You better work! (a thread about jobs)

[Lady B]

Have you ever been employed? Are you currently working a full time job? A part time job? Any kind of job at all? Do you have stories to tell from your workplace? Tell meeee!

I remember working at a retirement home one summer, and while there was a lot of cleaning up after and tending to old people, I'll never forget some of the stories I heard there. For instance, there was one German lady who retold quite vivid stories about living in Germany during WWII. She told me about how they diluted animal fodder by adding discarded, chopped up wood, including matches, and how her hamster, Mini, had died from sulfur poisoning due to the matches in the fodder.

 

[Unsun]

No. No. No. Homework is my job. No, homework sucks and it's boring.

 

[Icystorm]

I work at a veterinary clinic taking care of the boarding animals. What is not to love about that? Well except when all the boarding dogs that day are psychos and don't stop barking for anything. It is pretty nice though since most of the dogs I already know from previous times. The best is this little papillon. He is always happy and loves to play.

There is one dog that has to be locked up tight. She is beautiful and very well behaved...until no one is there. She got out of her kennel, opened the door, then somehow opened a dog proof door and got outside. We found her and when her owners came and got her they told us a story where at a different kennel she let herself and all the other dogs out and they were all playing. That dog is too smart.

There are sometimes cats that board. They are either 'Don't touch me' or 'Pet me ALL the time'. Love the ones that like to be pet. Not a fan of the cats that do not want to be touched since they are usually the ones that need medicine. >.>

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Before College I worked at an Autism Therapy Center (ABA Therapy specifically. Canadians might know it as IBI).

Not much I can say about it though, privacy agreements and such.
I to this day still got a drawing one of the kids gave me on my bedroom wall though.
It's one of those thing's where they write your name downwards, and then make a word for each of the letters.

"Amazing
Nice
Talented
Hero
Outstanding
Neat
Yes He is so cool!

We will miss you!"

^This was made just before I was heading out for college to get professionally trained as a therapist.
I was only working as an assistant to the therapists.

 

[Skyswimsky]

Have you ever been employed? Are you currently working a full time job? A part time job? Any kind of job at all? Do you have stories to tell from your workplace? Tell meeee!

I remember working at a retirement home one summer, and while there was a lot of cleaning up after and tending to old people, I'll never forget some of the stories I heard there. For instance, there was one German lady who retold quite vivid stories about living in Germany during WWII. She told me about how they diluted animal fodder by adding discarded, chopped up wood, including matches, and how her hamster, Mini, had died from sulfur poisoning due to the matches in the fodder.

I used to work at the welfare company for giving people their rent from the state as a IT specialist in application development, being in 'Ausbildung'/'Apprenticeship' the other two people who did the same were, excuse my language, fucking retards, I really wonder how they got the job and I was in big disharmony with them the entire time. When I was in the second year of my apprenticeship, they even hired a guy who fell asleep during a practicum WHILE listening to some instructions...seriously. Anyways I got fired from this place, so I got myself a place in another company that works on the software and hardware of McFit (Some 24 hour open fitness studio with some european presence). At lunchbreak, some people, including me, played on the football table until 5 goals, the side that lost with 0 goals had to change sides crawling under the table c:. Got fired from that job too, right now I am uneymployed.

Note: I didn't get fired because I suck at programming (quite the opposite), I got fired because of my depressions, that I apparently have since around 10?, that make me very often not appear at work. The last place I got fired from will rehire me the moment I am 'cured', really great people there.

 

[Jerelin]

I am in between jobs right now thanks to a move, but I worked in customer service/retail for around 4 years. So many stories! The people who looked the nicest were usually assholes and the people who were down and out druggies were the nicest.

We had one family who built all of their homes from cardboard. They would have money, but they would be spending it on things that shouldn't. They would walk 10 miles to our store and back home every day and they were incredibly nice! I'm not religious but I always appreciated their offer of coming to their homes for reading the Bible and eating supper with them. I never did because my parents only knew the rumors of the people and wouldn't allow me. I always loved when they would come into the store. If no one else was there, we would talk for a good long while.

Another Story: When I was in Kindergarten, I stole $20 off the counter in our living room. I was little and didn't exactly know right from wrong. I get to school and I'm going to pay my lunch with it and this older girl came by and snagged it right out of my hands. When I got home, I was a crying mess because the girl stole my money. My parents were pissed and called the girl's mom and they both came to out home. The girl's mom gave us back our money and whipped the girl right there in our living room. I'll never forget it and I knew not to steal after that. Well, fast forward about 15 years later and I'm 20 years old working the check out line at the grocery store. A girl who worked the floor came up and told me to go over the loud speaker and say "Security Watch on all cameras". Someone was trying to steal. Come to find out, it was this girl's mom from 15 years ago. She was shoving meat and everything in her purse and down her pants to try and leave with it. Lesson learned, huh?

