Job Chronicles: One Job too many?!?!

…Clearly, I picked college.  We won’t go into what happened with the test shoot with Nordstrom’s and my entire modeling career—non-existent. 

So, Lisa, how did you end up at Bowie? 

Well, remember when I was working at Yakima County Department of Corrections…the jail.  Yeah, well, my boss/mentor Cheryl went to Bowie State for her Masters in Criminal Justice.  When my mom died, I gave a middle to finger to Yakima, College, my future, etc.  However, Cheryl kept in touch with me and said

“don’t let your mom’s death end your life as well.” <--- true ass words!

At the time, I wasn’t trying to hear her, I was too busy poppin bottles of Alize, now mourning the death of Biggie, and club hopping chasing hard heads....but she asked me to do one thing, apply to Bowie State. 

I told her, “Cheryl, why would I apply to a school that I’ve never heard of, and have no clue on earth where it is located?”  

She hit me with the Nike “Just do it” and since I didn’t have my mom telling me what to do anymore, I guess I needed someone to tell me to just do it. 

Pause. 

It's always a blessing when you have people in your life to look out for your future when you can't even see past your own stubbornness of today.  I love people who love me!  #realtalk

Long story short, I was accepted to Bowie, I went, I saw, I pledged, I came back to Washington and now back to Maryland.  If you want to know what happened in between that time.  Buy the book…when I am published.

So, we’re gonna jump into the Delorean and fast forward this story to the Summer of 1998.  I’m back in Spokane Washington…the place I was longing to get back to in 1994, but now the place I was loathing to return to in 1998.  My ex boyfriend at the time was living in Seattle, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.  He and I were supposed to move to Hawaii, but that didn’t happen.  Oh yeah those details will be in the book.  So, I’m living at my dad’s, all my millions (my measly little $12,000 in my mind) was gone, not sure what to do, so I go to a temp agency in the meantime and I was placed at Group Health.  For those of you on the East Coast, Group Health is like working for Kaiser Permanente.  It’s a good office job, but it was just for the summer.  

So, when the summer ended and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do, I applied for Eastern Washington University and University of Washington.  I really wanted to go to U of W, but noooooo I was too busy in Houston Texas with the boo, (who ended up leaving me and moving there) that I failed to get in the rest of my paperwork in time to meet the deadline.  Whereas EWU has a rolling application date, so when I returned from my week and a half in Houston, I missed my opportunity for UDub and ended up at EWU…. God has a funny sense of humor, nope I was being lazy.  #realtalk. 

I was starting EWU Jan of 99, it was Fall 1998, so in the meantime, you know me, I need $$$, my temp job was over, school wasn’t starting yet, and I was going crazy sitting in the house.  So, I went back to my old faithful…Bon Marche.  It was my comfort zone.  At first they tried the whole “floating” thing with me, the jumping from department to department.  But after a month, I walked into HR and said

“look, I have tenure with Bon Marche (okay so it was only 10 months collectively, but I had to pull some rank) and I would prefer you all place me in the next available department”. 

They asked, “Would you be fine working in accessories?”   

And I responded, “certainly!” 

This time at the Bon, I didn’t know anyone and I liked it that way.  I came to work, did my hours and went home.  Didn’t have time to get distracted.  I worked my little butt off.  I dedicated my day to mostly sorting through the guess, fossil, anne klien watches, purses, and belts, and of course costume jewelry...all day every day.  Have you all ever been to the accessory department at a Macy’s….it’s overwhelming, but of course you customers don’t care, your job is to go in there, mess it all up and make my life a living hell with straightening it back up.  Constant organization was my life.   

After awhile, like always, I got bored.  So holidays came around and lo and behold, Nordstrom was hiring for their half yearly sale.  If anyone knows anything about Nordstrom, they will know that A) it’s hard to get a job there, and B) the half yearly sales only happens twice a year.  I went in, applied and interviewed and was put into the pool of applicants who had to wait for a “call back”.  My life was full of waiting on callbacks.  Call backs from modeling agencies, call backs from niggas, call backs from jobs….NO ONE CALLS ME BACK…EVER!  Okay, so I like to exaggerate a little bit, but I do live a life of waiting for call backs.  Matter of fact, have YOU called me back? Like Jodeci, I'm still waiting....

