To this day, the best job I ever had in my life was working at Blockbuster Video. Decent pay that went to double time if you worked a holiday and there was the extra benefit of all those free movie rentals. My best times were spent closing up that store after midnight, blasting that Best of Bob Marley cd and goofing off with my coworkers as we cleaned up. Good times.
Of course, it probably wasn’t that fun for the Grown Folks. I was in college then and using the job to keep me afloat. But we had quite a few Grown Folks working there – full fledged adults with full time jobs who worked here as well. My favorite was Clover. She was in her forites and had that sweet, mothering thing going for her. I just couldn’t wrap my mind about why she needed a part time gig. She had a husband and what seemed like a good full-time job, and I judged that based on the fact that she dressed up to go to work and had a secretary. I never understood why she’d need extra money. I didn’t ask her, but once she mentioned how her credit card debt got out of control and she’d indulged her children with gifts when they were younger. She was using this job to help pay for that.
Fast forward a few years and I’m in a similar situation. I wouldn’t say my credit card debt is out of control, but it is definitely above the zero mark. And I do want to buy a house, so any additional money I can gain will be a huge benefit. So recently I started working at my own part time gig, which I call The Paper Route or Job Deux.
On the surface, things at The Paper Route seem easy enough. It’s a women’s retail establishment, so ideally all I’d have to do is greet folks and ring stuff up. Right? Hah! I went to training the other day and was somewhat overwhelmed by my responsibilities. I have a packet of information to study so that I know certain things about the store’s specialty, their fancy pants. I’m not paid on commission, but folks will take note of my average daily sale. There is also a strategic way to put the clothes out just so, so that it attracts the customer’s eye. Sigh.
Of course, it probably wasn’t that fun for the Grown Folks. I was in college then and using the job to keep me afloat. But we had quite a few Grown Folks working there – full fledged adults with full time jobs who worked here as well. My favorite was Clover. She was in her forites and had that sweet, mothering thing going for her. I just couldn’t wrap my mind about why she needed a part time gig. She had a husband and what seemed like a good full-time job, and I judged that based on the fact that she dressed up to go to work and had a secretary. I never understood why she’d need extra money. I didn’t ask her, but once she mentioned how her credit card debt got out of control and she’d indulged her children with gifts when they were younger. She was using this job to help pay for that.
Fast forward a few years and I’m in a similar situation. I wouldn’t say my credit card debt is out of control, but it is definitely above the zero mark. And I do want to buy a house, so any additional money I can gain will be a huge benefit. So recently I started working at my own part time gig, which I call The Paper Route or Job Deux.
On the surface, things at The Paper Route seem easy enough. It’s a women’s retail establishment, so ideally all I’d have to do is greet folks and ring stuff up. Right? Hah! I went to training the other day and was somewhat overwhelmed by my responsibilities. I have a packet of information to study so that I know certain things about the store’s specialty, their fancy pants. I’m not paid on commission, but folks will take note of my average daily sale. There is also a strategic way to put the clothes out just so, so that it attracts the customer’s eye. Sigh.
Training Part Deux of Job Deux starts this weekend. I hope I get used to it fairly soon. I’m a smart woman, I should be able to handle this. And I’ve already told myself that I’ll do the part time thing for no more than six months. That should give me enough time to have a big enough financial cushion. At least, I hope so!
