No one (that I know of) tagged me with this, and I want to do it. So there. The world is welcome to take it from me.

1. What was your first job (not including babysitting, etc...Job = taxes being deducted)?

When I was 13, I started to work for my dad's company on Saturdays. My mother got sick of me not ever wanting to do anything yet always complaining that I was bored. I believe also that one summer, I had to work there 3 or 4 days a week as a punishment of some sort. Probably for getting Cs on my report card. I don't know.

But you know what? They paid me under the table. So ...

When I was 15, I worked or a pharmacy in my small town. I had to get special working papers, since I was under 16, and worked a few days a week. I had fun there. I got to know some seniors (I was a sophomore), one of which I went from a scary situation where she HATED me, and talked about beating me up at school. One day, I got to school early, and was walking down the hall and heard her talking about me. Over the next year, however, we ended up friends, and I liked her.

I also had a paper route when I was 11 or 12, but they made me RUN all over this old person condo complex and I couldn't do it.

2. How old were you?

Like I said, 12, 13, 15.

3. What is the worst job you have ever had? Why?

My first job after the ex and i split up. I worked for a real FUCKER. There's no other word for him. he was an ASS. he was a lawyer. He was an ammoral, lying, stealing, cheating FUCKER.

4. What is the best job you've ever had? Why?

I could say the summer job, b/c they paid me tons to do nothing and then took me out to fancy lunches, dinners and shows and stuff ... but I like the work I'm doing right now a LOT (which I'll probably do there, too, in the future). I also LOVED my job at the book store. I loved it.

5. What is the oddest job you've ever had?

When I worked for myself, I did both paralegal and transcription work. While "transcription" tends to sound dry - I did it for sociology students and professors. One of the students did a research project on "sex workers" and interviewed them. To find out about their work. To call that job "odd" is quite the understatement.

6. What is your dream job? And it has to actually exist somewhere.

I always think it would be working for myself, crafting my own schedule, and doing appeals work on constitutional issues. But I don't really like working for myself. It's lonely. I think my ideal job has most to do with diversity and independence. If I could do appellate work 1/2 time, and child welfare 1/2 time. That would be fun. I also think it would be fun to have my own store. And to be an author.

7. How long is the longest you've worked for an organization?

2 years. Unless you count my dad's company, b/c I did that on and off from the time I was 13 until I was in my early 20s. But it was just on and off.

8. What is the shortest period you've held a job?

Not counting temp work, which I did many summers in college? I think around 6 months. It has happened many times. At least three. Once when I graduated from college and moved home for 6 months before getting married (as an Administrative Assistant for a utility company - and I lied to them so I'd get the job - I didn't tell them I was getting married and moving to Alabama); once when the ex was in London and I lived with my parents (I was a proofreader and eventually writer for an on-line publication); and then when I worked for the FUCKER (see above) My choice there was to either quit or get arrested for throwing dangerous objects at my employer. God, I hated that man.

9. Have you worked in food service, retail, telemarketing or any other job that required that either you be nice to people and/or stand on your feet most of the time (for notsomuch money)?

More than once. I worked in the pharmacy (see above), and I worked at a Barnes & Noble. The pharmacy was not as fun - probably b/c when I had to shelve stuff, it was post-it notes and soap. When I had to shelve at the bookstore, it was interesting things that I would keep track of in my head so I could buy it with my discount. Unless I was stuck in computers. But usually, I whined my way out of that (yeah, I was 28 when I worked there, and still whining).

10. How many states have you worked in? Have you worked in any other countries?

I worked in Connecticut, Virginia, Alabama, California, Massachusetts. While in Connecticut (the last time) and in California, I did work for people all over the country, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida and Michigan. They would send me stuff fed ex, I would do it, and e-mail the product to them (mostly summarizing arbitration hearing transcripts, sometimes other stuff, too).

11. Have you ever dated or otherwise "gotten involved" with a co-worker?

Once. I'm slated to marry him some time next month. Although, we didn't really get involved until after I left the job. But, still. I'd say yeah.

12. Ever worked as a camp counselor in the summer?

No.

13. Any embarrasing on-the-job anectodes?

I cannot think of anything right now.

14. If you won the lottery for uber bucks, would you continue working?

I think I would. Traveling would be my biggest pull. Sitting at home all day? Not so much.

15. If no, what would you do?

Travel. Probably do more volunteer stuff around the kids' school. Hopefully find some other volunteer organization to donate my time to - something related to child welfare.

16. Ever had a job that requires you to wear a uniform?

No.

