dueto

The very first job I applied for when I moved to NYC was for a receptionist position at a fancy hair salon on the Upper East Side of Manhattan called, Dueto. I thought the interview went pretty well and was following up every few days to see if they had made an offer for the job. After about 3 or 4 follow up calls, I gave up and assumed that they hired someone else. I then got the gig at Crema Lita and worked there for about a month.

Then, one day, I received a phone call from the salon asking me to come in for a second interview. I jumped at the chance as this position was paying more than what I was making serving soft serve. I went back for the second interview and the owner of the salon got right down to business. He asked if he could be honest with me (which I assured was my preference over the alternative) and told me that he hired someone else but it didn't work out. He said he knew I was smart enough for the job but didn't hire me because of the way that I looked.

Now, before you start judging him - allow me to provide you with a mental picture of young Megan in NYC. At 19, I never really wore make up, had just started understanding the need for plucking eyebrows, had super long frizzy hair which I had self-dyed with blond highlights and did not apply any sort of style to and admittedly, was not a very good dresser.

He said I have a proposition for you. He said: If you let my team and I do something with your hair, show you how to apply a bit of make up and take you shopping, I would like to offer you the position. I immediately agreed and said they could do whatever they wanted to me.

I provided Crema Lita with 2 weeks notice and then spent every free moment I had during those next two weeks at the salon. They cut off half my hair, removed the blond highlights, added some auburn streaks and began to teach me how I could blow dry my hair to make it look stylish. They sent me out with a stylist to go shopping in the Village and we only purchased black and white fashionable clothing.

I remember my first day of work, I woke up extra early and tried to do my own hair, apply make up and pick out a nice outfit. I got to work and they looked me over and told me to go wash my face and put my hair in the sink. They were going to re-do everything but, at least my outfit looked nice. From there, they told me to just come into work an hour early and I would get my hair and make up done by one of the stylists. So for the next year and half, I did not wash my own hair and was fortunate enough to enjoy free hair cuts/color and styling.

Although this story sounds like a chapter out of "Devil Wears Prada", I really loved working here and I feel as if I was meant to work here as it was an important step in my adaptation to living in NYC. I quickly became friendly with everyone that worked there and they adopted me into their family. The owner, Julio, in particular, was so nice to me and I was so blessed to have met him and worked for him when I did.

I worked here until one day, a client at the salon offered me my next job. Stay tuned for the next Previous Jobs post.

crema lita

About a week after moving to NYC, this was August 2003, I found a job selling NYC opera tickets. I did that for 4 days and then I got hired to work at an ice cream store called Crema Lita.

It was a kosher soft serve ice cream store. We were located on 3rd avenue and 10th Street in the East Village in a great location. We were close to a restaurants, a movie theater and a nightclub called Webster Hall. I usually worked nights and served up ice cream to customers, made ice cream and kept the store relatively clean. If I got out at a reasonable hour, I could easily get some food, catch a movie or go dancing.

I worked here for a month. I had to wear a weird hat and learn how to dispense soft serve ice cream properly. Easier said than done, people. It took me forever to learn how to make a soft serve ice cream cone - I always encouraged the cup and dreaded having to make a cone that I knew would come out lopsided. Oh well, I did my best and still managed to score some decent tips.

Despite my mediocre ice cream serving skills, I did win the award for giving out 1,000 free ice cream samples in 3 weeks! I got a $25 gift card to I forget where. It is very difficult to get New Yorkers to take free samples. They are in a hurry, they don't want to take anything from strangers (especially food) and they are skeptical that it really is free. I had an uncanny ability to get rid of my samples before they melted. Not sure exactly what that particular skill set is, but it served me well then.

I left this job as soon as I was offered a job as a receptionist at a hair salon. Stay tuned for that post - this next job literally changed my life.

p.q.l.

After working at The Restart Room, I moved from San Diego back to Los Angeles. I would live in LA for about 2 months to save as much money as I could for my then upcoming relocation to NYC.

Immediately after I moved back in with my parents, I decided to look for my next job the old fashioned way, through the Los Angeles Times classifieds. I found an ad for a job as a purchasing assistant for a lighting company called PQL, Premuim Quality Lighting. It paid a great hourly wage (if I recall correctly, it was $11.00/hour) and seemed like a great way for me to get some office experience on my resume. I thought I had a decent chance of getting the job; my main concern was that I would only be there for 2 months - would someone want to hire me and invest the time in training me knowing that I would only be there for a short time?

I donned my best interview clothes and drove to the office for my interview. The interview was going great and as it neared to its natural conclusion, I spoke up and told them of my plans for moving to NYC and that I was only looking for a job for 2 months. I wasn't sure what reaction I expected but I was surprised when he thanked me for my honesty and said despite the fact that I would leave in 2 months, he enjoyed our discussion and said he would be in touch.

Soon after, they called with an offer for the job which I readily accepted. P.Q.L. was a great company to work for, everyone was super friendly and hard working and my boss, Sandy was a great manager who was willing to give me a chance.

I remember him calling me into his office on my last day there, August 14th, 2003, where he pointed to the news on the TV in his office showing a blacked-out NYC. I remember him so clearly, saying "So, you moving to NYC tomorrow?" and pointing to the TV. I remember thinking that nothing was going to stop me, I was going to NYC, even if all the lights were out.

I will always remember this job even though I was only there 8 weeks. Mostly because it was a company made of up good, honest people willing to give someone like me a chance. I hope that one day I can return this favor to an ambitious young person who just needs someone to give them a break.

the restart room

After working at CUTCO, selling the world's finest set of cutlery, I found a telemarketing job at a place called The Restart Room. The office was really close to my apartment and San Diego State University, the college I was attending at that time. Although I was not thrilled at the prospect of telemarketing, I had a really flexible schedule and had the opportunity to pull in a decent hourly wage if I could hit my bonus.