Story 3: At the same store, we had this big windows and when it was slow (which during the weekday it was), we would often just sit on the buggies and watch the going-ons of the outside world. One day there was a big commotion in the parking lot. A woman and a man were getting into a fight and were throwing punches and everything. It was pretty crazy to watch and one of us called the law. Police get there and end up arresting the woman. Apparently she had a warrant out for her arrest and was a known thief. Cops put her in handcuffs, put in the the cop car (which was still running) and BOTH cops came into the store to talk to the manager. The girls I worked with and I were still looking out the window when suddenly the cop car speeds out of the parking lot and both cops run out of the store. Too late. Crazy lady had now stolen a cop car and was speeding through town. About 30 minutes later, we find out that the lady at a wreck at a busy intersection in the square. Speedlimit was 30. She was going around 80. Hit two cars, killed the passengers, and then ran into the gas-pumps at the convenient store across the road. News crews were at our store for weeks trying to get our stories because we were valuable witnesses. Unfortunately, if we talked, we would have been fired. The two cops just got a slap on the wrists. >.<

Yay. Customer Service Jobs.

 

[iMisterH]

When I was 16, I had a part-time job as a waiter at a local restaurant. I must admit, having a job for the first time was quite exciting and the pay wasn't too bad! Plus, I received decent tips while working which was always a bonus.

 

[nyther]

The horror, the horror...stories I could tell about my job. I'm a programmer for a reprographics company that deals with mainly contractors, architects, engineers, electricians, etc.

Client: Whenever I try and download these files from your webpage, I get a bunch of letters.

Me: Bunch of letters?

Client: Yea. This box pops up on the screen with a bunch of letters on them.

Me: Do those letters form words by any chance?

Client: ....Oh, ok then. I got it.

---

Client: I need these drawings printed at [smaller size than they are].

Co-Worker: I can do that for you, but if I shrink it the drawing it won't be to scale.

Client: Do I need it to scale?

Co-Worker: Are you going to use it to build something?

Client: Yes.

Co-Worker: Then you do.

---

Client: I need the drawings for the lighting fixtures.

Me: Do you know what specific drawings they are?

Client: No. Just give me the ones for the lighting.

Me: Neither the cover page or the title blocks of the drawings say lighting fixture. So I don't know which ones you need.

Client: Well, why not?

Me: ...Because I'm not a contractor.

---

Client: I'm going to come down there and send you an email with my work-order. How long until you'll have it done?

Me: Well, I don't know until I see the email, but if you send it before you get here we might have it done when you arrive.

Client: I can send it before I leave the office? Never thought of that.

---

I could go on and on, but I won't.

 

[Ser K+]

I tend to get summer jobs.

I was an intern at a gamestop. (Leave me alone ~_~)
I enjoyed it, sort of.

They apparently liked me alot because I actually knew what the heck I was talking about.

 

[Fluffy]

I'm a stay at home mom. Plenty of people say that doesn't count as a job, which is very wrong. I get worked about as hard as I would at a workplace, sometimes harder. :|

I've worked other jobs too, though. My very first was as a receptionist of sorts for Puget Sound Blood Center. I loved it. Even though social situations give me anxiety, it was a slow enough pace of work that I didn't once panic. I got to work with papers, eat all the cookies my heart desired, learn different software, and watch donors get their juices extracted from their arms. I wanted to keep working there forever but I had to focus on other things after a while.

My next job was as an office assistant for a non-profit that preserves habitats in the Whatcom County area in Washington. :] Also a job I loved--perhaps the best job of my life--and I saw myself working there for decades to come. They loved me enough that they wanted to hire me on staff, rather than have me there through work study. Even if they couldn't afford to hire me for pay just yet, I wanted to still be a part of things and wait for my opportunity to climb my way up in the ranks. It was a job I was passionate about. Sadly, my ex got kicked out of his university, we went broke, and I had to move back in with my mom.

And then I worked at Cabela's, which I openly despised. Love the stuff they sell, hate the people who shop there. Also hate the people who work there. Also there was a guy who was stalking me there and confessing his love to me, so I quit.

