...2nD jObS...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

i would like to say that i started working at the ripe age of 15.  I worked at a grocery store bagging groceries...and it was by far one of the worst jobs i had.  I needed the job because i had just moved in with my dad and he pretty much made me do it....and to also get my dad out of buying the things i wanted/needed for myself...but in the end i worked there for about a year and then worked at CVS pharmacy (it started as Eckerd...but CVS bought it out and changed everything).  The boss there was a great mentor for me.  During those years, home life was not the greatest and he got that. He knew that school and work was my get away...so naturally he let me work literally as much as i wanted.  He came from a crummy family situation and tried to help me during my dark days.

Well i worked there the remainder of my time in Lubbock, Texas (yes a home grown southern gal...and I'm proud of it!!)

Then i decided to move to the arm pit of America...Missouri :-/  (yea I'm still trying to figure out what made that seem like such a great choice...but in the end it seems to be working out pretty good for me!)
Having only a few hundred dollars in my bank account, a credit card (for "emergencies"...uh yea right...) and my tuition and books for my first year paid for i knew i needed a job! So in the "welcome freshmen" packet i received before leaving Texas there was a flyer for a grocery store. I called the manager, told him i was coming from Texas and that i needed a job (badly in order for me to go to school there).  He pretty much hired me over the phone. Told me to come by when i made it and we would set some things up.

My first day in Missouri we went to this grocery store (to get food) and so i could meet the manager.  He hired me and i worked in the meat market (i know it was a rough time...) and in the pharmacy (it was an OK job...small town folk love to gossip and to be honest they were not very welcoming to me...)

So i worked there for a year and found what i thought to be a better paying job as a waitress as a pizza place in town.  Needless to say it was better paying...but the boss and hours were def not as desirable.  So on to the next job as a "Guest service Agent" at the local Comfort Inn in town. 

That job was AMAZING until the owners sold the place and we got a new manager and owner.  Finds out the new manager HATED me because i had ambitions of being a doctor (she got knocked up in college and had to drop out...so i guess she resented me for having the life she did not have).  I would tell her days i would have test/lab and she would purposely schedule me to try to get me in trouble with the owner (and he did not really care...he owned a handful more hotels and was here like maybe once a month)
Well while here i worked at the local JC  Penney (to help get discounts on clothes and shoes of course! LoL)

So i did both of those for a little over a year and then found my job in the lab at the hospital (my current job). I have been here since 2008 and have loved it more than any of the other jobs i had here in town.  I was also a bartender (until recently) and officially as of today i got another...more lucrative...WAY BETTER job than the hospital.

I will be the research assistant to the professor i have been doing my research with over the past year.  He did a little reading into his grant and found a clause that would pay a "minority woman" to help encourage minorities to do research.  So i will be getting paid twice as much as i do at the hospital...better hours...benefits (b/c i get kicked off my dads in December)...and an AMAZING work environment that i control 100% (as apposed to being someones slave all day like i am at the hospital during the day)! (not to mention i get 30 min during the day to use to go and workout!!!)

So for me...right now this is the temporary dream job (as my goal is to become a doctor).  I started doing research with the professor to build my resume and to help me have a better chance at networking and help my chances at getting into the med or grad program.  Well i feel like i have accomplished that as well as TONS of research with publications and future conferences.  I will do this...then the masters...then med school.  Sounds like the perfect plan!! (since i really did not have one after getting my 2nd degree in May)

Since being in college i always had 2 jobs. At most times it was to make ends meet...to pay school bills and to have money to go home for Xmas and other holidays.  But now, it feels like i am finally being rewarded for all my hard work (getting my degree and focusing on the research project for almost a year with out being paid for it until now.) I am so blessed and so happy that i found the professor i did. He did not have to do what he did. He defiantly went above and beyond with trying to help me and i will forever be grateful.

It just feels good to have things fall into place right now.  I will work towards finishing my research so i can use it as a tool to make me a stronger candidate for the grad programs i want to do then medical school.  Even though i am going the long way to get to my life goal...i am glad i did it. I am learning so much and have experienced a lot about life!

I officially start September 1st (filled out my paper work today). This deal has been on motion since January it just has taken so long getting it approved and getting all the right people to sign off on it. Good things do come to those who wait. And over this past year i have truly learned what it means to be patient.