Work!

Hello campers! See, I told you I’d get caught up on my summer camp posts. Welcome to day 13! Today it’s all about jobs, the best job I’ve had and of course the worst job.

I worked my entire working life in retail. I’m not sure why I thought it was a great career to have, the hours are terrible, and the people are often mean. Retail is a thankless, more often than not, underpaid (and of course overworked) place to be. I thought that once I worked my way up from a part time lackey to a store manager that things would get better, I could make my own schedule and finally get some better hours…WRONG!

All of my jobs in retail have had things happen that would rank them in the worst job ever category, I will share a few of them with you today.

I worked in the cell phone industry (for a very short time), and that was where I encountered some of the nastiest people ever. My store was a service center, so we took in broken phones and did warranty exchanges. I once had a guy hand me his phone because it was broken and then proceed to tell me how it got that way. Well, he was drunk last night and he was “taking a piss” while trying to make a phone call and dropped it in the toilet…WHILE HE WAS PEEING!!!! Seriously? You handed me a phone you fished out of the toilet YOU. WERE. USING?!? I politely told him that would classify as water damage and his insurance didn’t cover water damage. Oh, and get your damn tinkle covered phone off my counter and out of my store (I dropped it as soon as he told me where it had been). There was not enough soap, water and hand sanitizer for me that day. In my short stint as a cellular store manager I was called a bitch more times than I had been in all the rest of my life combined. I was not cut out for the kind of people who came into that store, and luckily Bill didn’t feel I was safe there and wanted me to leave…So I did.

Nearly as bad as the cell phone industry was the maternity apparel industry. Dealing with hormonal and sometimes huge women when I was young, had no children and about 100 pounds soaking wet left me open for some harsh comments. I had this one customer who was constantly trying to break our return policy and return items (she had worn) when they didn’t fit her anymore. On one night I was working alone in the store, which was conveniently located to a major highway (for easy escapes), when a group of women came in. Now remember, 100 pounds soaking wet. I was grossly outnumbered and they were there for some serious shoplifting. I tried so hard to stop them, but once I was pushed up against a rack over a pair of leather pants, I gave up. It wasn’t worth getting the crap kicked out of my over some expensive maternity clothes. I did get their license plate number on their way out of the parking lot. All in all though, I would have to say my job at the maternity store was probably my best retail job. I worked with some great women, had fun, got to do a little bit of traveling and I got to be around pretty clothes…Even if they weren’t my size (yet).

Moving on from the maternity store, I did some time with children’s clothes. That was a nightmare from day one. The store manager was a knuckle head who was about as lazy as they come. I was never really properly trained, they pretty much just handed me a set of keys and said, “have at it”. Working there made me remember why I never really liked kids. They were always hanging from fixtures or dismantling something. Because it was higher end children’s clothes, some of the parents seemed like they felt a little entitled and just let their kids run amuck. Seriously, I’m not here to be your kid’s babysitter while you shop. When I first interviewed for the job I was told I’d be working one set of hours and then I ended up consistently working almost double that. In the end I was closing the store more than I was putting my own kids to bed at night, and I wasn’t ok with that. For the slave wages they were paying me it just wasn’t worth it to be there.

In the end, I think that the hardest job I’ve ever had is also the best one. That’s my job as a mother. It’s tough, and there are no days off or sick days. The pee covered phone now seems sanitary when compared to some of the things my hands have touched. A hormonal pregnant woman ain’t got nothin’ on a toddler mid tantrum. I rarely get thanked for my efforts and I work for free, but my role as mother has far surpassed anything I’ve done before.

Oh, and I almost forgot the second part of today’s camper question…Do I read blogs at work? Do I reference or quote blogs while at work? Well of course I read blogs while at work, I work 24/7/365. I don’t know if I ever reference them, but I have taken more than one idea and started it using it in my daily life. I’ve learned so much from other bloggers and their blogs, I’m so glad I decided to start my own and join this world of blogging.

See what kind of jobs the other campers have been subjected to. See you tomorrow!