Tag Archives: #jobs

22Feb/18
looking for the perfect job

Looking For The Perfect Job…

I do know there isn’t one…but I won’t be taking any of these…

looking for the perfect job

Waiting…

After losing yet another job I signed up for unemployment until I found the “perfect job.” This is much like finding the perfect man…neither one of them exists. I have to enter 3 job contacts on a website they have every week. I have had some weird jobs come up in my searches and they make me laugh. I think to myself..really who is going to do that?? But at least they make me laugh. Some of them make me shake my head and say..what?

Here are some of the ones that I thought were funny or just that I couldn’t see myself working there and the reasons why…

Delivery driver for Pizza Hut – Really.. how do they drive around all day with pizza in their car and not eat it…

Bookseller at Barnes and Noble – Ok, I even thought…wow, this could be fun. And then remind myself…books. I love to read, I read every night before falling asleep. So could I really work at a place with all those books?? I would be sitting in the corner in the children’s area reading…or I would run up to a customer and grab a book they are looking at and say…DO NOT get this book, it’s terrible….. thinking I could quite possibly get fired the first day on the job.

Bunny at the local mall – So you are dressed up in a bunny costume with screaming kids sitting on your lap and pulling on your ears…for what…two, three weeks, 8 hours a day…um, no thanks!

Manager at Walmart – Um, no!…nuff said…

Housekeeper – Daily cleaning, making meals and maybe watching 2 year old several days a week… just no. I don’t like doing this at my own house. I know you get paid and all, but they couldn’t pay me enough to do this.

Ice Cream Scooper at local dairy – ok, I think this could be my dream job. But not sure if they would like the “one scoop for you two for me” part… I would have to get it in writing before I would start. And I really don’t care how much the job pays.

Potato Chip Tester – Ok so actually the job description is a display setter/reset specialist…at least that’s what they are calling it…I call it…all the chips I can eat and get paid to do it!

Barista at Starbucks – I actually thought of applying for this, I mean I love coffee. Supposedly they are a good company to work for. And they have coffee…lots and lots of coffee…on second thought I don’t think I could do this. I might not be able to drive home. It’s bad enough I have a Keurig and can make a cup at home whenever I want, but I have to put the little cup in and press the button and make sure enough water is in the container….and all that…at Starbucks there is always coffee brewing…Its Starbucks…Back away from the coffee…

Garden Center Helper – This could be a fun job, I love looking at plants. But I think you have to actually take care of them…if they want dead plants then by all means call me. I can look at a plant and its dead the next day. Even air ferns…

Manager at the Disney Store – Job description..”Creating Magical Moments for guests of all ages.” Its been quite a long while since I’ve created a magical moment for anyone! And I think it might be entirely too peopley there for me. Or at least too many kids.

Entertainer at Land of Little Horses – So who do I have to entertain, the horses or the people who come to see them…job description wasn’t very clear.

Specimen Collector – Yes, that kind of specimen. Really they hire a person just for this job. I thought who ever wasn’t busy comes and collects it. Guessing most people are too busy… Who wants THAT job?

Crime Scene Cleaner –  Just No!

These are some of the weird wacky jobs I’ve seen listed this week. Stay tuned, if I don’t find a job there may be more…

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” ~ Steve Jobs

 

 

 

31Mar/17
neighborhood kids

What Can I Be When I Grow Up?

what is left that I haven’t already done…

what do you want to be

Do I look like a nurse in my bikini?

I’m the one on the far right in the bikini. Not even sure it was a bikini, it was a two piece bathing suit. But that’s not the topic of this post. I loved my friends and the lazy summer days spent in our pool. We didn’t have a care in the world.  As you can see my friends had a dog. I wanted a dog too. A poodle..a toy poodle. My parents said they couldn’t afford it and if I could somehow find the money I could have one. I think they said that knowing full well I couldn’t possibly find the money. I was the oldest in the neighborhood and was also kind of bossy. So I told all the kids they needed to give me money so I could buy a poodle and you know what…they did. And their parents didn’t even seem to care. I got my poodle too as you can see in the picture on the right of The Helpful Hellion. I was such a little entrepreneur.

It was around this time in my life that I decided I wanted to be was a nurse. Mom’s best friend across the street was a nurse and I for some reason thought that sounded like something I should do too.. My Aunt Norma was also a nurse and she was awesome. So that was it…I was going to be a nurse. Every time I went to the doctor’s office all I would do was watch the nurses in their starched white uniforms and little caps go about their business and think someday that will be me.

