Happy Labor Day! Remembering Past Jobs, part 2

The second part of remembering my past jobs in honor of Labor Day starts with my last quarter/semester at college.  The school changed from Q to S in my senior year, so it was the transition year and was a weird schedule, which actually worked in my favor.  I had to take 2 classes in the summer of college before I graduated in August and I continued to work at Giant Eagle at that time.  My degree was in psychology, which isn’t super functional and I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with that.  But in 6th grade I knew I was going to go to school for psychology and never really considered anything else.  It’s what made sense to me.  I used to read my older sisters’ college psychology books for fun.

• Police Department Dispatcher – At some point I ran into a friend of my one of my sisters at a bar who was then a police officer and he suggested that I apply to be a part-time dispatcher at his department. It paid better than the G.E., so it was worth moving on.  Plus my minor was in criminal justice, so the interest was there.  The next week he had the Chief come to the bar to meet me (yeah, super professional) and I was pretty much guaranteed the position, so I applied.  I really enjoyed the position, even though I was often working various shifts.  I learned a lot in that position.  Police officers are heroes and deserve a lot of respect for the risks they are willing to deal with, but I quickly realized that I would never date a cop. Never.  Ever.  As a matter of fact, I got in trouble once because one of the very important police officers (without being too obvious since he still has that position) started to be inappropriate and was trying to start rumors that we were together – and calling me outside of work.  The thought of such a thing absolutely disgusted me – not only because he was married, but also because he was incredibly unattractive and much older than me.  So since he was trying to spread this news, not so subtly, I decided to clear my name, not so subtly, and I wrote a memo acknowledging that this rumor was out there and that I never was, and would never be involved with this person.  Under no circumstances.  I put the memo in everyone’s box in the office.  I got a stern talking to about how it was inappropriate to use those boxes for personal business.  I  explained that it was inappropriate for this person to be calling my cell phone for purposes other than work and I have the call history and the voicemails to prove it.  The matter was dropped and nothing more was said about it, other than me telling this person that he should not ever contact me again unless it is strictly about work.  He respected that (and was probably afraid that I’d claim harassment), so the last few months that I was there were just fine.  I liked dispatching and it wasn’t a very busy police department – it usually only had one or two officers out at a time, so it wasn’t as overwhelming as cities who would have many officers on the road at once.  This position overlapped with my next position and for the last year I only worked on weekends occasionally when they needed someone until I moved to Columbus.
• Adult Case Manager – This was my first full-time job and on the first day my supervisor told me it would probably be the hardest job I’d ever have.  It didn’t pay well and it was 40 minutes from home.  I was a case manager for mentally ill adults.  My caseload was usually 25-30 people who needed varying levels of help.  Some couldn’t do anything on their own and others I only needed to help with a specific thing and then they were discharged and I’d get a new client.  I learned pretty quickly that I preferred schizophrenics to depressives and or dual diagnosis (someone suffering from mental illness and substance abuse – often depressives or bipolar).  All of the case workers (most of whom were social workers) had specific caseloads like that.  By the end of my time there, my caseload was almost exclusively schizophrenic or bipolar – oh, and one dissociative identity disorder thrown in for good measure.  Most people know DID as multiple personality disorder…and let me tell you, that client was interesting.  It’s a pretty rare disorder and I don’t think anyone in our office had prior experience with a client with DID.  I actually enjoyed working with her and she was pretty self-sufficient, though sometimes I suspected she was faking occasionally to get what she wanted.  I’ll never forget the look on the face of the person at the social security office when she “changed” during her disability review.  I know her paperwork was processed faster than any of my other clients (and honestly, she needed it).  A couple of years ago Showtime had a show called “United States of Tara” about a women with DID and I found it pretty accurate to my experience with my client.  They are often able to live fairly normal lives, with the exception of their altered states, which can vary in frequency during their lives.  Unfortunately people with this disorder are more likely to get involved in dangerous situations or even commit suicide during when they are an alter.  I had some clients who I really enjoyed and some that I didn’t like dealing with for various reasons.  One of my favorites was a Vietnam Vet who was an amazing artist.  He used to bring paintings into our office for us to hang because he knew if he left them at home he would eventually destroy them during a manic state.  When I met with him to tell him I was moving to Columbus and that he could get his painting that was hung in my cube, he insisted that I take it with me.  I had to get permission to make sure it wasn’t crossing patient – therapist boundaries, but was told that it was okay since it was technically property of the office.  I love the painting and everyone always comments on it when they see it.  I usually end up telling the story about how he usually painted morbid scenes, but in an abstract way, and if you really look you can tell it’s actually a painting of a single engine plane crashing (over Vietnam, specifically).  I still love it and I wish I would have been able to buy paintings from him.  I probably could have arranged it anonymously through his therapist, but I never thought of that and now wouldn’t know how to find him or whether he’s still a client.

