Hello world! This is me in a nutshell!

I was always an awkward child; quiet and to myself. During the wonder years, on the weekends, I spent a lot of time with my mother. She would take me with her to do the groceries and other errands. It is to no surprise that my mother was also first employer. When school was out, I would tag along and help her at work. Mom was and still is a merchandiser for a well-known, greeting card company and she managed the inventory. I helped her create the displays, removed unsold inventory and calculate profits and loses. I knew then that I was not necessarily interested in the work that she did. When she wasn’t looking, I would sneak a peak at the messages in the cards, especially the funny ones and then stock them. I was very imaginative and as I was stocking, I would spend my time thinking about stories I’ve seen or heard. I could even make myself laugh, but the occassional paper cut would snap me back into reality. 

That was my first job and it was great and mundane at the same time. That experience taught me a very important lesson from an early age and that is: money is power. She paid me minimum wage, which was like $5.05 at the time and she took out taxes to show me that the government always get it’s money. My pay after taxes was disappointing, but at 11 years old, I was just happy to have enough to buy small things. Then, at about 13 years old, I had another life changing experience. I wanted two expense, yet equally important toys: one was a Gameboy and the other was a learning pc.  

My parents were very good about rewarding me and they would never deny me anything I wanted until this particular conflict, which was yet another lesson that we don’t always get what we want in life and second, we were not rich. They said, ”If you want the Gameboy, you have to work to get it yourself.”

So, I did. At 14, I became a telemarketer for Sears selling maintenance agreements on appliances and lawn equiptment that left the store without an extended warranty. That was interesting work. We had quotas and spifs on how many service plans we were able to sell on a daily basis. I had to learn dislogues and handle objections, but Sears was too far from home and my family grew tired of driving me to work on the weekends. So, then I became a waitress at a not so local IHOP, but at least at this job I was able to bribe my family to drive me there so long as I came home with some extra pancakes.

I’ve had many, many different types of work experiences and thus, I became what I am now: a workaholic. I hate losing and not getting what I want. When my mom denied me the Gameboy, I was flabbergasted. No one ever said no to me until that day.

I hate hearing no and I hate saying it to other people. I’m a sucker for a favor. But, I am what I am. Fortunately, I enjoy what I do and that’s all that matters.

P.S. I never bought the Gameboy! Game  Gear came out shortly thereafter.