Anyways, being the young busy body that I was, I also saw that Sam Goody was hiring in the Mall that I was working.  So, I walked right in and filled out an application. 

Pause.

Wow,  I just realized how time and technology has changed dramatically, because long gone are the days that you see a sign in the door “Now Hiring” and you go in and ask to fill out an application, because now you’re signed up on Monster, Career Builders or whatever job website, and you fill out an online job application.  Have you ever filled out an online job application?  BORING!!  I hate it!  Do they even read those things?  No they don’t, they have a program that scans for keywords in of online resume or application.  

Anyways, can you guess what happened…I got callbacks!!!  Both Nordstrom and Sam Goody called my back, and yes, I’m greedy, I wanted ALL 3 jobs.  I hated Spokane, I had to fill my time up so that all I did was come home, eat, sleep and get ready for work. 

My schedule varied, but mainly looked like this:

Bon Marche

M-F 8am-5pm, Saturdays 7-4pm or 3-close

Sam Goody

M, W, F 6-close 

Nordstrom:

Tue & Thursday 6pm- close Saturday 8-5pm or 3-close

I was racking in bucks AND store discounts.  You’d think my wardrobe would have been fly, but it wasn’t, at the time, I was more concerned with accessories (imagine that) and music, so I was taking full advantage of my 35% discount at Sam Goody. 

Things were going great, I was at my last week of Nordstrom’s, when the hiring manager approached me for a permanent position at Nordstrom.  I would be a floater (again), but ultimately, I wanted to be placed in Savvy.  If you know Nordstrom, you know Savvy.   

Anyhow, I had to decide if I wanted to have the Bon or Nordstrom because it was a conflict of interest for me to work at both places full time (their words, not mine—I would have figured out how to work both).   One thing you’ll learn about me is that I am loyal, and another thing you all are witnessing as I grow, is that clearly I’m a very hard worker who is dependable, I value customer service, I’m neat and I learn very fast.  All qualities that Nordstrom saw in me and wanted me to stay 

Here is a little secret, this should have been the entry into my dream job.  When I was a senior in high school (before working at Larry’s), I had aspirations of working at Nordstrom’s and working my way up to become a buyer.  Hello.  Talk about “haute” career!  So, to have Nordstrom in front of me presenting me with this option to work for them, was fantastic.  However, two things stopped me.   

1) My loyalty to Bon.  The Bon continued to look out after me with jobs in Yakima, transferred to Seattle and here I was back in Spokane.  In addition, my insurance had kicked in with the Bon, and knowing that I have sickle cell anemia, medical insurance is crucial to me.   

2)  I couldn’t help but think that I was suppose to be a MODEL FOR NORDSTROM’s not working behind their counters.  Therefore, I got depressed at that thought and declined the offer. 

So, I am working two jobs, The Bon and Sam Goody.  I rode Sam Goody out until it was time for me to start classes at EWU, but I held on to the job at the Bon. 

The Bon was great, I learned a lot about inventory, marketing, customer service, the difference in quality between major name brand products.  The Bon taught me a lot about retail industry and carried me through my first semester of college.  However, what the Bon did not do in all the time, dedication and loyalty…. PROMOTE ME.  I kept asking about promotions, you know, upward mobility in my "career" which they did not offer me, yet pacified me with pay raises.  Not big pay, but if I was making $9.25, now I was making $9.45/hr.  However, I wanted to be a manger, an associate manager, something, and it seemed that they “overlooked” the lone black girl in accessories.  I’m not trying to pull the race card, but I’m pulling the race card.  It is Spokane for crying out loud. I believe this is my first known brush with affirmative action, and I was not happy!  No Justice, No Peace!  Aww, eff it, I'm not about to fight the battle, just gimme a check <---- that's what's wrong with black folks now. Glad I grew out of that! 

I rode the Bon out, until I got wind, that Spokane was revitalizing downtown, and was opening a new Gap store Summer of 99.  Guess who was first in line to fill out their application, and who was hired to be apart of their opening team…. yep, thats right, ME!!!!!

Up next…Fall into The Gap!