 

[Koschei]

On and off jobs in the forestry industry, mostly. I do field work, gather data and wizard that data so other people can understand it. At one point I was responsible for the collected project data of every field-team in Sweden (it was a lot of it and people are still miffed I was quick enough to finish it ahead of schedule). I also took a few trips to teach new people how to use the gear we work with, so indirectly I'm also an instructor, sort of. But since nobody can afford to hire me on a more permanent basis, I usually just work spring/summer/autumn or until we get too much snow to work.

There are a lot of half-year projects and they need people who can do a bit of everything, so I got hired a month after I graduated. Worked for the remainder of the year, was unemployed for three or four months, then I worked the remainder of the year. It usually goes like that. The pay is nice, though, so I ain't complaining.

Working outdoors is for the most part really fun. Aside from bad weather and heavy workloads, it's pretty easy. Long workdays, though, depending on how you work. The coworkers play a part too, and this year they were a bunch of assholes.

But yeeea, always gonna pick the hiking boots over the office chair.

 

[Windsong]

I work. Have been working since I was 14. Need dat money to live, need dat living to make money.

Currently a school maintenance technician. It's a fancy term for custodian, which is just a fancy term for janitor.

Fucking love it. Easy, relaxed, don't have to deal with people for long, can play my 3DS for a few hours when I'm on a roll.

Also, loads of days off.

 

[nyther]

I work. Have been working since I was 14. Need dat money to live, need dat living to make money.

Currently a school maintenance technician. It's a fancy term for custodian, which is just a fancy term for janitor.

Fucking love it. Easy, relaxed, don't have to deal with people for long, can play my 3DS for a few hours when I'm on a roll.

Also, loads of days off.

"I'm a master of custodial arts, or a janitor, if you want to be a dick about it."

 

[Jorick]

I work full time as the graveyard shift security guy at an office building. My 8 hour shift consists of about 2 hours of actual work, though the "work" is just me doing building patrols and unlocking doors in the morning. In other words, I walk around various parts of the building for 2 hours and the other 6 are spent sitting at the desk in the lobby, and most of those empty hours are when the only people in the building are me, the janitorial crew, and a handful of people who work nights at a call center in the building. I could literally sleep through about 4 hours of my shift and it would not negatively impact my job performance. It can be excruciatingly dull most nights.

However, the building is in downtown Portland, Oregon, and a couple of my patrols are through the attached parking garage and around the exterior of the building. This means that some of my nights are made interesting by way of encountering homeless people trespassing on the property. Most of them just beat it without saying much, because they've been through the routine a thousand times and they know what's up. A few others complain and say I'm being mean, that I'm sending them out to die in the <insert poor weather variety here> even when the night is totally fine, so their melodramatic nonsense can be amusing for a couple minutes. The real fun/stupidity comes from the crazies and the intoxicated people.

Two stories

One night I had a couple guys sitting on one of the benches that are part of the private property, which seems to confuse and annoy a lot of homeless folks looking for a place to camp out for the night. They were clearly pretty out of it, though I couldn't tell if it was natural issues, booze, or some kind of drugs, and it's always possible it was a good old mix-n-match situation for them. The older one of the pair was real chatty, wanted to tell me about his whole military career (supposedly he took part in both the Vietnam War and Gulf War, but he didn't look a day over 50 to me so I strongly doubt the first one) and what he thought of the Middle East and all the terrorists and so on, then he started telling me I should go into acting because I had a "presence" that he'd only ever seen from great actors. Meanwhile, the other guy was being mostly quiet and kinda walking around. I more or less causally adjusted how I was standing whenever he was moving off to one of my sides, because I'm not anywhere near stupid enough to let a homeless and possibly desperate dude get behind me and out of my sight. Chatty dude noticed it and commended me on my vigilance, told his bro to stop pacing around like a crazy person, and then continued to tell me about how I really needed to go to a place a few blocks away and take acting lessons. After about 15 minutes of talking with repeated hint drops and then blatant statements about how the dudes needed to leave, quiet guy got all butthurt and looked like he wanted to start some shit, but chatty guy had decided we were friends by that point and explained to his pal that I was just doing my job, that even though I surely wanted to let them stay (lol no) I could get fired if I did, blah blah blah. Basically he did my job for me as far as his friend was concerned, then they left. It was amusing, and it took up almost 20 minutes of my dull night, so that was nice.

