Another day, another dollar

Working. A necessary evil, is it not? I'm lucky. I have a lot of autonomy at my job. I can basically come and go as I please, as long as my work gets done. Even better, my boss is 50 miles away from me in another office. I keep my little office door closed here and just putter along. I do my work, don't get me wrong. But ... I also read stuff online, web surf, listen to internet radio, shop ... just pass the time. I leave early, too. Yet strangely enough, people think I really work hard. No, I just work smart.

I got my first job at 15. I kidsat/housecleaned for a couple who had a 9-year old boy. I'd get there before he got home from school and do some minor kitchen cleanup. When he came home, I'd give him a snack and then just watch TV until his parents came home. I did this Mon-Thu, with Thursday being a long night, because the parents had "date night". I didn't really like the kid too much and I hated cleaning up, but hey, a job is a job. I watched a LOT of TV ... Wild Wild West, Star Trek, 3:00 movies, etc.

My first real job (you know, taxes taken out, etc.) was at a Jack-in-the-Box. Later on, as I developed my "fast food" skills, I also worked at a Carl's Jr. Man, fast food is akin to slave labor. You do a lot of work for not so much money. Back in the day, minimum wage was $2.65/hour. I remember when I got a raise to $2.90/hour. Woo hoo. I was rolling in the dough, then!

I've had various jobs over the years, depending on school load, etc. I worked for a small family-owned direct mail company, in the college bookstore and print shop, as a receptionist for an attorney. My first post-college job was as a receptionist for a software services company. From there, I went to become an executive secretary at a printing plant. At the printing plant, I moved into customer service (which morphed into "client services" and looks more today like program management work).

I currently work at a software company as a program manager. Basically, a good job for the anally retentive. I can be hyper-organized when I need to be and that comes out well at work.

So ... I guess I should get back to it. See, I even write blog posts while I'm at work. I'm truly a model employee.