Tag Archives: job

It pays real money at least

The alarm clock rudely wakes me at 3:15 a.m. I lay catatonic for at least ten more minutes before I stumble through the dark trying to be as quiet as I can. I grab the crumbled t-shirt off my dresser.

I can hear my dad in the bathroom so I rush down to the basement to avoid a loud conversation with him (see One Day at a Time).

I really don’t know what I was thinking getting a job that starts at 4 in the morning. Four or five months ago it seemed like a luxury after getting up at 2 in the morning to deliver newspapers. But, now it just seems crazy.

I work in the backroom of a popular department store several blocks from my house. I won’t tell which store except that it is not the evil Walmart. I was excited when I first got the job. “Hey I love shopping there it should be fun to work there. And I’m sure I’ll get an awesome discount.” I told my husband.

Well, it is as far from fun as a stroll through the Sahara Desert…barefoot. It is definitely not the cool job I had in college working in the stockroom of the campus bookstore.

Now that I’m starring down 40 years old this year, working in the backroom stocking toothbrushes and baby bottles is just not a great reality.  And the discount is only a measly 10 percent and that is if you pay with cash (like that ever happens) or you charge your purchase on their high interest store card.

I really can’t complain. I’m off early enough to do some writing before I go get my son from preschool. And it is a real job that pays real money.  Unlike the play money I get paid when my son and I play store or the check for a freelance project I finished months ago that I just know has to be in the mail.

So, what is this strange thing you call facebook?

I put it off as long as I could.

I knew the potential dangers of having a page on Facebook. I knew there would be countless hours wasted, kind of like those spent playing the solitaire game on my phone. Hours I can never get back.

My husband actually set it up for me, finding a dorky picture to post and there you go I already had ten friends. But I really had no idea I was entering a new world. I expected to share warm fuzzy messages with my “friends.”

But I have actually reconnected with people I have not seen for decades. I get to glimpse into their lives, seeing pictures of their most recent vacations, the children I never knew were born. I’m horrible at mailing letters or packages (you know the ones that actually take stamps) and suddenly I can instantly connect with people I probably never would have seen again in my life.

Ok I sound a bit dramatic about this whole facebook phenomenon, but I can’t help it. I get to know at any given moment what my friends are doing from shoveling snow to reading a book. Almost too much for my mind to handle.

And just when I thought I could handle the facebook experience I saw my first boyfriend. There he was, a random comment on a musician’s page. Could that be him? I must look. There he was with his wife and three kids looking happy and successful. (of course people don’t post unhappy pictures) He really did look good. And I was happy to see that. It was a bittersweet moment, he was my first love after all.

Well I must learn to control this new addiction called facebook and get back to writing. And I’m not the only one… career advice, don’t choose facebook over your job.

What could you do on facebook for four hours a day? Hey do they have solitare?