I rarely talk about work on here, for several reasons - a) I try not to give away too much information about my real life persona, even though I'm sure almost everyone who reads this knows me personally anyway, b) blogging about work can be tricky - I would never say anything remotely controversial about my workplace, knowing I could could get in trouble if I did. Which I have issues with in general, but that's not a topic for here nor there, c) I know I bore everyone enough as it is, so I don't need to wax poetic about the place I spend 50 hours a week at.
That being said, something important today that I should share - not to brag or boast, but more to put my memories and feelings down before the moment has passed. But first, I feel the need to tell everyone about all the jobs I've worked. So if you're sleepy, this should work better than an Ambien.
I got first job at 17 at the local movie theatre. The first couple of summers were fun - I worked with a core group of girls who were all about the same age as I. We all got along great, worked well together and hung out often after work. Being in high school and able to watch free movies and hang out all summer was cool. I worked there until my last semester of college and got promoted to supervisor after a couple years. The last half of my tenure there was not quite as fun as most of the people I liked working with quit and I realized that 95% of the population are either assholes and/or lack all semblance of common sense. To this day, the smell of burnt popcorn makes me want to toss my cookies.
For a year in college I worked at the computer labs on campus. The majority of my time was spent unjamming printers, changing peoples' passwords and explaining to students that I could not help them with their homework.
After graduating college with a BFA in Photography/Film/Electronic Media (my concentration was in film/video), I had the idealistic notion I was instantly going to get a job in my field and make a lot of money. Ha. I quickly found out that in film, you either had to have connections or be willing to take unpaid gopher jobs to maybe get your foot in the door. Since I had neither, for a time that post college summer I took a temp job. I had to dress nice, go downtown and basically be a secretary and kiss peoples' asses. I will say that was unequivocally the worst job I've ever had. The money was alright but I just couldn't do it - I stopped showing up.
Desperate for income (and to get my mom to stop nagging me), I ended up taking a job in the music department at a big box bookstore (it started with a "B" - you have a one in two chance of getting that right). I figured I could stay there for six months to a year until I could figure out what I was doing with my life. I stayed there for 7 years. I did so many different job duties I can't even remember most of them. I had various roles in management, three years of those being the Inventory Manager. I enjoyed working with books, music and movies (come see all my bookcases for the physical evidence) and made a lot of friends with my co-workers - some of whom I am still friends with to this day. But working retail is a thankless job and not having weekends off and the batshit insanity of the Christmas season is exhausting. I had a sense the book market was starting a downward trend, and due to changes in management at the store level, I knew my time came had come to an end. I started job searching in earnest and four years ago I called it a day and got a job in the non-profit industry.
This is my current workplace. With my inventory experience from the bookstore, I managed to get a job as the Inventory Control Supervisor. When I say I count a lot of canned peas and frozen chickens (we distributed 66 million pounds of food to Chicagoland's food pantries, shelters and soup kitchens last fiscal year), I really mean it. A lot of the job is tedious and I spend way too much time trying to figure things out such as where the hell someone put that one pallet of kidney beans in our humongous warehouse. But I can honestly say I love my job. Sure, I can have gripes, and some of my co-workers will annoy me - but I think you can say that about any workplace. Knowing that my endless hours of work helps feed someone in the community that would have gone to bed hungry is a comforting feeling. The work is gratifying and has a great mission - even when I have a bad day, I have to remind myself that this is the best job I've ever had.
Today we had our end of the fiscal year celebration. Today the organization awarded me Employee of the Year.
Even though like most of humanity I crave praise and recognition for my efforts, when faced with it I get extremely embarrassed and humbled. When they called my name I'm sure I turned 10 shades of red. They wanted to me to say a few words, to which I started out by saying "This is why I count things and don't speak in public." I then rambled off a few incoherent sentences and basically left the podium. It's a wonderful feeling to be recognized and know all the hard work I've put in over the last four years has been appreciated. Now I'll have a plaque at my desk to remind me of this that I can gaze at when I feel the urge to strangle someone with my phone cord. Which should calm me down considerably. The prime Employee of the Year parking spot at the front of the building is pretty sweet too.
As a kid, one of my pipe dreams was accepting an Oscar for some awesome film I had directed. In a way, today was that moment for me. I had have to say, it was pretty cool.
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