That was the plan until I turned 13. I was going to be a nurse. However my teenage angst and thoughts of far away places changed all of that. Far away as in getting out of the house and moving somewhere exotic and doing something artistic. Since I didn’t have much artistic talent that anyone could see, even me…I decided I was going to be a writer. I was going to write and live in Paris. Yeah, I know…but it was the 60’s and people were doing all kinds of crazy things. So that was it then at 13, I decided to move to Paris as soon as I graduated and write. I started right away, every day when I got home from school I wrote. I was writing the next “Great American Novel.” I called it, “I Walk Alone.” It was about a woman living alone in of all places Paris. I still have it somewhere around here.

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” ~ George Elliot

I kept the writing thing going and really worked hard in English class until around the age of 15. After that, what I was going to be wasn’t as important as all the cute boys I had started being attracted to. When I got pregnant and married at almost 16, my future was decided for me. I was going to be…a Mom. Having 3 children by the age of 21 didn’t allow much time for anything else. I was a stay at home Mom and I loved it. I guess it was around that time I started working outside the house a few hours to give me some spending money of my own and a chance to get out of the house a bit.

I continued working a few part time retail jobs while the kids were growing up and enjoyed the interaction and loved the retail environment. I loved clothes and shoes and I got a discount and money to spend. I got divorced at age 27 and went to work full time. This time it wasn’t so much a choice of what exciting thing I wanted to do, it was what can I do that I can make the most money and be there for the kids. I got a waitress job and was home by 3 when the kids got home. I made good money and had benefits. So it worked well for all of us.

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”~ E.E.Cummings

I am not going to list all the jobs I’ve had over the course of my years because it would take forever. Let me just say, I had more that 20. I have also lost a good majority of those jobs due to a changing work environment. One where companies get bought out or close and people lose their jobs unexpectedly. I had several that I really loved and with no warning whatsoever the company just left all of us go. Early in my 40’s I grew tired of working for other people and decided I want to have my own business. So I thought, what was it that I loved and had always wanted to do? The answer wasn’t hard to come upon as I for a number of years had wanted to have my own clothing store.

Once I decided this was what I wanted to do it didn’t take long for everything to fall into place. One day at work I was looking in the newspaper and saw a local boutique downtown was for sale and couldn’t believe my eyes. I loved this store. As soon as I got off work I went there to talk to the owner. A few days later I put a business plan together and presented it to the local bank. They accepted it and gave me the money to buy the business. All this occurred within the span of a few weeks unbelievably.  The day the previous owner turned over the keys I stood in the middle of the store…my store and thought to myself….this is mine. This is what I have always wanted. I am living my dream.

working in a store

Me.. in my store…living my dream.

My dream lasted for a little over 4 years. I loved owning that store, the buying trips, merchandising all the clothing and accessories and helping women look good. Both of my daughters worked there with me and it was fun. I couldn’t see myself ever doing anything else. Sadly, the climate of the downtown changed and in 1990 when the recession hit, it hit 20 stores plus mine. I had to close my store and lock the door for the final time. It is hard coming back after that. What do you do when you have your dream? Where do you go from there?

Being in the downtown area I got to know people in the community and was offered several jobs, thank goodness. I appreciated every single offer and worked hard over the next few decades. I thought I had found another dream job about 7 years ago in the jewelry business. I was merchandising and traveling to stores all over the place. I loved it. Again it wasn’t to be and I was left go. While working at a few of the jobs I have had over the last decade I had also decided to keep my one part time job as a vendor of a large cosmetic/perfume company. I kept it due to the money, the people I worked for and with and basically being able to make my own schedule. Well as of 2 weeks ago that job has now also gone the direction of so many others I have had due to a recent buyout and reorganization…so here I am at 67 looking for a job.

“Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t , do something else.” ~ FDR

I know you’re asking yourself, why is she looking for work at 67?..well, I enjoy getting out of the house and being with people…I enjoy working at a job I love and doing it well. I like the satisfaction of a job well done and feeling like I am still able to accomplish something even at my age. I am asking myself once again…what is it you always wanted to do and haven’t done that yet? Anyone that follows this blog knows I love to write and started doing that when I lost the jewelry job. I do love it and I am not planning to stop. I don’t make any money doing this and keeping a big old house going takes a bit of money.

I have had so many jobs I loved and would go back to them…if they were still there to go back to. People keep saying to me, “oh, don’t worry, when one door closes another opens”… I have had so many doors close on me I think I will have to hire a locksmith this time. At this point in my life I want to be happy and want to do something I love doing. I also would like to make a difference in some way. So here I am asking myself, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” And I honestly don’t know the answer this time.

So here is the question of the day..What do you want to be when you grow up? I asked my grand daughter this questions today and she said… “a park ranger.” Sounds good to me.

“What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.” ~ Carl Jung