In my junior and senior year of high school, I took Cooperative Office Education (in addition to the normal College Prep classes I also took typing and shorthand), which meant that by my senior year I was in class in the morning, and then worked in the afternoon. I was an Accounting Assistant and made minimum wage which, at the time, was $3.10 an hour. I did so well I received a raise to $3.55. About a month after that, minimum wage was raised to $3.50. My salary did not increase as well, so I ended up making just 5 cents over the minimum wage. (Keep in mind this was, oh, over 25 years ago. Yikes!)
I graduated from high school and went to college, where I took 13-15 credit hours of class (full-time) and worked about 35 hours a week at a shoe store in the local mall. I don't remember what I made, but I'm sure it wasn't much above minimum wage. What I do remember from there is some of the women would come in and pull a wad of sweaty money out of their bras (yes, I'm serious!) and hand it to me when they paid for their purchases. Then they'd make an oh-shape with their fingers and thumb and expect me to pour their change into their hand. I finally got to the place where I'd just put their change on the counter. (Oh, and when they wanted to get your attention, they'd go "Pssssst." I ignored the sound and would turn to them when they actually treated me like a human being by saying, "Excuse me" or something along those lines.)
Then I dropped out of college and went back home (cuz, you know, parents never really can get rid of their kids), and started working at a personnel recruiting firm. The rest, as they say, is history. In human resources I've been a secretary, recruiter, office manager, benefits specialist, risk administrator, HR generalist and, finally, a VP. And though the stress was through the roof sometimes (especially in that last position), the pay was decent and allowed me the freedom to do something I really wanted to do, which was take time off to write.
I've never had to work in the restaurant industry which, if you know me and my predilection for knocking over full glasses of iced tea, is probably a good thing! I have done my stint in retail (twice!) and...no thanks. Not interested in doing that anymore. My back and hips won't take being on my feet that much.
But I've never had to, oh, I dunno, be elbow deep in grease or knee deep in manure. So, all in all, like I said, I've been lucky. But enquiring minds wanna know... What's the worst job you've ever had?
~ * ~
Please join me in the 3D chat room at The Romance Galleria (you have to download the software, but it doesn't seem to be too much of a drain on the computer) tonight from 9-10 p.m. EST. I've never hosted there before--it's gonna be an experience, I know. LOL
5 comments:
One of my worst jobs was working at a Japanese fast food restaurant. Not because it was a fast food restaurant, but because of the owner. You see, I tend to be a very sensitive person, so when my Japanese boss starts yelling out orders and giving mean looks, because that's the way he is, I started crying. It took me forever not to burst out in tears, but even when I stopped crying at every holler I still felt hurt, lol.
I understand completely, Ali. Being in HR for so long, I've had to develop a rather thick skin, but I'm a sensitive person at heart, and it *can* still hurt.
Oh, boy, Sherrill, don't get me started on the restaurant industry! Oi. Ali, I'm so sorry you had to go through that -- it's a ridiculous truism that the worse the job, the worse you usually get treated to go along with it! Never figured that one out, but there it is.
Hugs!
-- Sie
Sierra, you know the experts say that people don't leave companies, they leave their managers. You can be at a crappy company, but if you have a wonderful manager, you can survive the rest of it. :)
Sherrill, very, VERY true. No studies here or anything, but all my personal experience corroberates!
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