Growing up I watched my mother struggle with three kids and said I wasn't going to do that. I wasn't going to struggle. It boggled my mind as a child how she could go to work and still be so broke. She was always so tired and cranky but I loved being around her anyway cause she was my moms. After she got a better position in the hospital we were able to enjoy life a little better. I always thought that you had to start at the very bottom (like below dirt) and make your way to the top. I never told my mother but I was proud of her and still am. To be able to support your family without an education and without asking for nothing is something to be proud of.
After that I watched my sister work hard. She worked at MC Donald's for a while and then moved onto a job in Express clothing store downtown. She worked there and at NYU at the same time.
I always assumed work was serious. No play time. Time to put your game face on because your going to war.
Now that I am in the workforce I have to be smart about what I choose to do and how long it's going to take for me to get there. I intend to change my major to nursing over the summer so I can start in the right direction towards my goal. I know nurses are making big money right now and the position will always be in demand. I want to be able to buy my moms a house before I'm thirty. I don't want to work hard anymore, I just want to work smart.
Tuesday, March 16
Working is a B*tch!
My name is Erica aka Erie Ann and my work experience so far has been horrible for the most part. I tried to work at Wendy's when I was 16 but ended up quitting after two days because I hated the way people spoke to me. I never went back for my check. My second job was at Kentucky Fried Chicken where I worked for 2 1/2 days and quit because I wanted to see my boyfriend on a day I had to work.
My first real job was at a company called Michael C. Fina. It was a factory where I put together these gift packages for employers who wanted to show recognition to their employees. I was 17 and loved it. I was getting paid $7.50 an hour and no one could tell me nothing. Most people hated it and tried to explain the office politics to me but I didn't care. Why should I care anyway? I was able to buy summer and school clothes. I could go out as many times as I wanted to and not have to rely on my mother for money. It was only for the summer and I wasn't trying to make a career out of it. After going back to school and finishing my senior year I decided I wouldn't be going to school right away so I went back to Fina and was there for a little over a month when they decided to promote me to work in the store on 5th ave. The store was beautiful. They sold jewelery, watches, wedding rings, and had wedding registry downstairs where they sold plates and silverware. I was the jewelery assistant. I set up the displays in the glass cases and in the windows and also made sure that the inventory was up to date. After three months of working there they raised my pay to $9.00. After five months of working there I decided to find another job. I started to hate how everyone was so stuck up. A lot of stuck up rich people came into the store but treated me better than some of the staff. I started to gain weight because I was so unhappy there.
I then moved onto SYMS where I was a cashier and sales associate. Loved it but not for long. They paid me $8.00 an hour. Eventually I got caught stealing and they fired me. I spent the night in jail and had to do a day of community service.
I was out of work for three months until my dream job came along, T-Mobile. I loved them. I loved the uniforms, the unity between workers, the relationship between front line employees and management. The scene was different though. I was use to working in downtown Manhattan and now to be in the heart of Harlem,125th street, it was a little concerning but convenient. The travel time between work and home was 20 minutes and that was including walking to and from the train station, waiting for the train and even stopping for a snack. I made life long friends and some damn good money, at least at the time. I was still living at home with my mother and I was making $9.75 an hour. After three months they bumped up my pay to $11.15 an hour. They also had great benefits, they had medical and dental of course, tuition reimbursement, they helped out with child care payments if you needed a baby sitter. If you had problems having children they would help you adopt, they helped with therapy fees and T-Mobile was the only company that I know that allows you to put your boyfriend of girlfriend on your health plan. On-top of my regular pay I also was paid commission. My first commission check was over $2,000, mostly everything after that was $1,000-$1,500. I had no bills and decided to get a car. Then eventually decided to get an apartment and that's where things got tricky. T-Mobile decided to change the components that made up the commission and when that happened all hell broke loose. Everyone thought that with this new commission we would actually see more money but we actually started working harder for less pay. People who were use to making $3,000 in commission alone ended up bring home maybe $500 at the end of the month. How do you pay bills with that?
My first real job was at a company called Michael C. Fina. It was a factory where I put together these gift packages for employers who wanted to show recognition to their employees. I was 17 and loved it. I was getting paid $7.50 an hour and no one could tell me nothing. Most people hated it and tried to explain the office politics to me but I didn't care. Why should I care anyway? I was able to buy summer and school clothes. I could go out as many times as I wanted to and not have to rely on my mother for money. It was only for the summer and I wasn't trying to make a career out of it. After going back to school and finishing my senior year I decided I wouldn't be going to school right away so I went back to Fina and was there for a little over a month when they decided to promote me to work in the store on 5th ave. The store was beautiful. They sold jewelery, watches, wedding rings, and had wedding registry downstairs where they sold plates and silverware. I was the jewelery assistant. I set up the displays in the glass cases and in the windows and also made sure that the inventory was up to date. After three months of working there they raised my pay to $9.00. After five months of working there I decided to find another job. I started to hate how everyone was so stuck up. A lot of stuck up rich people came into the store but treated me better than some of the staff. I started to gain weight because I was so unhappy there.
I then moved onto SYMS where I was a cashier and sales associate. Loved it but not for long. They paid me $8.00 an hour. Eventually I got caught stealing and they fired me. I spent the night in jail and had to do a day of community service.
I was out of work for three months until my dream job came along, T-Mobile. I loved them. I loved the uniforms, the unity between workers, the relationship between front line employees and management. The scene was different though. I was use to working in downtown Manhattan and now to be in the heart of Harlem,125th street, it was a little concerning but convenient. The travel time between work and home was 20 minutes and that was including walking to and from the train station, waiting for the train and even stopping for a snack. I made life long friends and some damn good money, at least at the time. I was still living at home with my mother and I was making $9.75 an hour. After three months they bumped up my pay to $11.15 an hour. They also had great benefits, they had medical and dental of course, tuition reimbursement, they helped out with child care payments if you needed a baby sitter. If you had problems having children they would help you adopt, they helped with therapy fees and T-Mobile was the only company that I know that allows you to put your boyfriend of girlfriend on your health plan. On-top of my regular pay I also was paid commission. My first commission check was over $2,000, mostly everything after that was $1,000-$1,500. I had no bills and decided to get a car. Then eventually decided to get an apartment and that's where things got tricky. T-Mobile decided to change the components that made up the commission and when that happened all hell broke loose. Everyone thought that with this new commission we would actually see more money but we actually started working harder for less pay. People who were use to making $3,000 in commission alone ended up bring home maybe $500 at the end of the month. How do you pay bills with that?
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