The strangest thing for me is that I've worked since I was 16. Like straight through. I mean, I had vacations, but never any break from job to job. Hallmark from 1994 through 2000 (full time during the summers of my college years). I also worked at the library and newspaper at my college. During my one year of volunteer service in Phoenix following college graduation, I worked a full-time 40-week job at a nonprofit, but never got paid (hence it being volunteer). My volunteer placement hired me immediately following that commitment, then I worked at a technical school as a graduate placement advisor, then back to the nonprofit (because I COULD NOT STAND MY JOB AT THE SCHOOL ... yes, I was screaming there. That was the worst job ever. Imagine Office Space. Only worse). Anyways, on September 17, 2002, I began working as a medical/business writer. And for nearly eight years, I held that job.
Me covering my first conference
I knew my company was doing poorly. It's been that way for 2 years. So whenever someone asked how my job was, my response was, "eh, it's still there. I'm sure the company will close at some point." I was secretly hoping that "point" would be right before we left for the AT ... Nevertheless, every time we had a company meeting, I would inevitably take a deep breath and wonder if this was it. So when BossLady e-mailed me on Thursday at 3ish and asked if she could call me at 4, my heart sunk a little. I knew I was doomed when I picked up the phone and it was BossLady, along with the owner of the company. Two out of the six writers & editors on our team were laid off and one was moved to part time.