Another time I found a guy in the parking garage with a shopping cart full of stuff strewn around a ~15 square foot area. He was using one of the electrical outlets to charge one of his cell phones (he had about a dozen of the things, likely stolen in the hopes of being able to sell them off). I told him he needed to gather his shit and get out, but he pleaded with me to let him charge up his phone a little more so he could call his mom. I would've told him to beat it immediately, but the only thing I can do is yell at people and threaten to call the cops and neither of those would make the dude pick up his stuff and leave any faster, so I took the smart route: I told him he could keep charging his phone, but only if he started picking up his stuff in the mean time. He did so, and as he did he decided it'd be a neat idea to ask me if I do drugs. Started off with weed, then asked about a bunch of other substances. Even after I told him I don't do any of it he asked if I had any he could buy from me, the silly bastard, but he eventually moved on to other questions. He asked if he could go through our lost and found and take stuff from it. Then he asked if I had any change. Then he asked if I had any spare food I could give him. Then he asked if I could get him something to drink. I said no to it all, of course, and he started getting irate. I reminded him about calling his mother, and that distracted him for a bit. He called her and told her he was coming over (it was about 4 AM at the time , by the way) and that she should make some coffee; she obviously told him no, so he got mad, then resorted to begging, then to whining. None of it seemed to work for him, so he hung up and just kinda sat there for a minute. I reminded him that it was time for him to fuck off, so he kept gathering his stuff while complaining at me. After a while he started demanding that I help him (haha no), then that I should get him some bags to pack his shit because he didn't have enough room for it all (dumbass got it all out of his shopping cart, he could get it all back in without extra storage, so nah), then that I needed to let him stay in the garage because his mom wouldn't let him come home (bitch please), and then that I needed to give him money/food/water or else I was basically condemning him to death on the streets (aw yiss, sweet sweet melodrama). I shot him down for it all, just like his mom did, and it took about 10 minutes for this idiot to gather all his stuff and start moving out. On the way by the parking attendant booth he tried to claim that the folding chair sitting outside of it on the curb thing just behind it (which is its permanent place for some reason, and I still don't understand how it hasn't been stolen) by saying it was his and that he brought it with him (despite the building name and "PARKING BOOTH" being written on it very obviously in black marker), and it took a couple minutes to get him to fuck off from that line of nonsense and finally off the property. He decided to go sit at the nearby bus stop and yell about pigs (because I guess private security guys can be called pigs too?) and how the country has gone to shit because poor innocent lads like himself are left to die on the streets and so on and so forth. I left him to it and went back into the building, and I checked 15 minutes later and he was nowhere near the building at all. I thought that was the end of the story, but the next day I found out that the day shift person found him on the property again at like 8 AM and ended up getting into a physical altercation with the dude, which of course led to a call to the police and the homeless dude getting carted away.

 

[Windsong]

"I'm a master of custodial arts, or a janitor, if you want to be a dick about it."

Hey, man. I can polish porcelain with the best of them.

Even have a certification by the state.
Fancy.

 

[Hydronine]

I've worked three paying jobs in my life so far- would have been more if my parents had let me work during my schooling (I had horrid ADD and other lil problems so they prefered I just focus on my studies.)

I have worked in a tea room as a waitress and later as a prep cook. That came with its ups and downs, but it was a great first job. My boss was amazing and I wish I could have kept it. I was still dealing with my stomach problems at that point, and I was diagnosed about three months in. I needed to have the surgery in about a week or two. I had kept my boss up to date n my health due to the fact I was constantly traveling to go to this doctor and that and try this medicine and and that medicine. So she gave me the nearly a fucking month I needed to recover- came back, tried to do everything I could before. Didn't go so well. My incisions got infected badly during this time and the amount of antibiotics they put me on made me weak against nearly every cold and small bug that came through our doors. I had to quit due to being sick all the time during recovery.

I have worked in a kid's clothing retail called "Justice" (Formerly known as "Limited 2/Too" can't remember) That was awful, I was the second oldest person there and I lasted three months before I found my current job. (They hired me, saying they needed people able to work all the time, then proceeded to work me maybe once a week if I was lucky. They'd also get mad at me for not knowing anything because my knowledge of everything would deteriorate the longer I didn't work)

I currently work at a woman's clothing retail called "Dress Barn" they are owned by the same parent company as Justice, so I actually had to kinda deal with the skivvy business of quitting one job and moving to the other one. HR wasn't entirely pleased. My boss was an amazing woman who saw how scared and freaked out my time with Justice had made me. Ownership changed hands and now I have a new boss. Kinda weird. I love my coworkers... mostly. Job perks are nice. People are usually ok, but I do get a lot of annoying customers at times. It happens, nature of the beast.