• Psychiatric Hospital for Teens/Kids – I randomly decided to move to Columbus with my sister’s friend’s sister after meeting her once or twice.  We were drunk when we talked about it and she called me a few weeks later and asked if I still wanted to move.  I knew there weren’t many jobs in the area where I grew up and I didn’t want to work as a caseworker making less than $10/hour for very long, so I said yes.  She decided to totally switch career paths wanted to be a teacher so she was going to go to Ohio State for her teaching degree.  She went to look for an apartment and found one with no deposit and the first two months free, so I had a couple of months before I had to start paying rent and could continue to work while I looked for a job down there.  It was 3 hours away, so I could easily go down for a day/weekend here and there for interviews.  Luckily I found something within a month.  It was a new residential treatment center for teenagers with a separate acute unit for kids/teens.  I was hired to mainly work on the residential floor, with occasional shifts on acute, which was a step down unit for kids leaving a psych unit or juvenile detention until they could be evaluated to be determined where they should go next.  It was a pretty crazy job.  They residents were in custody of the state and went to school within the unit.  For awhile they had an actual teacher, but eventually switched to ECOT online schooling and the regular staff would be working with them on first shift.  I worked all shifts at one point or another and like both 1st shift and 3rd shift.  I hated 2nd shift because I’m not an early riser and I felt like I couldn’t get much done before I had to go to work. Plus I couldn’t play in any vball leagues.  I only did stints on 2nd for short periods, though I did often work doubles when they needed someone and it worked for my schedule.  Much like the case worker position, I loved some clients and couldn’t stand others.  It was very physical and we were constantly restraining them when they got out of control.  I was the usually the smallest person who worked there (and I’m not small) because most of them were full-grown teens and we had to be able to do restraints.  A lot of the other workers were ex-prison guards with very little to no college education and weren’t really appropriate for working with them.  We were often understaffed and they would occasionally riot.  It was a lock-down unit and they rarely got to leave the building, so they’d go stir crazy.  Some were there for up to 2 years.  Eventually management changed and the staffing became less and less qualified to deal with teens with emotional and mental disorders and it felt we were constantly restraining them and providing very little therapeutic benefit to them.  The unit kept getting put on probation from the state for various issues and I knew I wanted to get out before that ship sunk.  I started applying for all kinds of state jobs and whatever I could find that would be a more “normal” position.  That leads to my current job…..
• Court Clerks Office (trying to not be too obvious because I like to have a little anonymity, but I write the entries when the court makes decisions in cases, along with a lot of other case processing duties.  I still see a lot of crazy things, but I don’t have to deal with the people anymore – I mostly handle the back-end of the cases.  It’s a good job – it can get a little boring because it doesn’t really challenge me – but I do mostly enjoy it and the people who I work with.  I’ve been there for 7 years and I don’t expect to stay there forever because I’d like to be challenged a little more.  But I am grateful to have a job that I don’t hate and where I can feel secure.  Plus I met Lo through this job, so there was an additional benefit that wasn’t given in my job offer!  This is totally different from previous jobs that’s I’ve had, and I actually do like office work.

So that’s my Labor Day roundup.  I’ve been pretty fortunate to have decent jobs all of my life and hope that my fortune continues.  If money was no object and I just wanted to work for fun, I’d totally be a cashier at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.  I told you I loved being a cashier!

What was your favorite job ever?

Check out Remembering my Past Jobs Part I