Once Upon a Time

My first full time job was at a motel. A dive motel. Not unlike the one pictured above. That is not it, but it had a similar look to it. I had recently graduated from high school and moved into my own apartment with a roommate. And I needed a full time job and full time pay to afford my extravagant life style. If you can call driving a 6 year old beige Ford Escort and only having one chair in the living room extravagant. The roommate is another story for another day.

The best part of this job was the hours. It fit perfectly into my circadian rhythm. I was the front desk clerk from 3pm to 11pm. I would sleep until about 11am. Then get up, do some chores or errands and then head to work. After work, I would go out with friends and then go to bed about 2 or 3am.

As the front desk clerk, there wasn't much actual work. I answered the phone, checked new people in and sat around. In other words, it was boring. I read, a lot. There was one night when no one called or came in for over 5 hours. I nearly lost my mind. Especially since I had run out of reading material. There was no TV. There was no computer. Nothing to do. Nothing!

I never had to feel unsafe while working there. It was one of those motels with an apartment behind the lobby that the manager lived in. So I always had someone to call on if anyone was acting strangely. No one ever did. At one point, a U-haul backed into the lobby and we had to move into Room 1. Nothing that exciting ever happened on my shift. The problem with Room 1, was that it was a motel room. And motel rooms are never that bright. And I worked at night and spent all of my time reading. In low light, with the book propped up right in front of my face. And then I needed glasses. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I met Ducky during this particular job. The GameBoy had recently come out and he had one. He loaned it to me to play while at work. I got really good at Tetris. He worked graveyard too, so we got to spend a lot of time together.

I have never been good about packing food. So most of the time I wouldn't manage to pack any dinner. Sometimes it wouldn't matter. But other times, mostly out of boredom, I would call Dominos. They deliver and it is human contact. Unfortunately, it was kind of expensive and I didn't have much extra cash. But I do love a pepperoni pizza.

Bottom line though, this job sucked. The manager was moody. I swear he had PMS, constantly. He managed another motel and if things didn't go well there he would come back and gripe at me. One time he blamed me for something that happened there. Not sure how I managed to be in two places at once. And I was so bored. I am too social for solitary work. So I put in my notice, asked my old boss for my old job back and settled in for two more weeks.

My two weeks went right over Thanksgiving. Way back in May or June I had asked to have it off. I was the first to ask for it off and the only one that didn't get it off. Another reason I gave notice. Then, I asked if I could trade shifts and was told how rude and inconsiderate I was to even ask. This was after I found out the new girl who had worked there a grand total of two weeks was getting the day off and she asked 3 days before Thanksgiving. So I came in and worked my shift. And the next morning I called in and quit. The manager was such a twit that he called me two hours later and told me I didn't need to come in for my shift. Two hours later! After I had already quit.

The hours were the best though. Now I might only sleep until 8 or 9 in the morning. The rest of the world just doesn't work that way. Bummer.