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I've been in the workplace now going on 20+ years and let me
tell ya, it's been a journey.

At 16, I landed my first job. I was so excited. It was at a local
clothing store (perfect for a close horse like myself)and I got the job a few days
after having my interview. My boss' name was Vickie. The job wasn't

hard, I just had to check in customers at the fitting room and I was really
gung-ho about getting right to it.

I guess I didn't expect that jobs sometimes have "bad people" with even
worse attitudes and on my first night, Vickie got on my case because
she didn't think I had enough hustle and her assistant wasn't very
friendly.

That really hurt my feelings...and I just couldn't seem to shake the
bad feeling I had developed all of a sudden about the job.

Quitting never entered my mind, and I really was tired of asking my mother for money. It was a hip thing to be a teenager with your own job; so, I gave it my all for another two weeks. However, things just didn't improve and I made the decision
to give it up.

I told Vickie that the job was affecting my grades (I lied) and I
couldn't work there any longer. She just looked at me-she seemed shocked, but I really didn't care how she felt. Could she really have taken my honesty if I had
told her the truth? What I was thinking as I was talking to her was: "I
thought that she and her staff were bitches and I didn't appreciate
being treated so rudely on my first night, so take that!"

After my last night, I signed some papers and walked out of that place
and didn't look back.

There were more jobs to come, but my worst experience was with a bank.
It was a growing bank and I landed that job at 21. It was 1988.

People often talk about paying attention to signs, well...after I
interviewed and got the job offer, that same week, I was cooking dinner and I had left a frying pan filled with hot grease on too long. After smelling smoke, I went into the kitchen and the smoke was everywhere. I grabbed the pot-not
thinking...I threw the pan in some old dish water, but didn't realize that the
chemicals and the hot grease would cause a blow flame. I got hit in the
face, right on the side...and my right hand was badly burned. The pain
I felt was excruciating, but what was worse, I didn't go to emergency at a hospital
because I didn't have any health insurance and at that young age, money
was too tight to mention. So, I called the bank

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