Sunday, April 1, 2012

Foolish Anniversaries

I went to my job interview with torn jeans, ratty hair and baby sludge on my shirt. It really couldn't be helped. I'd been inadvertently locked out of the women's shelter and couldn't get a shower in time for the meeting. I was so embarrassed, I almost didn't show up.

Angie didn't want to hire me. I could tell by the look in her eyes. I looked like hell, and I was unsure of my availability. She frowned at my outfit, and clucked her tongue at my application.

I had been sent to her through a friend of a friend to beg for a job. She'd been coerced to give me the interview. She'd made no promises about employment.

I wouldn't have hired me.

I was a mess, emotionally as well as aesthetically.

I lied through my teeth when I told her I had a reliable baby-sitter for the four babies I'd left at my mom's for a half hour just so I could make it to the interview.

She offered me a wage that she knew was far less than what I was worth and evening hours. I tried not to let it bother me that much. I was determined to provide for myself, and I needed a job that had room for growth. I took what I could get and was grateful for it.

She'd hired me as a part-timer, but within two weeks she bumped me up to forty a week. Two months went by before she switched me to daytime hours. A year passed before I started receiving benefits.

Fifteen years have gone by. Angie no longer works for the company, but I still do. I'm in the "big city" now, and as chance would have it, Angie is here, too. I see her every once in a while. We never reminisce. We are both "here and now" girls, and so it is always good to see her here, now.

I have a hard time understanding how I haven't been written up, reprimanded, fired, or set on fire, not even once, over fifteen years. I am sure some of my co-workers, and maybe a couple of bosses have wanted to stab me at some point. I am loud, rude, bossy, demanding, opinionated...the list goes on.

Of course, I am also a fast learner, good teacher, a good listener, a hard worker, dependable to a fault. I am intelligent, creative and proud. I've enjoyed the company of most of my co-workers as well as my bosses- some more than others. It's never been about the job, for me. It's always been about the people I work with. The job is thankless. The people are priceless.

If they haven't been friends, they've at least been entertaining. Faces and names come and go and come back again, each one bringing something new into my wonderful, ordinary life. Kim gave me confidence; Jay taught me tolerance; Ashley brought me friendship; Sandy gave us toilet paper; Johnny just liked to give me a hard time. That's his way. I've been frustrated more often than not, but that fades away as soon as I punch that time clock. There's no sense in being miserable if I'm not getting paid for it. Life is too short.

I thought I'd work for a year until something better came along, but here I am looking back on fifteen years....

I've been a checker, deli girl, cook, doughnut maker, cake decorator, bread baker. I've worked in the meat market for ten years now, bossing boys around, but I'm not the boss. I've never been a manager, and never wanted to be anything that meant I'd have to sit at a desk for very long or bullshit with anybody wearing a tie. Of all the addictions that run in my family, I got stuck being a workaholic. Go figure.

I'm still waiting for Angie to call me up and say, "April Fools! You didn't get the job after all!" But she never has, and here I am fifteen years later with Medical, Dental and 401k.

The nicest thing about hitting the fifteen year mark is that I now get four weeks every year of paid vacation. When I get back from vacation, people hug me. I'm not sure if this is because they missed me or because they are tired of doing my job in my absence. Either way, more vacations means more hugs. Can't beat that.

I also get to pick an anniversary gift from a special catalogue. I chose a new MP3 player this time around. The old one had just fizzled out. Pretty good timing, if you ask me.
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16 comments:

  1. That is quite the accomplishment. Congrats. Personally, I'd be tempted to take all four weeks at once. In summer.

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    1. Once, I took four weeks off for a major surgery, and they still talk about "That time I took a year off." They still call me a liar when I tell them it was only 28 days.

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  2. That's a lovely way to feel about your job. I'm jealous I have to admit.

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    1. You wouldn't be jealous if you knew how exhausted I am every single day.

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  3. Congratulations on hitting the 15 year mark with your job, I'm about to hit the 7 year mark and am still surprised to find myself there. I couldn't agree more with your comment that 'The job is thankless. The people are priceless.' It is certainly the same where I am. Well done on getting the job in the first place and working your way up, that is something to be celebrated in my book.

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    1. At seven years, I got the Seven Year Itch and transferred to another city. I cried to be leaving my friends behind, but I love the ones I have now.

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  4. "If they haven't been friends, they've at least been entertaining."

    You just completely described the Post Office. :) Happy Anniversary! Enjoy the extra vacation.

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    1. Isn't it the truth, though? Sometimes the guys get on my nerves and I threaten to write them into a story. It usually straightens them up pretty quick.

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  5. Awesome! I wish that you have many more great working years. This is the part where I share something about my current employer, but I am having a hard time finding good things to say at the moment. I will survive.

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    1. Thanks, Grunt. I hope your situation gets better quickly.

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  6. There's always one that gives you a hard time. Wow, Nessa--fifteen years! The longest I ever stayed at a job was 13 years, and that was my last gig before saying adios to big corporate (with the exception of an 18 month consulting gig, which I left at the time I started this blog). Ties are knotted too tight in big corporate, and management is definitely not what its cracked up to be.

    You're fortunate to be surrounded by good company, and to have found someone who believed in you, despite the outward appearance at that initial meeting. I'll bet she knew instantly how sharp you were/are. Congrats on 15 years, the new mp3 player and 4 weeks of vacation! Holy cow- worth the 15 years right there. ;)

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    1. Thanks, Jayne. The vacations do make it worth it, but sometimes I feel they are more of a necessity than a reward.

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  7. I love the scene about how you were hired, and the end how you got hugs. Your perspectives have changed, but you sound just as witty.

    Congrats on your 15 years. I hope we can celebrate your writing / blogging anniversary in as many years! :)

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  8. Good that you get 4 weeks of vacation (we have five weeks, from first year; one of the advantages of the social democracy).

    I wouldn't mind the torn jeans either. I've been interviewing people from time to time. What we look for is brain power. Piercing, tattoos, green hair, Christians, Muslims or Satanists, it's all fine with me as long as they're smart people >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  9. Congratulations! How wonderful to feel so at home in your work. I'm bossy too, but as long as you're bossy with a lot of love, you'll do fine!

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  10. well written. and fifteen years is quite an accomplishment!

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