New Jobs

One of my friends has begun a new job in a new city. She is excited and nervous simultaneously.  I know how she feels. My CV lists more than a dozen jobs I have worked while pursuing my career as a teacher including two restaurants, a clothing store, a lumberyard, two offices, a travel agency, a country store, and a veterinary clinic.

My restaurant experiences were very different, though my bosses had similar managerial styles. Dottie was small, blond, quiet, even-tempered and delicate. (Perhaps the last person you would think of to run a very upscale Massachusetts dining and dancing facility.) From her, I learned to watch customers as much as I listened to them; the secret to a successful waitress is accuracy combined with anticipation – bring what was ordered and never allow cups or glasses to get below half full. Frank was an ex-Marine DI who became a resort hotel restaurant manager in Kennebunkport, Maine. His tutelage expanded on Dottie’s: waiting on the same vacationing family for a week or more three meals a day demanded attention to detail and excellent memory skills. (He encouraged us create card files for the yearly families so we never had to ask how coffee was taken or eggs were cooked.)

Selling clothes for Conrad & Chandler taught me that many, many women do not see themselves with any degree of honesty when they shop. They buy what they want to wear, not always what looks good on them. C&C also taught me how to gift-wrap boxes of shape and size – a chore I loathed when I was working there, but a skill that has generated many compliments over the years from recipients of my gifts.

The Plywood Ranch (a New England lumber yard chain) was a challenge on many levels. I knew nothing about nails, tools, woods, appliances or lumber when I started – I did know how to run a cash register, how to talk with customers and how to work with guys. (I discovered that except for the older ladies in the head office, I was the only female employee in over 10 stores!)  When I left The Ranch after two years, I could plan an efficient kitchen, suggest the correct wood veneer for a room, match decorative shelving with its purpose, and accurately prescribe the size nail needed for a specific task and drive a forklift.

I have held two office jobs. One was for a Jacksonville-based insurance company; the other was for Lockheed Martin. In both positions, I was a tech writer – creating clear directions for complicated software programs. These jobs re-enforced what I knew from teaching high school – keep it simple. Nothing new, there, but I did have a couple of epiphanies. One revelation was my uneasiness in office spaces. I was used to seeing and greeting hundreds of teenagers every day; the solitude of office work was numbing. I sat at my desk, guarded by a secretary who kept most chance conversations from happening. The second revelation concerned deadlines. As a teacher, I had only a few each year (all of which revolved around publishing grades for which I alone was responsible). As a tech writer, I discovered I was at the mercy of someone below me. Yikes! When my superior asked where the re-write was, I had to admit it wasn’t ready yet because I had not received responses from those involved. I was unprepared to be the one reprimanded because I had not completed my work. I loathed not being in charge of my own destiny. So when I was offered a permanent position, which paid considerably more than teaching, I declined and headed post haste for my classroom!

New jobs offer challenges and awakenings. They compel you to review your priorities and your strengths as well as confront your weaknesses. Everyone who is comfortable and relaxed in their bread-winning situation should take a leap and leave that normal routine to try something different.