I started a new day job in March.
My grandmother called to wish me happy birthday, and asked about my job situation. I told her I’d be in the parts department of a camper dealership. I said, “It’s a little different from what I’ve done in the past, but so far I really like it.”
She laughed and said, “Melody, variety is the spice of life, and you’ve had a very spicy life!”
This is true. And I’ve enjoyed an awful lot of it, even when things haven’t gone the way I wanted.
My very first job was shoveling horse manure in exchange for riding lessons at a local stable. I love horses, and my family was poor at the time, so my mom called all the stables around town until she found one willing to make me that deal. I did that for about four years. I didn’t love every minute of it, but I learned a lot more about horses than I ever could have by just taking riding lessons. Like what to do when a horse colics, what kind of food and shelter they need, how to find a good farrier, how to find a good vet, how to de-worm horses (commonly called “worming” among horsefolk), what it means when a horse makes that low grunting noise or pins their ears, and what they look like when they sleep (they do NOT sleep standing up!).
My next job was as a dog groomer’s assistant. I learned a ton about dog care, breeds, behavior, handling, and grooming. That’s where I started learning how to train. Now I offer dog training on the side as a little extra side-hustle.
After that, a vet’s office as an animal caretaker in the kennels. I learned a ton there, too, including exactly how one declaws a cat (DON’T DO IT!), how to read a fecal sample under a microscope, and that as much as I love animals, I do not want to be a vet or a vet tech.
From there I got a job at the Coffee Hag as a barista, which had not yet become a cliche for struggling artists, but having been at the head of that wave, I can see why it became one. Being a barista requires an art, a diligence, an appreciation for good things, and an ability to connect with people. I learned a ton about coffee, developed my current caffeine addiction, and learned not only a lot about myself but about community and finding it and supporting it.
Next up, sales rep at a local pet store. From this position I added to my already big database of cat and dog knowledge, but also what pet stores are good at and what they fail at. Also that chain pet stores fail at a lot more than independent stores, and that more people than I want to admit view animals as objects and nothing more. Another reason not to become a vet or a vet tech. People who call me up for training services are usually the good kind of owner, the kind who care and want to have a good life with their pet.
From there I went on the become the wellness buyer at our local food co-op. I learned a million things not only about the U.S.’s very broken food system, but also about natural medicine and the U.S.’s very broken cosmetics and body care industry. Did you know there’s ground glass in most eye makeup? Does it make people go blind? Hell yes it does. Do they keep putting it in? Yep, they sure do. Why? Because there’s no law against it, and it makes the makeup sparkly. There are actually no laws regulating ANY body care OR supplement products. Fun stuff!
Next up, cook at a small restaurant. This was more back to my roots as a cook and baker at the barista job. But the night chef taught me about sixty-five hundred things about cooking and tasting, including how to flambe and that I actually like beef tongue. Thanks, Josh!
From there, sales rep at a book publisher. I thought this one would be right up my alley, and there were things I really dug about it, but I hated the job so much. It was telemarketing. I was good at it, and my boss was amazing, but I HATED it. I stuck it out for three years because of that great boss. The main thing I learned from that job were that maybe I want to be a librarian, and that I do NOT do well under pressure.
Then a dear friend hired me to help her out at home while she dealt with cancer. That’s the first time outside of babysitting my sisters that I had ever done any real care-giving. The idea was I would help with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her cats and dogs, but it wound up with me doing a lot more than that. I didn’t mind. She was my friend.
That care-giving role got me into an assisted living community as the concierge — a role more like receptionist with added care-giver/helper duties. I loved that job. I loved it so much. But that was where I re-learned my hatred for corporate America and all it does and stands for. The small company I started at was purchased by a bigger corporation, and slowly it became more like working at McDonald’s — and more like living at a McDonald’s for the residents. I resigned in disgust and I’m still pretty pissed about it.
I took a position from a friend who was doing wine tastings as a side gig while helping my friend who had cancer, partly because it sounded like fun and partly to bring in a few more bucks. The company I did that for stopped doing it, but the manager at the liquor store I did the tastings at liked me so much, she recommended me to other companies. I’ve been doing tastings for two wine distributors on weekends for the last five years. The things there are to know about wine! (And the free drinks you get!)
And now, the parts department at a camper dealership. I’m already learning about a million things about campers, how they’re built, how they’re maintained, and all the little doodads that go into them. Yesterday the service manager pulled a tiny piece of copper wire out of an electrical panel in a camper — the lights had been flickering, and although the service order said nothing about fixing the lights, he knew there was something wrong. The little bit of loose wire was touching things it shouldn’t have been.
As my grandma said — variety is the spice of life. And my life has been rather spicy indeed. But I feel like all the different places I’ve worked have added so much to my knowledge base — and given me an appreciation for how much time, energy, and knowledge that goes into ANY industry. As a writer, that’s a very good thing. I know better than to take for granted that I know jack shit about anything I want to write about — there’s always a little more digging into I could do, a little more looking up, a little more asking questions. A lot of it may not go into the book, but it winds up giving me a more authentic background, and keeps me from making stupid mistakes. Like the author who had her chef character throw his cast iron pan into the dishwater. D’oh! A chef would NEVER!
At any rate, I hope my experiences have taught you a thing or two about jobs and life in general. Whatever work there is to be done, there’s usually a lot of knowledge that goes into doing it. Be aware of that.
So that’s all the JOBS I’ve had . . . Maybe now I’ll have to write a post about all the HOBBIES I’ve collected . . . that’s a whole other can of hash!
