It is common today to meet people online today, but in 1998 it was a crazy new way.... trust me, everyone that found out told us..... It was the luckiest day of my life! The next year we decided we were meant to be, and agreed we would both look for a job in the other person's hometown. The first to get a job would move.... Yeah, I'm an idiot. Tonya never looked for a job, but she sent my resume off every single day......
I was getting 8 to 10 calls a week wanting to interview me for jobs. Which brings me to today's story, because some of those jobs are just begging to stories. So \grab a cup of coffee and let me share a few of the places I interviewed at:
Cow hides. I went on an interview that was just a few blocks north of the St. Louis Arch. It was in an old brick building, 4 or 5 stories tall and build in the 1800's. The building was packed completely full of cow hides. Yeah, you heard that right, cow hides were neatly inventoried and stored in the building. Then workers would fill orders based on size and color for hides, sending them all over the world to become leather goods.
Explosives factory: There is an explosives factory in the area located at the bottom of an abandoned rock quarry. The production area is about the size of a high school gym, with another warehouse about the same size nearby. I remember driving to the bottom of the quarry and seeing a yellow line that stretched as far as you could see around the quarry. During my interview they explained the yellow line was 1/2 mile from the plant. It was there in case of an explosion..... the engineers believed to survive a blast you would have to be at least to the yellow line....... uh, hard pass. Bad neighborhoods not problem, things that go boom....that is where I draw the line.
Fish factory. Factory isn't the right word, maybe it was more of a warehouse. I was a building that was freezing cold, with fish stacked on the ground in piles. Honestly I didn't know that many different kinds of fish were sold, it was amazing. The place had a smell that I can only compare to college....it wouldn't be polite to mention any names.
Prairie farms. I don't think any place has ever insulted my intelligence more than good ole Prairie Farms. They offered a split week, 3 days on, then 2 days off, then work your last 2 days. That is how the described it...... the truth is you worked Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday and Tuesday with your off days being Wednesday and Thursday. I wonder how many people fell for that line......
I ended up taking a job in a Direct Mail facility. It turned out to be one of my favorite jobs of all time. The pay wasn't great, but the people were awesome. It was a family owned business and a great environment, then the place sold....and it turned into a corporate hell hole. If you have known me for a while, like over 30 years you probably know there was a girl before my wife. What are the odds, that I move a couple of hours away, to a city/county with over a million people, take a job at a place that employed 100, maybe a 150 people.... and one of them was related to my ex...... If you were making up stories no one would believe that was possible. But she a very cool lady and from what I know a great person, she was at the very least better than getting blown up!
Where is the craziest place you have ever worked or interviewed at? Let me know.
