LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION...

Well, Scott W. tagged me a few days ago, so I guess I'll fulfill my obligations now! I am supposed to write about jobs I've had, hope you have a coffee, my list is not very long and not nearly as exciting as Scott's or MC's....

The very first job I had was a hand-me-down from a gurl friend. She was a home cleaner and one of her clients was an older couple. The wife was very not well and unable to care for herself, let alone take care of a home, the husband was quite aged also, and that was where I came in. I was about 16, I think, and I got paid $20.00 every Sunday to clean their home from top to bottom. Mostly the job was not bad, but one of the things that took forever was the dusting. They had lots of old wood pieces, and all were very ornate, all of the nooks and cranny's used to drive me crazy! Oh and let's not forget all the knick knacks!!! The worst part of the job was definitely cleaning the bathroom *shivers* I almost get sick just thinking about it, it was DISGUSTING! and I had to clean all the mold and mildew in the bath area. It was a tiny little bathroom with no windows... the smell... ewwwww!

I only worked at that job for a few months, then I moved from home. I had to go on welfare from February to June of '78 so that I could finish high school. My next job was at a seedy motel in the outskirts of Ottawa, where I lived. I was a chambermaid and worked both weekend days, it was a pay raise for me - I now made 44 dollars a weekend! Again the work was not really difficult, but it was not a high end establishment, each girl had from five to eight rooms to clean each day. The part of the motel where I worked was reserved more for people who didn't stay too long like sports teams, the bands that played in the disco lounge and other minor celebrities who were in town. A lot of these patrons had parties, and it was pretty brutal to clean- old booze bottles, left over food stuffs, and other stinky stuff! One band that stayed there was "The Ink Spots", when I went to do their rooms, one of the guys made a pass at me, it was not nice!
Another time, I was cleaning a room where the guests had left already, they had LEFT behind a 26 oz. bottle of rye, which I drank!!! I think I was fired after that!

When high school ended I shared an apartment with two other girls, by then I was working in a clothing store. It was supposed to be full time but was only given weekends with an occasional shift during the week. We were only paid $2.22 an hour, and it was not enough to live on! I spent a lot of time driving around with the pizza guys who worked next door- they had dope! I also got fired from that job!

Job number four was for an up and coming tech firm, something I was totally not into, but it was full time so that was good! We had to put these little bitty parts together, you know, the insides of computer boards! It required much attention to detail and if each component was not perfect, the whole thing would not work! I was definitely NOT the top producer on my team LOL. After being there for about a week, my boss took me aside and suggested I try out at a printing company that he knew was hiring, he felt it would be a better fit for me! So I applied at the new place, was hired, and gave my two weeks notice at the tech firm. I had only worked there a total of three weeks!!

My biggest and longest lasting job was working at a security printing company, I was hired in September of '78 and worked there until July of '90. The starting pay was $5.55 an hour, and it was unionized, so if we made it through the probationary period, we were pretty much set. After two years of working there our salary had more than doubled! I started working the evening shift after about six or nine months, hated getting up in the mornings and with all this money I had really started to 'party hardy'! A bonus was that shift work paid an extra fifteen percent, and I got to work lots of overtime! Remember back in the eighties? Money practically grew on trees! I was young, had no dependants, and kind of thought I'd never make it to twenty five, so I spent everything I earned! I did manage to buy a brand new car though, an '84 Mustang, I loved her sooo much. In January of '86, I was in one of my first attempt at sobriety, I had not drank for three whole weeks- it was a miracle! Living on the border between Ontario and Quebec came in handy back then because after the bars closed at one AM here , we would drive five minutes and party til three there! On one of these sober nights I had decided I deserved to celebrate, heading over to Quebec, I was involved in a head on collision. I was hit by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a one way parkway! He thought he was going to Quebec- he was wrong!! RIP to my sweet Mustang, I however never made it out to party that night!

I sort of digressed there, sorry! I did manage to work at the Security Printing company for eleven years, I ended up quitting after my disease of addictions ( including alcohol, drugs and anorexia almost killed me). Within months of leaving a treatment centre I was pregnant with Angel, I worked a couple of part time jobs , one in clothing sales, the other at a frozen yogurt place where I gained ten pounds in two weeks from Taste Testing the product!!! The next eight years I stayed at home and (attempted) to raise my daughter.

When Angel was seven. I went to college full time for a child and youth worker course. I barely made it through the first term, and ended up with three incompletes, two B's and an A!!! I tried the work thing again, another part time job in clothing retail. I loved this job and found myself to be quite good at it, my sales exceeded those of employees who had been there for a lot longer than I had! I was fired after only a month because I was frequently late. I had started doing sewing repairs and alterations from my home in '93 I think , so that money tied me over while I stayed home with Angel. After I left college, my family doctor advised me to go on disability. I was having a really tough time with depression, and trying to stay clean and sober. So that started in '96 or '97, and I didn't work again until the summer of 2003.

I worked at an outdoor fruit and vegetable market. We started at six AM and went to six PM, and we got paid in cash, so I didn't declare my earnings. I got paid $88.00 a day and would cross the street after work and spend my earnings in the bar! That was the summer I really started to get out of control with my drinking, after about seven years of sobriety! The money was great to keep me in drugs and booze and I managed to hang on to the job until they closed for the year at the end of September.

In October of 2003 I started working at a small Deli, I have shared a bit about this job before. My boss was also my pot dealer! I worked there part time for about a year, when the other employee (the bosses son) was injured, then I went to full time as well as running the whole place by myself! I was actually very good at the job and I really loved it too, I could go out back (the deli was in a bar) and I could smoke my doobs with a ciggie chaser! I was allowed to smoke dope at this job- just NO DRINKING! Good thing too as I had to cut all of the meats, smoked meat , roast beef brisket and salami! In March of 2005, Angel was taken from me by children's aid, they wanted me to quit my job so I could go to treatment, but I refused because I was the only employee at the time and I thought the deli would close without me. Besides with Angel gone I had begun to drink daily and I needed the money to pay for my habit! I managed to hang on there until March of 2006 at which point I knew I could not continue to live the way I was living. So I quit the Deli with only three days notice. The Deli did end up closing after another month! I have not worked since then, putting all of my energy into my recovery!

So there you have it, once again I am kind of surprised at how much my addictions had a place in my work history! I think I am ready to start a new job but I don't know if my former boss will give a good recommendation or not and I think I am kind of afraid of going back out into the world!!! On a positive note though, I have managed to put together a resume and am at least looking for work again!