… or is that a blog prompt.  Either way here’s my goods from Monday … and as you’ll see it’s a nice segue into Tuesday too.

What was the worst job you ever had?

This is difficult because I was always able to find some redeemable quality in every job I ever had.  So every time I start to think about the “worst” job, I remember something good too and then mark it off my list.  And I’ve done a lot of different jobs in my time too.

I began my working career as a babysitter.  I was in fairly hot demand in my hometown and if I remember correctly topped out at the whopping high cost of $.75 per hour back in 1979 when I graduated from high school.  Hey … I paid for my class ring and most of my clothes with that salary.  During the summer I was also an assistant swimming instructor and part-time life guard.  I was the go-to gal when the little kids were scared to put their face in the water.  I could always get them comfortable and feeling good enough to put their little faces in, blow bubbles and jump in off the dock by the end of the session.  Cause I’m a cheerleader for tots … or something.  But I really, really liked that job.

During college part of my financial aid package involved being on the work-study program, so I got assigned some sort of interesting jobs there.  My first year I was an assistant in the chem lab.  This meant I got to work in the shop where they mixed up all the stuff for the experiments each week.  That was a blast.  I loved that job.  It totally satisfied my inner nerd.  But by the next year it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t going to pursue a science degree so the job had to go to an actual nerd and I was assigned a job in the school snack shop.  There I learned to waitress, work the counter and be a short order chef (and make a mean tuna melt too).  I worked there for my sophomore and senior years.  I didn’t work my junior year because I was away from my main campus on a special study program.

After college I had a bunch of different (mainly secretarial) jobs in a variety of institutions here in the DC area.  I worked from 1983 to 1994 when LightGirl was born.  After she was born my job was to take care of her and then LightBoy and lose my mind.  I have been extremely successful at losing my mind; my relative success at raising children may or may not be seen until after my death.  During some of the time I was working, I was also going to graduate school at George Mason University in pursuit of a Masters in secondary education.  I thought it might be a good idea to be a teacher.  That never quite worked out for a variety of reasons, but while I was doing that I worked as a temporary office worker.  It was then that I had what would be my worst job ever.

Oh.  It didn’t start out that way.  It started out sort of fun and light-hearted.  And as a redemptive quality, I met one of my oldest and dearest friends at this job.  We were tight.  We still keep in touch.  We had a lot of fun together, laughing, talking, working.  We worked for an auctioneer.  It was a small business owned by two brothers who auctioned oriental carpets (persian rugs) on the weekends.  At first it seemed really innocuous.  My friend and I were in charge of setting up the auctions around the country; usually two or three per weekend.  We had to run ads in the local papers.  Ads for the auction and ads to hire local labor.  We had to set up hotels, auction venues, etc.  It didn’t seem like it was terrible.  But then we went to one.  And it wasn’t terrible, but it was really on the dishonest side.    By that time, I’d worked there long enough that I rationalized the dishonesty even though it made me feel very dirty.  LightHusband and I needed the money as we were very nearly broke because of some medical bills and I was still trying to get a job teaching.  However, the day came that one of the brothers asked me to sign letters of appraisal verifying the value of the rugs they had sold one particular weekend.  He gave me a title which indicated that I had knowledge of persian rugs that I did not and do not have.  I wish I could say that I quit on the spot.  I didn’t.  I was entirely too shocked and dismayed.  I signed approximately five letters and went home.  Talked to LightHusband about the situation and quit the next day.  There’s a lot I’ll put up with … grumpy bosses who pull rank and my vacation time (because they want to go to the beach with their boyfriend), customers who swear at me on the phone, c0-workers who are jerks, bosses who’ve fired me 3 hours after telling me they’re renewing my contract (and two weeks after having a mis-carriage), etc.  But I won’t ever, not not ever, engage in fraud.

Which leads me to today’s question/prompt:

Do you think it’s ever permissible to cheat?

No.

I just hope that speeding is not counted as cheating.  Because then I would be in big trouble.