First jobs.Do you remember you first job?
In the tiny town of Toccoa, GA I was hired to be an entry level sales associate at the one dime store in town when I was a skrawny skinny pimple-faced 14- year old idealist. I wanted to be the very best employee ever hired at such a young age. I dressed for success and I nervously showed up for my first day of paid employment.
The manager was also young and new. Toccoa was so far down the line of significance in this store chain, that new managers got this remote store as their first assignment. A huge shipment of hard plastic dolls needed to be merchandised. The manager gave me a tall ladder and pointed out a shelf that he wanted me to stack dolls ontop of dolls to the ceiling.
Oh, to have the video tape of that morning!!! I'll give you my best word painting. For hours I worked with those dolls. I worked their legs this way and that to try to keep them ontop of one another. But just when I would have 20 or more tiered ontop of one another; bam...all of them would come crashing down. I was not to be deterred. I had an assignment and by George I would complete it.
I began at 8:30 AM. At 11:30 AM my mom, who worked at Belks down the street, came in to take me to lunch. She found me on the ladder and said, "Hello."
I looked at her and started bawling, "These dang dolls won't cooperate. I've twisted, stacked, and restacked and they won't stay in place. Mom, I'm not sure I'll ever be any good at this job. I'm so sorry."
The manager came on the scene and tried not to laugh. But my mom asked him how long I had been working on the dolls. "She's been at it from the moment she came in this morning. She may be the most faithful, committed employee I have ever hired," the manager said grinning and biting his lip to keep from laughing at the ocean of plastic baby dolls filling the aisle.
I dried up my tears, got down off the ladder and landed onto hundreds of baby dolls. I asked him what he wanted me to do about the baby dolls. He said, "You go onto lunch and I'll work on some new merchandising plans to display the dolls. I didn't think this one through well enough."
I never bought my own daughter a hard plastic baby doll. I had my fill of those little slippery non-compliant baby 'monsters.' The sad news is that I still try to make poor plans work out longer than they deserve.
Make my day and leave a comment on your first job.
Below are some true resume lines from Fortune Magazine. Folks; reality is far funnier than fiction:
These were taken from real Resumes and Cover Letters, and were printed in "Fortune" Magazine:
1. "I have lurnt Word Perfect 6.0 computor and spreadsheet pogroms."
2. "Am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details."
3. "Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year."
4. "Wholly responsible for two (2) failed financial institutions."
5. "Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave."
6. "Failed bar exam with relatively high grades."
7. "It's best for employers that I not work with people."
8. "Let's meet, so you can 'ooh' and 'aah' over my experience."
9. "I was working for my mom until she decided to move."
10. "Marital status: single. Unmarried. Unengaged. Uninvolved. No commitments."
11. "I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse."
12. "I am loyal to my employer at all costs... Please feel free to respond to my resume on my office voice mail."
13. "My goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I possess no training in Meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage."
14. "I procrastinate, especially when the task is unpleasant."
15. "Personal interests: donating blood. Fourteen gallons so far."
16. "Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chainstore."
17. "Note: Please don't misconstrue my 14 jobs as 'job-hopping'. I have never quit a job."
18. "Marital status: often. Children: various."
19. "The company made me a scapegoat, just like my three previous employers."
20. "Finished eighth in class of ten."
21. "References: none. I've left a path of destruction behind me."
Plan to laugh and thrive by checking out more from:
http://www.cybersalt.org/cybersalt-community
I'm fully convinced our Heavenly Father wants us to laugh and why not? He says we are free in Christ; free to live and free to laugh.
2 comments:
If I recall correctly my first paying job where I had to fill out a W-2 and all the stuff was at a Winn-Dixie store not far from the house I grew up in. I worked there one day.
If you know me I am not a quitter but I will walk about from a "bad scene" as I don't want to waste the time God has given me on such things.
I was working as a bag boy and after working watching the obligatory video on safety and how to bag groceries in the back room the manager kept working constantly and denied me any normal or bathroom breaks. At the same time I heard from other employees he had a drinking problem and to walk about if I could. I can't confirm that but to work in a place where the manager did have that problem or his employees were talking about him with that problem was bad news either way.
Thankfully a couple of weeks later I got notification I was hired at the local scout camp. I worked their for 7 summers between 1983 and 1989 and that was one of the best jobs I have ever had.
The first paying job I ever had was working a day or two a week for the local veterinarian. I worked as a sort of secretary....sending out bills to the owners of the furry patients he saw. The office was just a little space in the front entry and I was subject to meeting and greeting all the canine and feline patients that were brought in. Imagine that! ME! One of the orginal scared-of-everything-on-four-feet persons! I was sometimes petrified when a certain English bulldog would come in and come sniffing around me with his huffing and puffing labored breathing! Yikes! I think I only did this for a year or so! And I'm still afraid of most animals. Wish it were not so, but that's me! ha
Enjoyed reading about your first working experience Kay!
God bless you,
Marilyn
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