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Working it Out - Part 1

As I was lying in bed last night I couldn’t stop my mind racing with thoughts of what I was going to be doing for work in the new year. Money and time have been getting tight these last 2 months and my professional future is definitely on my mind. I am currently home in Chicago for 2 weeks but have been doing temp. work in Dublin since the beginning of October. I am, once again, holding out to find something I am truly passionate about. But, I’ve been telling myself this for years now and I always seem to settle on a job that will make me good money for the time being so that I can go travel and enjoy a bit of adventure. For some inspiration and deep-level understanding, I started to write down all of the jobs that I have done over the years and it turned out to be a pretty eclectic list. I’ve dipped my hands into many professional areas and have worn many hats. Here’s a list of every job I’ve ever done prior to graduating college:

Church Rectory Worker

My first “real” job with a paycheck was with the Archdiocese of Chicago working in my parish rectory. I started when I was 14 years old and followed in the footsteps of my older brother and sister who worked there previously throughout grade school and high school. I would wash the dishes, make coffee, and set up and serve dinner to the priests. It was a great place to work surrounded by extremely nice and caring people. I was able to do my homework and drink as much pop and eat as many leftovers as I wanted which for me at that time was heaven.

Life lessons: How to set a table for dinner. How to make espresso con panna. The benefits of being kind.

Diner Waiter

Soon after I left the rectory I wanted some experience outside of the safe hands of the church and thought working in a diner would be fun. This job was short-lived as I hadn’t anticipated the fast-paced note-taking that comes along with taking multiple breakfast orders. I only lasted about 3 shifts before I called it quits. I’ve realized since then, that at a young age, everything is intimidating and frustrating. If I just learned early on to step back, relax, and take everything as it comes I might have kept that job longer than 3 shifts and learned a little more.

Life lessons: How to take an order. How to make Green River from scratch.

Tool Delivery Boy/Shop Rat

Throughout the college summers and winters, I worked in Franklin Park, Illinois at an electrical contracting company doing shop maintenance and delivering tools all around the Chicagoland area. There was a small group of us college-age non-union shop rats made to do anything and everything that no one else wanted to do. I worked in many warehouses and yards around Chicago and learned many tricks of the trade that I still use today. I remember one day we drove on every major highway in the Chicagoland area going as far North as the Wisconsin border, East as the Jardine Water Purification Plant, South as Blue Island, and West as Rockford.

Life lessons: How to spot-weld. How to get anywhere in Chicago without a map. How to discreetly steal and sell scrap metal.

Brand Consultant Intern

During the summer of 2007, I had an internship at a hip brand consultancy company on the Westside of Chicago in the Garfield Park neighborhood. I helped wherever needed as my role was basically as a gopher. I mainly worked in the model shop, the mock-up department, the printing department, and did data entry. I also went on sandwich and coffee runs which fit the intern stereotype quite well. This company was filled with the nicest people who really made me feel part of the family. When the summer came to end I was given an amazing send-off party at a bar down the street where I used my fake ID to attend.

Life lessons: Work can be meaningful and fun. 3D printing was the future. Never burn bridges.

Furniture Moving

A friend of mine would call me up to do a few cash-in-hand moving jobs randomly with him when I was home from college. I remember one job we did for some guy we picked up about 50 filing cabinets from a storage container and were asked to empty all of the contents into bags. After loading the box truck we had to ride in back with the gate down in the dark to the dump. Once there we were notified that the dump would not take the large amount of sheet metal and we would have to figure something else out. After riding for another 35 minutes in the back of the dark truck, the gate was lifted once more and we were greeted to a large parking lot somewhere on the Northside of Chicago. We proceeded to dump the filing cabinets in a back corner as quickly as possible and then we were on our way once again no questions asked…

I also used to help move furniture for my dad. But, this was a gesture of love, not abandonment like the other moves I had done. He started a little charity where we would pick up good furniture that people needed to get rid of or wanted to donate to the poor and we would deliver it directly to families we knew in need. At the time I didn’t realize how special this time with my dad was and how amazing he was for putting something like this together. I was often awakened by him at around 6:30 am on Saturdays after having been out until 4 am on a bender to go lift heavy loads for the next 8 hours. I hated those days as a young man but look back now with fond memories.

Life lessons: The importance of charity. Cherish every moment you have with the ones you love. How to get rid of 50 filing cabinets fast.

Barback at a Big Ten Bar

I stayed one summer at the University of Iowa to take and pass Financial Accounting so I didn’t have to mix it with all of my other business classes during the school year. Well, it was a pretty wild summer and I failed Financial Accounting… But, I did work as a barback at a local bar during that summer and met a bunch of fun and interesting Iowa locals who took me under their wing for a few months. I was staying in our college house that slept 7 so it made for a very lonely summer with none of the roommates around. I worked a few shifts a week and every time I got cut for the night I would stay at the bar and drink all of my money away. I would then sleep through or go late to my class the next day. If I could I would definitely do that summer all over again and just tweak a few things so I could pass that class.

Life lessons: Take advantage of the slow times, you can get a lot done if you really want to. Reflect.

Communications Intern

During the winter before I graduated I worked for a small marketing and PR firm in Ravenswood in Chicago for a month. Hiring me to help out was a favor owed to my dad from his friend. It was a short and cushy job that didn’t require a whole lot of thinking. I did, however, have to visit local businesses in Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood to discuss the local business alliance to business owners. That’s how I discovered that on Halsted Avenue there was a shop called Gay Mart that served the local community for around 20 years. I am an avid people watcher and that is one of the best areas for it.

Life Lessons: Importance of solid client relationships. Hardships of owning your own business.

I went into college with an undecided major, declared Business, and then switched it again so I could study in Rome, Italy my junior year and graduate “on time.” My above professional track record follows a similar path of indecision. I was, and I still am, a person who likes to try it all at least once. As they say, “variety is the spice of life.”

In Part 2 I begin with my first year out of college or as I remember it, “the first semester of real life.”