GAINFULLY EMPLOYED!

This past year I entered the job force again. I will admit it was a humbling experience applying for jobs and realizing I might have to take something I felt completely overqualified and way too smart for. I don’t think I’m really a first impression kind of gal. I think you need to get to know me to love me. It might be the way my voice changes into a 4-year-old's voice the minute I walk into a job interview, or possibly the fact that I begin shrugging my shoulders uncontrollably with each sentence I utter. Then again, it just might be the annoying laugh that bubbles forth at everything the interviewer says. I don’t normally suffer from these undesirable ticks in my everyday life, just when I’m trying hard to make a good first impression. Brittany says it's my Walmart wardrobe, but I disagree. I feel certain that just shouts 'thrifty and resourceful!

Despite the trauma of my job search, I was eventually able to land a good job, with good benefits, which I quite enjoy to boot. I work for the county Prosecutor’s office in the child support division. Basically, I spend my days attempting to squeeze money out of dead-beat parents in a variety of ways. I could make it sound more glamorous if I tried, but it's not, nevertheless, it’s more than moderately satisfying. In our quest to better serve the needy children of Warrick County, our office recently attended the Indiana Child Support Conference. I learned many things, one of which is that, as a whole, child support workers are a rather dowdy and somewhat cranky group. This of course does not include the festive foursome who partook a bit too freely at the open bar and ran up and down the lobby halls laughing and screaming until security escorted them back to their rooms. Fortunately it was only about 9:30pm, so it didn’t wake me up, it just disturbed my pre-bedtime nap a little bit. They ran us at a pretty grueling pace… seminars starting at 9:15am running straight through to 3:30pm, with only a 2-1/2 hour break to dash out for lunch. Whew! I was exhausted let me tell you. The highlight of the conference was discovering there was a Trader Joe's pretty close to the hotel, which enabled me to spend the gift card I had been carrying in my wallet for the past year.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with my job. Unlike my short stint in the mail room of a large corporate office, which made me want to stab myself in the temple with a fork, I like what I'm doing, genuinely enjoy the people I work with, and feel pleasantly valued and appreciated. I don't believe you can ask for too much more than that in a job.