Employment Rollercoaster

I debate on where to start on this story. Should I start by telling you about my new job? Or maybe I should start back when I was given a raise at my old job. Maybe I should start where it all went badly. Well I guess I will start where it all started...My first day of work at my old job.

I swore I would never work at a retirement home again after I quit the one in Oregon. In fact I said I would never work in the food industry again because it was so terrible.
I came to Oklahoma with $2500, but by February that money was gone, and I knew I needed to get a job. I was scared when I discovered not even Walmart was hiring. I put in several applications and heard nothing back from anything.

Then one day I vented to a friend, my concerns that it may be a long while before I find a job, and that I had no money left. That was when she told me her work was always hiring. She asked if I wanted her to bring me an application, and I said overly excited...Yes!
It wasn't until after that, that I thought to actually ask where she works. To my dismay she replied, "Food service in a retirement home." I could not believe it, after I swore never again....the first and only place I got a call for an interview at, was the same exact job I had said I would never go back to.
I was hired on the spot, and paid well above Oklahoma minimum wage, so I told myself to toughen up and do it.

My first week of work, a man who washed dishes there, approached and asked me if we could go out some time. I told him not now, because I did not even know him. He asked me to ask around about him, and then give him an answer(he had to come back later to ask me my name). What I found out about him was concerning to say the least.

I told him he was not the kind of guy I was interested in having a relationship with. He answered me, "I wasn't looking for a relationship. I just wanted to f*** you now and then."

I started to be alarmed as to what kind of people worked at my new job after that. But before I had much time to figure it out...I was headed off for a month in Africa.

I returned to America and returned to work at the retirement home, full of bliss and rejuvenation, but with in a month things started to go badly again at work.

Two more times men asked me if we could sleep together. I got woo's in hallways, and was uncomfortable being alone anywhere, because some guy would come and say inappropriate things.

Then on the first of August, the head manager called me into his office. He told me I was one of the best staff, and in my few months of employment I had surpassed many who had been there much longer. That day he gave me a pay raise.

3 days later a fourth male worker grabbed me and made gestures. Again I made a complaint about it, but this time I also told the management I was fed up and was done working in a place where I was constantly afraid of being touched or talked to in sexual manners. I told them I was quitting.

During this time, I was in summer school, and had an incredible roommate, named Joy. Joy and I had many great late night conversations, and I had told her all the frustrations I had at work. Before I had quit, she told me she had a friend who had just become a social worker, and Joy said she would ask them about any recommendations of where I might be able to get a job at.

Joy cheered for me when I finally told them I was fed up and quit. That same day she got back to me with four organizations names, from her friend, that I might be able to get a job at.

I looked up all four websites, and none had openings for people with less than a bachelor's degree. I was disappointed. After that, I figured the first thing I needed to do was work on my resume. I joined a website that helped make resumes.
I groaned when I opened my email and discovered I had made it on to their mailing list. They sent me 10 emails in one day of bunches of job openings in other states, or that did not apply to me at all.
But then the next morning I woke up and opened my email(yes, I was still laying in bed). Again they had emailed me, but this time it was with the name of one of the 4 organizations Joy had told me about.
I sat up and squealed when I read the job description and requirements. It fit me and my interests perfectly!
I applied for the job right then.
A week later I got a call for an interview, interviewed that week, and had an email by the time I got home, with a job offer.
It is a full time, weekend job, working with abused and traumatized children.
I felt just getting the job was a cool story, but it's long...so I will save another entry for telling you about the actual job......it's super awesome.