17. Ever worked for a boss that was younger than you?

Hell yeah. Since I'm in law school, and coming up, I have and will be working for many people younger than me. I did not before ... but now, I'm the age of most partners, if not older. I am older than both my supervisors were at Summer Firm. I am working closely with at least one associate right now who is definitely younger than me. I have never had a problem (thus far) and never feel like I'm being ordered around by little brats. First of all, I'm not ordered around -- everyone's always been respectful.

18. What's the longest commute you've had? The shortest?

When I lived at home between college and marriage I worked 45-60 minutes away. With traffic, it was longer.

The shortest was when I worked at home.

19. Any "worst job ever" anecdotes?

The fucker I worked for once asked me to go and pick up his dry cleaning, and said, "you know, the next time you go out for a cigarette break." I said, "I don't smoke." (I had worked for him for approx 4 months at that point.) His response? "You don't smoke? I thought all secretaries smoked."

Another time, he said something ... I do not know what ... and turned around to walk back to his office, and I almost .... seriously ALMOST .... threw my pen at the back of his head. He was such an ass!!

And, he did commit some serious misdeeds involving people's trusts. A grandmother and grandfather came in one day to amend their trust to pretty much exclude their fuck-up grandson. The grandmother died 6 days later. The grandfather was suffering from some unpredictible dimensia. The FATHER of the grandson came in to see my boss, and shortly thereafter, my boss handed me the amendment to the trust and told me to throw it away. I made a copy and hid it in my drawer. Later, another of the grandparents' childrens protested, saying that they KNEW this amendment had been signed, and the grandfather also stated that HE remembered signing it. I wonder if the situation ever exploded?

I don't know, b/c I quit shortly after I almost threw the pen at his head.

20. Ever work in an organization where one of your co-workers were caught in a scandal?

Yeah, but it wasn't too major. Oh, twice. Once, at the pharmacy, one of the pharmacists hadn't shown up for work. A coworker went to his house to see if he was okay - he had NEVER not shown up. He spoke to the landlord, and was let into the apartment to check on the pharmacist. The pharmacist had gone into diabetic shock, and was passed out. The scandal part? His apartment was BURSTING with stolen items from the pharmacy. BURSTING. Including cash.

At one of the law firms I'd worked at, a younger attorney was fired for reading confidential documents that were stored on teh computer system. The suspicion was that she was leaking information to the other side of the deal that was going on.

21. Have you ever been fired? What for? If not, have you ever been severely reprimanded?

I was once fired for a reason which was untrue - and admittedly so. I was working at a firm and had just been given a 3 week leave of absence, and then a week later, I was called into the office and fired for a stated reason. I was given a large severance package, and allowed to resign. Phone calls were then made to get me another job, and through phone calls between the firing and new employer, the following was said to be the reason:

They had a secretary with rheumatoid arthitis, and who would not quit. They could not fire her for some reason (ADA?) and were sick of accommodating her. Therefore, they fired 4 other people along with her for this other stated reason. I was chosen because 1) I was taking that leave of absence, and 2) they knew I was on short time, b/c my husband was in law school and I planned on going to school (I used to spend all my time there studying for the GRE ... no, that was NOT the stated reason). One was chosen because she was relatively new, and hadn't been working out so well. Another had been missing a lot of time because of an ill child. We were all given the same false reason.

The firm I next went to I was sort of reprimanded - I wasn't given a bonus. Neither I or the attorney I worked with got along well with the office manager. When it was bonus time, I was told that I wouldn't be getting a bonus, b/c "I hadn't created enough documents." The document system tracked how many each person created, and I had a very low number.

Now, I worked my ASS off at that job. I worked late, I worked weekends, I did the work of two people (there were four people in our "team"--- two lawyers and two support people. The other support person was brand new, and had just finished getting her paralegal certificate. She had never worked in a law office in her life. I ended up doing a LOT of her work, as well as my own). I also did very good work. The partner I worked with was constantly asking me to hurry up and go to law school so we could leave that firm and start our own.

HOWEVER - most of the stuff I did involved taking a document that the partner I worked with "created" and then fixing it up, filling in blanks, and completing what had to be done. She would write a motion with just bullet points, and have me fill it all in. Therefore, I did not "create documents." Also, during that year, my boss ran for the president of the city's bar association, and I spent 80% of my time working on that ... which probably didn't include "creating documents."

When I told her what happened with the office manager, she wrote me a check out of her personal checkbook, and apologized and told me it was her fault, b/c of HER battle with the office manager (the only two women in a deep south law firm, both competing for power with the male partners .... only my boss wasn't SLEEPING with them).

It was these two experiences, back-to-back, that turned me off of law firms and the practice of law for a long time. I left the second one when I moved to CA, while 8 months pregnant. That was in 1996.

All should feel welcome to steal the meme!!

Labels: meme

posted by Zuska @ 1:41 PM

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