Before I was a librarian...

Before I was a librarian, I worked in retail.  When I was in college, I worked the Christmas season at a bookstore which also had kiosks for different things.  The first year was calendars and Successories and the second year was calendars and pet products, like a mini-PetSmart.  So I either worked at the book store or one of the kiosks.  Mostly the second year I was in charge of the calendar store and that was fun because it was actually in a store and not in the middle of the mall so it was like I had my own little store and calendars are easy to sell and to keep straight.  Then, my last summer of college, I got a job working at Godiva in the mall and I loved that job.  My co-workers were all really cool and it was a fun job and, hey, Godiva chocolate.

Then I graduated with my undergrad in Psychology and had a hard time finding a job where I could use my degree.  I had moved to Baton Rouge where my boyfriend was finishing his degree at LSU and ended up at the mall there working at Godiva again.  But it turned out only to be a Christmas seasonal job because I had waited too long to get  back in and the last full time job she had was given to someone else.  So, on one of my last days, I ran down to Gymboree and filled out an application there and was hired.  And there I learned to fold tiny little clothes and sell to distracted moms.

But I needed to make more money and I was only part time.  A shoe store opened next door to Gymboree and I applied there and was hired.  I worked at both for a while but began to dislike the manager at Gymboree where I wasn't getting enough hours anyway.  So I quit that one after getting a job at the San Fransisco Music Box Co. for another seasonal job.  I liked that job well enough and the manager was my age and very nice and they had some pretty things in there.  But, eventually, I was offered a full time position at the shoe store but only if I quit my other job to be available all the time.  Of course I did.  But within about 3 or 4 months, we found out that the company was closing all of its stores so I would be losing that job.

I then applied for a job at Louisiana Public Broadcasting (the PBS station of Louisiana), in the Friends of LPB section, the fundraisers, as Member Services Representation.  That was my first office job with an office of my own and it was awesome.  It was an entry level job but we did a lot with the telethons and I made friends with my supervisor.  It was a very nice job.

All through this I had been trying to get into grad school for Psychology but I wasn't having any luck.  My research background was shaky at best and that is a big deal in psychology.  So I went back to an old idea of mine to become a librarian.  LSU happened to have a library school and I could walk to the campus from our apartment.  I applied and was accepted and had to quit LPB because they wouldn't make my job part-time (they later did, grrrr).  But that was fine because I got an graduate assistantship in the circulation department at LSU and that was the best thing for my career.