Probably should get a second job.

 

[Halo]

I'm gonna look into starting tutoring. The area I have to live in while I'm at uni is ridiculously, stupendously fancy as fuck, which is bad for my living costs and gets me dirty looks because I don't wear designer clothing, but also means there are lots of very very very fucking rich people about who are willing to pay rates I'd personally consider extortionate in order to get their precious darlings better grades. As an undergrad at a notorious uni, not even one of the postgrads or postdocs there, I could potentially pull in £40-50 per hour of tutoring. Ooft.

I've also been intending to get into from-home journalism - writing articles for websites and such. Not necessarily that lucrative, particularly not at first, but it's good practice and experience.

 

[Mari]

My current job is as an operations manager with the military exchange at Camp S.D. Butler on Okinawa, Japan. I like the job, but the people here I don't get along with too well, so I am looking to moving back home, to mainland Japan.

 

[Hope]

Currently I'm an Office Manager. However, I have had more jobs than I can count. No, I've never once been fired. I've just always been a free spirit and if I feel I've reached my full potential at one job and have no room to grow I move on. I've never let the negative thoughts like "there's no way I can do that" get to me. Anything I've wanted to do I've done or am on my way to doing. To list a few:
Server
Bartender
Manager at a Hunting store
Corporate trainer
Makeup Artist
Yoga Instructor
Sales Rep
Nursing Assistant
ER Tech
Bow Tech
There's more but there's a few.

Right now my main priority is my school. I work to pay for tuition which is stupid expensive. My next job will be owning my practice.

As for stories. .. that's for another day. Too many to choose from at this time.

 

[Tempest]

Well, okay... I have had a few different jobs over the years...

1) Babysitter: I used to watch several different kids. One was this little girl who had mental development problems. She used to get so upset over the silliest of things and tell me I was "Breaking her mind." Like if I wasn't giving her candy or lifting her up to play like airplane or something. Her younger sister, she loved to jump on me quite forcefully any time she thought I might be close to sleeping saying "Wake up Dray!" Mispronouncing my name and everything. Hehe. Mmn, there was also two other kids that were my extended family... The oldest was a 2-3 year old boy who was obsessed with vacuums and so you had to let him help vacuum (we later got him a toy vacuum) and he had a stuffed monkey he lovingly called "shit"... His little sister was still an infant, who I could get to calm down and go to sleep by playing Smashing Pumpkins.... Well, the two older girls, they were amazing. I would walk them home from school and everything. I almost got hit by a car one day making sure they got out of the street safe because their mom had not been paying attention one day and was just waving at them to cross the road... So i just ran out into traffic, before them and picked them up and ran.., another time, some woman who watched them told them that if they didn't want to get fat like their mom and wanted to be beautiful and skinny they had to make themselves throw up... The oldest, with the MR problems?... She believed her and for months was making herself sick before we figured out why... And I ended up being the one talking to her and getting her to stop... She wouldnt listen to anyone else. Haha, I was their "big sister," as they called me... Well, after they finally stopped saying I was their boyfriend and that they were going to marry me. :T it was odd explaining I was not a boy and watching them argue over who was going to get to marry me.

2) I was a school janitor. I recall the bleach, the chemicals to clean the desks, trying to crouch down to clean the -tiny toddler toilets- I look back at these days with disdain.

3) I was a Humane Shelter employee and volunteer. I hated the bleach and poop scoopin. I loved Loved LOVED working with all the animals! I was heartbroken every day I went home because I could not bring one of those dogs or cats home with me. :'< I loved walking the dogs and getting to play with them and the cats as part of my job. One of them, they loved playing tug-of-war with the leash by grabbing it with their teeth and jumping every which way. Another, he was a smug little chihuahua-weiner dog mix. He would just prissy prance the entire walk, leading me cuz he knew it so well, with his head up!

4) Psychosocial attendant care for a community mental health center. This is my current job. I love it. I get to help people learn independent living skills and help them through their mental and emotional problems. Admittedly... There are a few who got on my nerves in the past, being very manipulative liars who did not want to work the program. Other times... Well, no one else seems to manage to make people scream at them and cuss em out. I do it regularly .__. My co-workers are convinced they save up all their rage til I work... Hmm, but there are some fun instances. I have been serenaded with song several times. And I have gotten Halloween and Christmas candy from a couple people... Overall, I find it very rewarding :3