working title

Introduction

To start off with, I have to admit something. I’ve had fourteen jobs in the past fourteen years. It’s not as bad as it sounds. At least, I think it isn’t. I’ve never been fired, if that counts for anything, though I’m not sure it does. In my mind, it always has, but as I write it out now, I am no longer certain.
The length of time I’ve remained at one place of employment ranges from two days to three years. I’ve worked in restaurants, schools movie theaters, and my own home. I’ve worked in customer service, freelance writing and photography, and office environments.

I don’t consider myself a flighty person, but I’m afraid my employment record indicates that I am. I have several goals in writing this memoir. One is to provide entertainment – I’ve seen and experienced a lot of interesting people and things. Two is to take a hard look at my employment history, my track record as it were, to see if I can find where I’ve gone wrong, if I have in fact gone wrong at all.

I seemed to have developed a knack for being laid off, actually. The last time was just a month ago, when I was “let go” (funny phrase, that one) due to lack of work. What they ended up claiming was something different (which I will get to later) than what I was told at the time, but either way it meant one thing to me – unemployment. Hello, my old friend.

Being unemployed is horribly taxing on one’s psyche, at least that’s always been true to me. I feel irresponsible and lazy, regardless of how hard I work to find another job. I can spend every minute of every day scouring job websites and classified ads, updating my resume, making phone calls, hitting the pavement, and still, I will feel inadequate. I will feel guilty. It happens every time.

In this memoir, I would like to share a number of things. First, a history of my employment, but also a type of journal of my daily quest to find a new job. At the same time, I want to take a look at my history and what has brought me to this place where I find myself now. How did I get my work ethic? How did my education lend a hand in preparing me for this environment (if it did at all. Another thing I plan on getting into).