Go to Work History
Þ In the last twenty years, I have been very fortunate. I have always tried to excel at what I was doing and was rewarded for my hard work. Even though I started working at Kresges, a small retail store that was owned by K-Marts, as a stockman sweeping and mopping floors, by the time I left I was one of the floor supervisors, having passed up many of the people who I started working with. Once McCrory's took over, I skyrocketed up the ladder. During my first two years, I functioned as a store remodeler, traveling around Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana opening new stores and fixing existing stores. In some ways, it was kind of cool because we stayed in hotels and got a generous meal allowance. The work was hard and we would normally put in 12 hour days everyday. The primary reason I didn't like it because I was smitten with a female who lived in Detroit and I hated to leave her. Finally, I got off the road and was placed as an Assistance Manager at the store I first started working at! I now had to be in an authoritative position over some of my good friends. In October 1990, I got what I considered at the time to be great news: I was being promoted to managing my own store! This was a goal I had for four years! I became the youngest and only black manager in the metropolitan Detroit area! So how come I left to go into the Air Force a mere six months later? It wasn't because of my employees. My store was located in the city of Wayne. There were seven other employees, all female and most of them at least 20 years older than I was. I eventually hired a guy to help me out. I did everything in the store, from stocking the shelves to ringing up customers to ordering merchandise to making the schedule. Even though the store was closed on Sunday's, I would come in to work, listening to the Detroit Lions on the radio. I knew the store would only be temporary and I would move on to bigger challenges but there was an object in my way: my district manager. His name was Tom, last name was something like Mascerrailo. His only mission in life was to ruin my life. He would always talk down to me. I would go home feeling down everyday. I realized that I needed a major change and I wanted to go back to school.
Þ I always had a notion to into the Air Force, so I called a recruiter. The next thing you know, in April I was headed to basic training! I wanted to become a surgical technician. I was very lucky in that the job turned out not to be that bad: radar scope operator. I got the chance to travel and meet some good people. So why did I get out after nine years, just on the edge of being half-way to retirement? Because I was no longer happy with the situations and people I had to work with and I had not being going to school as I envisioned, I decided not reenlist.
Þ Suddenly, I heard about a new civilian job opening that taught scope operations in Arizona. I applied and got an offer. I started my new career on 29 February 2000. I have received recognition from my peers and students. I also started school around my work schedule. I earned a promotion. Unfortunately, after 15 years and 2 contract changes, I was not offered to a follow-on position with the next company that won the contract.
Þ Immediately, I secured a position as an agent with Aflac. The training was good and my district manager was nice, but I didn't achieve success and spent a lot of time on the road without results. After several months, I ended my relationship with Aflac.
Þ Currently, I am the Training Supervisor for McKesson/CoverMyMeds. I work with good people and it's going great.