Thursday Thirteen #12
THIRTEEN PLACES I’VE WORKED Arranged as closely as possible in order from first to most recent. It wasn’t easy considering I’ve returned multiple times to various places of employment in my ‘gainful employment’ history.
1. Pittman Automotive: So, this wasn’t official employment in terms of legality. It was my Dad’s shop and my sisters and I would sometimes spend Saturday helping him clean up and he would pay us. It was more fun than anything else; he always took us out to breakfast first, he even had overalls for us to wear.
2. Ivar’s: I know. I was fifteen though, and I wanted some money. Jenny actually got hired there around the same time as I did, so we worked together for a long time, it was at Northgate and it was so long ago that it was actually its own restaurant rather than a piece of the food court puzzle. Jenny actually left before I did, but she didn’t go far. She left to work at the sporting/hat store that linked to our back room at Ivar’s. So she would routinely cross the hallway to steal food and hang out. It was actually the funnest job I’ve ever had despite how unbearable I smelled whenever I got off work. April’s mom tends to shop a lot and she would often swing by to say hi to me. One night she happened to come by when I was getting off work and offered me a ride home. She never, ever offered again even though I consistently saw her at the mall.
3. B&B Auto Parts: My sister Karen worked there and so I applied to be a cashier because I had given my notice at Ivar’s…after two years. It was fun to be there when she was there but we often didn’t work the same shift. And also, it was in Redmond. It was so boring to work there when she wasn’t there that eventually some Saturday I just didn’t show up because I had overslept at my boyfriends house. I called and made up some obviously lame excuse and they said it was probaby okay that I didn’t come back.
3. Deja Vu: Wow it’s hilarious in a fabulous way that it’s on this list. My partner in crime in high school and I just thought it would be okay to work as waitresses. Why, I’m still not sure. But think it we did. So we applied and they called us to say we could come and try it out. We did. For one night. We didn’t intend it that way. At the end of our shift I somehow got stuck in the office alone with the manager. As I nervously eyed the door the same man that had sat on the couch all night with girls in his lap looked me up and down and said, “so when are you gonna start dancing?” I walked out of that office and out of that nasty place and never went back. Deja Vu printed a check with my name on it that never got cashed.
4. Fred Meyers: (Lake City and Aurora): I actually had a lot of fun at those places; I made friends. I met my Colin at Lake City.
5. Espresso stand in Fred Meyer’s (Lake City and Aurora): Yes, I worked at both of the espresso stands. It was incredibly interesting to work there. Interesting in the way it would be to work at espresso stands where the managers always had unbelievable amounts of cash in their pocket and routinely had strange men coming by introducing themselves as ‘cousins’.
6. Starbucks: I worked at 145th, Ballinger, North Bend, Bothell, Lake City, 128th in Everett, and finally the Support Center. It was a reliable fallback and all in all I spent about ten years there. Although years of poor business decisions resulted in them firing a bunch of my friends, it will always have a sort of special place in my mind.
7. Burlington Coat Factory: I spent like two months there. It was awful and no one ever talked to each other. Hands down, the worst job I’ve ever had.
8 THS: I did my internship there and that’s where I met my P. Obviously, I returned.
9. Structure: It used to be its own store but is now “Express for Men”. Wonderfully, the same company owned Victoria’s Secret, Express, and Bath & Body Works which all gave us a discount.
10. Bath & Body Works: I worked at the Aurora one for a while, it was a second job (because I’m odd and always have to have two jobs).
11. CRC: I left THS for them after I did my internship. Huge mistake. I walked out on my manager after a few months.
12. Washington Mutual: I worked in the mortgage/loan department of customer service. Loans? Money? Me? Exactly. I was pleased as all get out when Starbucks corporate called and offered me a job. I completely quit at WAMU.
13. Foundation Group: My current second job. Though it most obviously adds to the stress of everything right now, you can’t put a price on not having to pay rent.
View others here.
