My History In Employment, Part 2

2000: Deaf Dog Coffee
After New York, I stayed with my friend Anna in Petaluma, and got a job at Deaf Dog Coffee House, run by an old friend of my mom's. I mostly worked in their warehouse, grinding coffee and sorting t-shirts, shit like that, and occasionally helping with deliveries. And then, a couple days a week, I did janitorial work, cleaning up one of the stores when they closed. The job was ok, I didn't really like it or dislike it, and it was nice to be making some money.

My life at the time was pretty good. I liked Petaluma a lot. It's a small town, so I knew pretty much everyone, and was friends with a lot of people, and there were four people in particular I was really close with, all four of whom I have predictably lost contact with. I also spent a good deal of time in Santa Rosa, where I discovered Tetris on Nintendo (I had previously only played it on GameBoy), which is most definitely a hallmark event in my life. This period in time is one I wouldn't say I'm especially nostalgic of, but certain aspects of it were great and remarkably perfect for who I was back then, and I do miss some of the people. I was there only five weeks, but again, it felt like so much longer, in part because I felt so much like I belonged there, and also partly because I continued to visit all the time when I was in Santa Cruz.

2000: Student Records
While at Santa Cruz, I got a job at the Kresge offices, in Student Records. This is where everyone from Kresge's records were kept, and I had to keep them organized and alphabetized, and pull them out for people if they ever needed to look at theirs. I also did some other general organization of the space, and made copies and shit. My boss was sort of bitchy, and always seemed kind of unsatisfied with me (this turned out to be very true), but other than that, it was good. I'm obsessive about alphabetization, anyway, so it played to my strengths. I worked 2-3 days a week, and since the alphabet was apparently not a strength of anyone else who worked there, there was always tons for me to straighten out. After a few weeks, I was fired because I wasn't "personable" enough. All I had to do was hand people their fucking records, but apparently I was supposed to do it with a smile and conversation. Whatever.