Question 39/424: What was your favorite job, and why?
I’m one of the very fortunate few to currently be working at
my favorite job. To be fair, I haven’t
had very many different jobs. When I was
about ten or twelve years old, my parents became self-employed meaning that I
did help in both my dad’s welding and manufacturing business as well as my mom’s
rental and house rehabilitation businesses.
I did anything from the actual physical labor to helping my mom sort through
receipts and itemize out what charges were for what for tax purposes. I really enjoyed the office side of things quite
a bit. I liked looking through the
receipts and noting what they were used for and keeping track of which
materials went to which job and how to bill out.
One summer when I was sixteen, I was hired by one of my mom’s
tenants to watch and drive her twelve-year-old son to and from school and to do
some activities. I was never interested in babysitting and didn’t even like
little kids that much so if I hadn’t been in need of the money, I don’t know
that I would’ve taken the job.
Thankfully, he wasn’t exactly a kid, the mom just needed someone to be
home to make sure that the twelve-year-old and the fourteen-year-old didn’t
kill each other while she was working. So,
as far as babysitting gigs go it was pretty easy, and I actually have a lot of
memories from that summer from bike rides, to hunting for pond animals, to
meeting a guy that I would eventually try to date, so that was a pretty eventful
summer.
I graduated high school when I was seventeen and I applied
to every place that would take an application from on the main street of the
two nearest towns to me. I got called
back by two different Rite Aid Pharmacies and Taco Bell. Unfortunately, when Rite Aid realized I was
only seventeen (despite this information being on my resume and my application)
they apologized for not actually being able to hire me. When I went in for my interview at Taco Bell,
the manager was shocked at my age because I did put my previous experience working
for my parents on my resume. She very
quickly told me to relax and that she had already decided to hire me but had to
go through the formal interview process first.
I only worked that job for about nine months before I was offered
another position at the job where I still am.
Sometimes it’s wild to think that I started working at a bankruptcy
law office at seventeen. I guess in
reality being a receptionist at that age isn’t the most absurd thing in the
world, but imagining training a seventeen-year-old to do my job now seems ridiculous. Be that as it may, I started working at the
bankruptcy office at seventeen and I am now thirty-one. The job has certainly changed over the years –
the amount of clients we see, the number of employees working here (I officially
got help after working alone for nine years), as well as the specific job
duties have all changed over the last thirteen years. I can’t really explain why I like my job so
much. I know having a phenomenal boss is
a huge part of it. Having a boss who
respects me and understands that sometimes life just happens and I might have
to miss random days or come in late and knowing that he’ll never holds that
against me as long as the work is done is a huge relief. Also, just like when I was a kid helping out
my parents, I just like office work. I
like the computer aspect of it as well as the paperwork and organizational
aspect of it. I was gifted a filing
cabinet when I was sixteen if that gives you any insight into my personality. I
don’t always love the obligation of being on the phone with clients, but as far
as the data entry and the management of the cases, I can do that all day
long. Honestly, when I have long
weekends or try to take time off I usually feel so bored and like I’d rather be
at work getting things done. In a lot of
ways my job almost feels like my hobby.
I guess that could be considered a negative thing or an unhealthy
work/life balance, but I just really enjoy it.
Of course there’s complicated cases and sometimes the court changes the
rules on things and that can be frustrating – nothing is perfect – but I like
working alongside my boss and learning how to navigate those new things
together and growing. I’m considering going
back to school and even law school so that I can continue to do this job forever,
and just get paid a little bit more for doing it. Truly, my current job is the perfect fit and
I hope I’m fortunate to stay here as long as I want to and never find myself
scrambling for something new and hoping it fits as well as this does. I am very lucky.
Question 40/424: How did you meet your spouse or significant
other?
I met my current significant other through a friend of a
friend. Well, to be specific, my friend,
Aries, was dating a new guy, Virgo (not to be confused with any ex of mine who
was also a Virgo). Aries wanted myself
and our mutual long-term friend, Cancer, to meet Virgo and his very good and
long-term friend, Aquarius. We planned
to have dinner and I would bring board games, as I always do, and the five of
us would just hang out and get to know one another.
Going into the meeting, Aries kept talking about how she
though Aquarius and I would hit it off and get along really well. It seemed strange that she was selling
Aquarius so much because at the time I was in a (albeit very toxic) relationship
and was not necessarily looking to meet anyone other than as a friend. Regardless, Aries spoke very highly of
Aquarius and couldn’t wait for all of us to meet.
So we got together to have dinner and I pulled out a game
called Quickwits which is essentially a word matching/word association
game. If you and another player match
symbols or categories, then one of you has to shout out an example of that symbol
or category. It’s a super simple game,
and good for groups so I thought it would go well. Not very long into the game, Aries’ new
boyfriend, Virgo, was clearly not having a good time and not wanting to play
any longer. Aquarius tried to help him
figure out the rules but Virgo was simply not having it. In that moment, Cancer and I both decided
that we much preferred the attitude of Aquarius to the attitude of Virgo based
on this encounter. So instead of playing
games, the five of us just started talking.
I found out that Aquarius and I actually did have quite a
bit in common, one of which being Law and Order: Special Victims Unit being one of our
favorite shows. After we all left that
gathering, I went ahead and sent a friend request to both Virgo and
Aquarius. Aquarius and I started messaging
each other about all sorts of things. I
ended up sharing a discount code with him for Hulu so that he could watch Law
and Order: SVU and get caught up. So while he was rewatching the old seasons,
he and I would message back and forth and really enjoyed talking with each
other.
However, I was still in a relationship, and I knew Aries had
no tolerance for cheating so I made sure to let her and Virgo both know that I
was not trying to lead Aquarius on and that if they felt it necessary they could
also tell Aquarius that I was not looking to meet anyone in a romantic or
intimate way. Despite this, Aquarius and
I kept talking and I would now and then mention some toxic behavior that my
then boyfriend, Leo, would exhibit and Aquarius very much encouraged me to
leave him. After a few months, I finally
found the perfect opportunity to leave and I did. I had a friend help me drive all of this
belongings down to his mom’s house and asked for my key back and left him
behind. It was an arduous process, but
was made easier by my ability to speak open and honestly about everything that
was going on with Aquarius.
Once I was single, we started seeing each other in person
more often. I would come to his apartment,
he would come to mine, and I would attend some of his live shows. We were becoming fast friends and more. Virgo and Aries, who had introduced us, were
not necessarily over the moon about our growing relationship. Aquarius and I dated more-or-less secretly for
a few months before his housing situation became very stressful and he was
needing to move. I hesitated on asking
him to move in, partially because I had such a hard time getting the last one
out and also because I have a bad habit of moving boyfriend’s in too quickly
and regretting it later. But, I really
felt for Aquarius and his situation and so we had a big conversation about whether
or not it would be a good idea and what ground rules would exist. After mulling it over for a few days, Aquarius
decided to move in, and we figured out when that would happen, and at that point
we became Facebook Official. So as of
September 10, 2019 Aquarius and I have been in a serious relationship and
living with each other after being introduced by our two friends. Unfortunately, we don’t really have much of a
friendship with either Virgo or Aries at this point, aside from remaining Facebook
friends. It’s interesting how life turns
out sometimes.
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