Only job I ever had that I considered a good job was flipping burgers at McDonald's

[TlalocW]

9. Mine - with caveats

This is going to be long, but it's therapeutic. I should state that I realize I can be an impatient jerk who can act rashly when I believe I'm in the right... which, let's be honest, is all the time.

Before 21-years-old (I'm 40 now, graduated high school in 91)

Paperboy (Best) - When I was 12 or 13, Dad came to my brother and me and asked what we would think if he got us a, "small motorcycle." By that, he meant mo-ped. I was ambivalent and a little surprised as I'd rather have had a new computer, and offering us kids something like that wasn't in Dad's nature. Anyway, he got us one, and we rode it in the backyard (we were on an acre of land) for a year. Then he got us paperboy jobs along with another mo-ped and put giant-ass chickenwire baskets on the back. 5 years delivering papers at 3 in the morning was actually a great job. It took us about an hour to fold and deliver them, and we would go back to bed for 3 hours before getting up for school. Being young, we could handle it. It paid really well, and we could get another part time job in the evenings/summers if we wanted, or if we felt we needed to concentrate on school, we wouldn't. Only problem was for my first year in college, I would wake up at 3, sit straight up and think, "I've got to deliver papers!" before looking around, smiling, and going back to sleep.

McDonalds (Worst) - Summer after my freshman year, I got a job at the local McDonalds of the town Mom moved to. I was in the back flipping burgers, which I didn't mind. I consider myself a hard worker but also expect others to do their job as well. This was in Kansas in a small farming community, and the McDonalds stayed open late during wheat harvest so the farmers could come get a crappy burger if they wanted. One night, we got slammed, and the only people working was a high school girl at the register and me in the back. Everyone else (at least 8 employees) were in the manager's office gossiping and ignoring my yells for assistance for over an hour. At the end of the night (around 2 in the morning), I was scheduled to close (meaning clean), and I (calmly) made my displeasure known to the manager, explaining my feelings on the situation when she decided to go off on me and started yelling at me not to tell her how to do her job. I calmly took off my apron and hat, folded it up, set it on the counter, took off my badge, handed it to her and said, "See ya." At which point she panicked because the place was a horrible mess (why? because no one else was doing their job, taking out trash and whatnot) and started to make nice because if I didn't clean up, she would have to. When I didn't reciprocate, she threatened me with a write-up, and I turned and laughed, "You really are that stupid aren't you? I'm not leaving early - I'm quitting. Have fun cleaning! Maybe think about how you SHOULD do your job over the next couple of hours." Finished the summer out repainting the outside of a Sonic Drivethrough.

Adult

Worst - After getting laid off from a programming job, I got a job with Sprint Tech Support. This was in Tulsa in the CityPlex Towers, which are three "skyscrapers" across from ORU that houses the remnants of Oral Roberts' hospital that a 900 foot Jesus told him to build and other office space rented out to other businesses. First two weeks consisted of training, which required us to get there at 6 but never started until 7 because the instructor was never prepared - either in getting us materials, setting up visual displays, or even planning what we were going to talk about that day. I got a lot of non-work reading done and used breaks to call every employment agency in the book. Boss for my team wanted us to know two things - he was a devout Christian, and that if we ran into his ex-wife, don't tell her where he was working. He was also a highly competitive jackass and would make fun of people on his team in a malicious way in meetings. This was right after the Do Not Call list had come out, and Sprint was getting around it by having tech support offer upgrades to customer plans while figuring out their tech issue. We were supposed to do this at least 65% of the time. A lot of promises were made to all of us (not just me) which were never followed through on, and I couldn't stand the environment - the holier-than-thou asshole as boss, co-workers talking about "teh gays," helping drunk people at 1 in the morning figure out how to download the latest ringtone, etc. and I knew I would be quitting soon but hung on until I lined something else up. When the boss called me to his giant cube to wring me out for not meeting the upgrade offer percentage, I replied back that a lot of promises were made which had been broken, and that didn't "incentivize" me to meet the percentage. At which point, he started yelling at me which made me yell back at him, throwing all the crap he had thrown at us back in his face and quit (a week or so earlier than what I was planning on). He was stunned someone would stand up to him so it took him a few seconds to get up and come chasing after me, but I had reached the elevator banks by then. I pushed the call button and one opened up immediately. I then went to the stairs and quickly went two stories UP and sat down. I heard the boss come out the office, yelling my name, and then heard, "Damn!" as the elevator doors presumably shut on him. He then entered the stairwell and ran down 20 flights of stairs trying to catch me.

Best - Balloon twister and magician (primarily balloon twister). I started doing this as a hobby then after six months started getting hired for jobs and turned it into a side business. When I lived in Tulsa, it wasn't enough to survive on, but it saved my butt a couple of times and paid off some credit cards. I've now moved to Kansas City where I hope to take it bigger. I'm an advanced balloon twister meaning I rarely do one balloon sculptures at parties, and I make life-sized things like monsters for Halloween, Santa and the Grinch for Christmas, brides and grooms for weddings. I'm busier than I ever was; it's challenging; it pays well, and it makes everyone happy. Oh, sure, the boss (me) is a jerk, but I know how to handle him.

TlalocW