die. Eventually, she didn't have any clients left and moved to Oklahoma.

In Vegas, my first job was working as a casino porter. I cleaned the casino floor (and machines, and bathrooms, and ashtrays) on the graveyard shift. Because restaurants were closed and people were scarce, graveyard is where the deep cleaning gets done. We mopped and swept and vacuumed and dusted everything located inside a casino. And I mean everything. Next time you find yourself in a casino, look up! You will see things that will need to be cleaned. That's what I did. I did it for three years before I quit.

I was babysitting my mom's boss's daughters at the time I quit, so I just focused all my attention on being a good day care provider. It didn't take long to find a father who needed someone to watch his three sons. He had just found a job after being unemployed for some time, so I had a house full of kids for about a year. I had the sisters and the brothers plus Nicky. And, I found out I was pregnant with Tony. After Tony was born, the boys' father became a stay-at-home Dad again, so I lost them. Then, my husband thought I should go back to work to bring more money into the house. So I asked the girls' mom for more money (I was only charging her $75 a week to watch both girls) but she said she couldn't afford it. So I had to go find a job.

I applied for everything I thought I could do, and was eventually hired as a receptionist for a non-profit agency whose goal it was to educate low to middle class women to become self-employed, or business owners. There I learned everything there is to know about business plans, the difference between a micro-loan and a mini-loan. I worked with partners of the SBA, including the IRS. I learned a lot at this job. So much so that people would ask me if I know how to start my own business why didn't I? I would always say because I know what it takes to run a business. To become a business owner means to gamble that you will never have any money, no more paycheck, no more vacation days, no more sick days, no more pension fund, no more retirement, no more bonuses.... that business is all you. And if that business doesn't make any money, then you don't make any money. No thank you! I liked getting my paycheck. They were funded through government grants and had to be sponsored by a larger non-profit organization. I became the personal assistant to the CEO of the sponsoring non-profit and to the program director. I really liked this job and held it for two years. I lost this job when they lost their funding.

I had picked up a second job at Jack in the Box while working for the non-profit, so when I lost that job, I went full time with Jack in the Box. I took the management training course, and became an shift leader, with the goal of moving up into management. That didn't work out so well. I was bumped around the company until I landed at a store where the manager was not a nice person and eventually I quit because he wouldn't answer his phone or his pager when staff didn't show up for work, leaving me to cover shifts. I quit when he expected me to work a double shift the night before Thanksgiving and I was expecting 26 people at my house for Thanksgiving dinner and I was cooking!

Then I applied at Baja Fresh, where I was just a cashier, no management responsibilites and I liked that a lot. No expectations of covering shifts. I did that for two years. I quit when my mom and dad moved to Idaho. My mom was my baby sitter. I had three children by then. If I were to put them into daycare, I would have been working just to pay for the daycare. So my husband and I decided that I could be a full-time, stay-at-home Mom. I did that for three years.

Then my brother-in-law decided to start his own business, but didn't know anything about running or setting up an office. So he called me and I went to work as his office manager. It was a one person office, so I was it... I did everything from billing to accounts receivable, accounts payable, answer the phones, schedule the work, paperwork in the office... everything. It's a pool plumbing business, so I learned the ins and outs of building a swimming pool. Eventually, he expanded the business to include servicing and maintaining swimming pools, and when he needed an extra body in the field, I was asked if I would like to do that. I said yes.

So I went from being the office manager (for two years) to servicing swimming pools. I love this job the best. I work outdoors all day long - the first time in my life working outdoors. I don't have to call in "sick" on truly beautiful days because I get to experience the day all day. And it's a physical job that keeps me moving. The only job that ever did that for me was when I was a casino porter. I missed that part of that job, so am very glad to be physically moving again. This March, I will have been doing this for two years.

So there you have it.... my long list of jobs and the different types that I've had. I have learned so much from each of these jobs and I can say that I have enjoyed every single one of them. Sometimes, not knowing what you're going to do in life will open up doors to worlds you didn't even know existed. I've enjoyed this journey very much. And I look forward to what the future will bring me. I'm not done learning. I don't know how long I'll be doing what I'm doing now or what will come next... but I'm excited cuz I know whatever it is, I'll learn something else that I didn't already know.