I’m the guest professor for the Weekend Assignment again this week, and when I gave Karen this topic suggestion, I already knew what my answer would be:
Extra Credit: What was the shortest time you ever held a job? What happened?
I’ve tended to stick around in jobs, partly because I hate looking for new ones. The shortest time I spent in a job was nine months, working at Wendy’s while I was in college. I stopped working there when I was six months into another job – gestation. It wasn’t the kind of job that I really wanted to keep doing until I went into labor. My shortest post-college job related to my profession was an in-house temp position that I stayed in for a year; it was during my first husband’s last year of graduate school, and I left when he finished his Ph.D. and we moved so that he could start a faculty position. Ironically, there were several “permanent” employees who started working for that employer after I did and left sooner.
If I were still at my favorite job ever, I would be celebrating my eleventh anniversary this week. I began work as Controller of the Memphis Zoo on March 30, 1998, and left in early June of 2002, shortly before my move to Southern California.
The position was a step up the career ladder for me, since I gained the “Controller.” title for the first time. I managed the finance department and supervised payroll, accounts payable, and cash-handling staff, and I developed and implemented policies and procedures. I also worked with managers and staff in our operating departments to try to make the numbers make sense to them, and help them to understand that there were actually reasons for some of our requirements. (Did I ever mention that I’m bilingual? I speak both English and Accounting.) My basic job description hasn’t changed all that much as I’ve retained the Controller’s title with other employers, but I’ve yet to work anywhere that I’ve enjoyed the job as much.
The Zoo may be a place where people go to see and learn about animals, but what made it special was the people who directed it and made things happen there every day. From the board of directors and senior management to the newest associate zookeeper to the gate cashiers, we were all working toward a mission: “building one of the world’s great zoos.” The focus was education and conservation, working cooperatively with other zoos, and meeting and exceeding accreditation standards. During my years there, the Zoo was preparing for some major new exhibit areas; in 2003, it became the fourth U.S. zoo to receive a pair of pandas from China under a breeding loan, and it opened the Northwest Passage expansion a couple of years later. On a day-to-day basis, staff meetings included reports on each of the animal collections – new babies, exhibit changes – and being able to step away from your desk and go watch your favorite animals for a little while was always a welcome break. I loved the environment, and feeling like I was part of something exciting and important. I still miss it, seven years later.
We’ve all heard the expression “this place is a zoo” thrown around to describe an out-of-control situation, but having literally spent four years in one, I don’t think that’s fair to zoos.
Do you have a favorite job – is it in your past, or are you lucky enough to be working at it right now?
And while I’m asking questions…have you taken my little survey yet?
I love the Memphis Zoo!! We lived in Arlington, TN before heading overseas to Okinawa. Good times.
My favorite job was working as a music seller and then corporate accounts rep for one of the flagship Borders stores. White Flint Mall in Rockville, MD. I was there from summer ’97 to summer ’98 and made some of the best friendships I’ve ever had and they are going on twelve years this fall.
Karen (PlanetBooks) – Were you stationed in Millington? I went back to Memphis a couple of years ago and visited the Zoo again. Some of my old co-workers were still there.
Ooh, a bookstore job – I can imagine why you loved that one :-)!
Sounds like working at the zoo would be a dun place to work. Unless you had to feed the lions, that is. 🙂
Mike – The nice thing about the zoo is that no matter how badly your workday was going, someone ALWAYS had a worse job. I was always glad that I wasn’t an elephant keeper :-).
Oh I’d love to work in a zoo, I bet that was fun.
My favourite job was as a bookseller. I worked at two different bookstores over 5 years before I gave it up to raise my kids. I loved being surrounded by books, recommending books, discussing books. I worked with the most interesting people and some great folk came into our store.
Michelle – It was unique, AND fun. And I loved telling people I literally worked in a zoo :-).
I think working in a bookstore is every avid reader’s dream job, but you’ve actually done it!
That sounds like a wonderful job indeed, working in your field and also for a worthwhile organization with something other than profit in mind, and getting to look at animals, too! Marvelous!
You worked at a zoo! How neat! The people you work with and for really do make a difference, don’t they? I’ve seen that in my nearly 12 years with my agency. The positions I liked the most were the ones when I had a good boss. Fortunately, that has made up the majority of my years with the agency. There was only a two year period in there where I was working under someone who I wasn’t too fond of.
I think my favorite job was when I was working in the university library during my undergraduate studies. I worked behind the circulation desk all four years, but the last two, I was a student supervisor–I loved it!
KFB – It’s understandable why I still miss that job, isn’t it?
Wendy (Literary Feline) – A library job is probably as good for a book-lover as working in a bookstore. My sister worked in her library during college too, and she liked it a lot.
It’s very true about who you work with impacting how much you like a job. I like my current job much better with my second boss, but the person who hired me at the Zoo is probably still my favorite.
You’ve worked 12 years at the same place? I’m almost as 6 with my current employer, and that feels like a lot already (some days, anyway).
I’ve had different positions within the agency over the years and so it doesn’t seem like nearly 12 years (it’ll be 12 years officially in June). But yes. Twelve years. The assistant director was roaming the office this past week and was telling my colleagues how I started out as her intern (and if you add that year in–that would make it 13 years with the agency come September). It doesn’t feel like it could have been that long ago.