Exceptions, Luck, and Some Exciting Employment Drama!

This was originally written and posted over a year ago but I just realized it needed some editing, and part of the story had somehow been deleted at some point unbeknownst to me.



My entire life I seem to have been the exception to pretty much everything. When I was a spazz inschool because the kids liked to pick on me and watch my temper flare, I was sent to the principal's offie like everyone else butI didn't get in trouble like everyone else. For example: in third grade, I tried to throw my desk at my teacher- I refused to apologize to her until she apologized to me first- she did. In fifth grade, when I ran out of the emergency exit door in the classroom with the inent of walking the 5 miles home, the vice principal picked me up a block from school and took me out to lunch. In 6th grade art, after I pierced a boy's hand with a rasp(?- some metal tool with a blunt file at one end and a pokey skinny handle at the other) my teacher hauled the boy teasing me to the office and did nothing to me. In the 8th grade, when I smacked a boy across the face with my science book I was toldI needed to apologize to the boy and would have to have detention. I said that boy better be joining me in detention for making fun of me and I refused to apologize. Somehow, he got detention and I didn't. My senior year, after several months of being harrassed and cussed at by a boy in my government class, I'd had enough on one particularly PMSy day and buried a pencil in his fat thigh. I got up and took myself to the principal's office for that one. I was threatened with being expelled and havingcharges pressed against me but I didn't waver- I told them if I had a journal of all the problems I'd had and that if I got in trouble and he didn't there would be a serious problem. I was sent home for the last hour of school while he went to the doctor next door to the school. The next day his parents made him apologize to me. Five years later, in college, he was a cop and we had a class together- our apologies to each other went like this: Him- Sorry I was a jerk to you all through school. Me- Sorry I had to stab you. We've been friends ever since- go figure. I've never been suspended. My detentions were always because of tardiness never behaviour related. I was either very lucky or spoiled, or maybe very blessed!

My efforts to obtain employment over the years has been very similar in a sense to my years of discipline at school. My first job, at a fabric store, came about because I answered a fellow customer's question while we waited in the cutting line- I was offered a job on the spot. I got my job at the theater by volunteering one semester for class credit, and then midterm they asked me to help with a show for pay and somehow I was put on the schedule for other shows the following week and became a permanent part of the crew. My bakery job came about after a botched interview- it was interrupted and moved 5 times within one store and 20 minutes and I was told that I wasn't qualified for a decorator or baker and lacked cash register experience for the sales position but they'd give me a try anyhow because I had a good laugh. My job as a Wedding Hostess came about because my sister already worked there and knew they were short-handed, I liked to dress up, stayed calm under pressure, and could fix any problems on a wedding dress that might come up- I met the manager, she asked my name and if I had a food handler's permit and told me I started the next night. My job at the fabric wholesaler/interior design place came about after a very strange interview process- I talked to each of the employees for a minute, then told the boss about my travels while she filled out paperwork for an order, and then 3 weeks later she called to say she'd forgotten to tell me I had the job if I still wanted it.

My latest job experience is right on par, but also quite the roller coaster. I have been unemployed for the past 4.5 years. The first year and a half I was intentionally not seeking work- I was helping my parents through medical problems and doing some traveling. Then the job market took a huge nose-dive and I decided to try to attend school in the meantime- until I ran out of money to pay for myself and still pay my daily living expenses. I applied for financial aid and was told I was being investigated for fraud because my income and expenses were too low? Really?!

So, for the past two years, I've been looking for a job. I've had a total of 3 interviews- the first two were entirely too normal to end in a job. All of my applications have been ingnored or rejected until now. I've been told I'm not qualified to be a tutor for a daycare program. I've been told that a manager wants to hire me because of my background but when I go to talk to the manager, I am refused. I've been recommended to positions and used managers and CEOs as referrals and not heard anything. I've been very frustrated and have become very used to rejection. Among other places, I've been turned down or ignored by Macy's, Toys R Us, Lane Bryant, JoAnn Fabrics, Ulta, Barnes & Noble, South Davis Community Hospital, some tumbling gym, and a chiropractor's office. I've been getting pretty depressed about it all, and was truly beginning to despair of ever finding a job that I might possibly be qualified for. I had even started my own floral design and interior design consultation business and that has all but fizzled out too!

A woman I visit teach works at the C.O.B. (Church Office Building) and told me I should start watching the church's website for job openings because she knew I was very qualified for many jobs they listed. My bishop was also on my side and told me he refused to allow me to work at Walmart or a fastfood place because I was too smart and overqualified for those- I wasn't arguing with him there, but I was getting pretty desperate, and I gotta be honest- becoming a street walker isn't a job that lets you keep your temple recommend, and the wardrobe isn't really conducive to G's. Turning whore wasn't exactly a consideration but I'm trying to tell ya I was getting desperate!

But I kept watching, and eventually a job came available that I knew i was over qualified to do and more than capable of doing. I met all the requirements an got an interview. Part of the interview process included a sewing test. Man it was hard- I'd never used an industrial serger before much less had to thread it while being timed. I was sent home after waiting for 40 minutes because I had failed the test. Then a few days later, they called and said they misspoke and I was to come in for the next round of prehire testing- the physical fitness part. I was again told I didn't get the job, and again called in for the next part of the interview process a few days later. I told them my frustration at their lack of professionalism and communication, and they apologized before offering me a job to start the following Monday.