Aug 27, 2007

blah, blah, blagging.

at least that's what Melissa's friend Heather called it, when you tag someone on your blog.
i like it.

so without further ado, because no one asked for it AND because i seem to never tire of talking about me... i present:

8 jobs i have had in my life.

(hold on to your hats, kids)

1) my first job (not counting selling Christmas cards all year) was working as a waitress at a little cafe near my childhood home. i worked it for about three weeks. i hated waitressing AND i sucked at it. so much so that i didn't even make a courtesy tip. i was still in high school.

(what's funny/weird, is that i served dinners all.the.time at Rainbow functions. we would serve dinners at other Masonic functions to earn money for the Assembly. i did OK with that.)



2) i worked at a pizza deli for (again) about three weeks. the owner was a cranky, mean, unreasonable fellah - he handed me the menu on my first day and told me to have it memorized by my next shift. the next day.

i laughed. he didn't. i finally got tired of all his yelling, so i quit. which brings us to...



3) Woolworths. remember them? five & dimes? i worked at one for a Christmas season, which carried over to the March after that. then i was let go.

nothing's worse than to be a teenager working AT the mall, with all your friends outside your store, because no self-respecting teenager would be caught dead inside a Woolworths.



4) Supercuts. i worked there as a receptionist for years. loved that job. worked for a cool couple who owned two locations in Long Beach. we got reviews every quarter, and i got a raise every quarter. just about a quarter per quarter, but what the heck.

i swept hair, rang up bills, washed & dried towels. i remember the Arby's restaurant across the street got held up, and our owner was visiting our location. he asked me what i would do if someone held us up, and i was honest.

'i'd give him all the money we had, and give him some shampoo and conditioner, too, if they wanted it.' not the answer he wanted.

moving on to...
5) junior loan processor. i even had business cards with that and my name printed on them for the first time in my life. don't be too impressed, all i really was, was a glorified copy girl. my main job was xeroxing loan packages to send to the lender. i left because i got really tired of my boss and her friend using a certain F bomb all.the.time. seriously. all the time.

6) car dealer receptionist. cool job. pretty cool people. even met a boyfriend that i was beyond crazy about. i left when they moved me from full time M-F to part time 6 days a week. buh-bye.

7) GTE/Verizon/Idearc Media. in the last 20 years of my life, i've been here. it's changed names three times, we've had lots of changes, lots of layoffs and STILL i manage to hang on. i've also had as many jobs AT this place as on this list. and i won't bore you with some of the mind-numbing jobs i've done here.
and in between my time there, i've also....

8) been an archaeologist at Knott's Scary Farm's Camp Spooky. Camp Spooky is normally Camp Snoopy, a fun place for little kids to hang out, with rides, games etc just their size.
we had a maze set up, and occasionally a smiling vampire or Frankenstein would amble through. each kid would get their map of all the mazes stamped, and at the end would get a Snoopy digital watch. i would either stamp, hand out watches OR hand out the trick or treat candy we also had.
the kids were great. their parents, not so much.
why, you may ask, did i, in my late 30s, take a job at an amusement park, when i didn't have to?
well, every year, Knott's hosts their Halloween Haunt. and it really will scare the pee out of you. really.
and i always wanted to be a 'critter' that would wander through the Park, hiding in the shadows, then jumping out and chasing teenage girls, making them scream.

i'm not nice. it just seemed like so much fun. the only deal was, they usually had the same people every year as critters. they would run and slide on their knees, they hid in super scary mazes.
they even changed the rides to really make them scary. and have people jump out at you, there.

it was something i always wanted to do. and even though i never made critter status, i did have fun working every weekend from the end of September to the end of October. and the best part was, every night after i got off work, i could ride the Log Ride (minus the critters, the ride was 'normal' during the day) as much as i wanted to. no one cared.
and it was cool to hang out where Brendan & i got married...at the same time of year.

but that's another post.

well, suffice it to say that this post is as long as the job history i've provided. let me know if you decide to play, i'd love to see your employment history, too.

2 comments:

Melissa said...

I knew, I just knew that you'd play - and that you'd have some great stories to tell.

And I was right.

I always look at the receptionist at my salon, and think what a fun job it would be. And hey, a quarter raise once a quarter - that adds up to a dollar a year. Not bad at all.

The coolest part is the Knotts Berry Farm - I knew you loved that place, I just didn't know how deep that affection went!

Valerie said...

i gotta say - i really love Disneyland more. it's just that B & i have plenty of fond memories of Knott's, and it was a neutral place to get married...but still a church to appease my guilt of not having a traditional church wedding.

strange, but true.