The job itself was pretty brainless. I called past newspaper subscribers from all over the country and tried to get them to renew their subscriptions. We wore head sets and read scripts off computer monitors. If we could renew 3 subscriptions per hour, we would bonus. The sales manager kept track of everyone's sales on a big white board in the center of the office with our initials and hash marks.

The people that worked there was the most interesting part of the job. Most of the people that worked there did not want to be face to face with the public for whatever reason. You had the very overweight man with thick glasses who was the funniest and nicest person you would ever meet, the OCD Puerto Rican who always made the most sales and perfected the art of gloating and my favorite friend Manny, who was in a wheel chair but was one of the happiest people I have had the pleasure of knowing. He made working fun, we usually sat next to each other and we would play cards, Scrabble and even Monopoly to pass the time. I remember he used to bring in homemade ceviche, it was so delicious! When I wasn't playing games, I was studying and doing homework.

Granted, I don't want to go back to telemarketing but I did enjoy my time at The Restart Room. I left after my first year of college when I moved back to Los Angeles for a short time before my highly anticipated move to New York City.

cutco

After abruptly quitting Blockbuster Video, I got a job as a Sales Representative with Vector Marketing to sell The World's Finest Cutlery, CUTCO. This was immediately after I graduated high school in the summer of 2002.

After the group interview, they offered everyone that showed up a job if they could buy a starter kit that they would use when they conducted their in-home sales demonstrations. The starter kit, they said, was a great value because not only were you buying a set of the world's finest knives but this was an investment in your future!

I immediately purchased the starter kit and then completed the 3 day intensive training program that was comprised of memorization, brain washing and role playing. At first, they basically have you take advantage of your family and friends. You have to build your own client base so they have you set appointments with everyone you know. So, my parents bought a few knives, and my grandparents bought a small set and my next door neighbor bought a bunch of stuff from me.

From there, you have to ask everyone you meet with to provide you a list of their family and friends so you can call them up and set appointments with them. After a while of visiting everyone you know, you will begin to start meeting with strangers who are friends of friends of friends. At first, my mom was not happy about my spending so much of time in strangers homes but I quickly reminded her that I had a bag of knives with me - what could possibly go wrong that I couldn't defend myself against?

Luckily, their brainwashing was quite effective as I truly believed, and still kinda do, that I was selling the best knives on the market. I did well for myself and sold over $10,000 in cutlery in about 10 weeks.

After the summer was over, I moved to San Diego to attend San Diego State University. After spending 2 and 1/2 months building a client base in Los Angeles, I now had to start over in San Diego if I was going to continue down this path. I did have a few relatives and friends in the area so I gave it the old college try. I lasted about 2 months before I realized that I would not be able to build up my business while attending school full time. And, the branch manager at the Vector Marketing office in San Diego was very different from the manager I had in LA. He wanted me to attend all these team meetings which I could not attend because I had class and after one particularly distressing confrontation and a few weeks of sliding my orders under the door (so I could avoid him) after office hours, I decided it was time to move on.

Though my time selling CUTCO was short, I am so grateful for the experience. I learned basic sales skills & important lessons including (1) "No" doesn't mean "No" unless they say it at least 5 times (2) Don't be afraid to ask for anything because you'll be surprised how often you get what you ask for and (3) Don't underestimate the power of cutting a penny with a pair of Super Shears to close a deal.

blockbuster video

My recap of previous jobs continues with my second job at Blockbuster Video. Here I learned the importance of honesty, efficiency and how to quit a job you never want back.

Honesty: I told people if they were about to rent a bad movie and gave them a chance to go get a better one. More people appreciated it than resented it and it always sparked interesting conversation.

Efficiency: My most obvious demonstration of efficiency was my ability to stack 25+ video tapes at a time, holding them with one hand against my body so I could put them back on the shelf. They always had me run movies since I could do it so quickly.

Quitting: I worked at Blockbuster for a year and half and was even promoted to Shift Leader, which included a 75 cent per hour raise. I was about a month away from graduating from high school when I received a letter in the mail from a company called Vector Marketing. I thought this letter, which was definitely a form letter that went out to all graduating high school seniors, was drafted especially for me and I was immediately intrigued about the job opportunity. After going on a very interesting group interview (with about 15 other people in the room), I impulsively committed to become a sales rep for CUTCO cutlery. It required a small investment to purchase a pack of knives that you would use to actually sell. As a budding business major, I reminded myself that you have to spend money to make money and my decision was made.

As I was driving home from this interview, I called my store manager and quit by leaving a voice mail that I was never coming back and I did not show up for my shift the next day. I shouldn't say that I was proud to leave a job like that, but I was.

Stay tuned for the next post about my employment history.

hollywood video

It is important to reflect on past events, understand how those events may have shaped your future and maximize on the lessons learned from those experiences. Therefore, I am going to recap every job I have had so far since I started working at 15 years old.

My first job was at Hollywood Video. I rented out video tapes (remember those?) and DVDs, put movies people returned back on shelves and restocked the candy display once in a while.

This was the first job I ever interviewed for and I was lucky enough to get the job offer, which I readily accepted! I had to get a work permit from school and have my mom drop me off for the first several months since I couldn't drive on my own yet. I worked 4 hour shifts and was proud to don my Hollywood Video polo shirt and khaki-like pants.

During my interview, I described my previous film directing experience and the fact that I was, at the time, making my way through watching every movie on AFI's 100 years...100 movies list as reasons why I would be a good fit for the job. In my mind, this made me extremely qualified to work in a video store and the store manager, Robert, happened to agree. In case you were wondering, no I did not watch every single movie on the list, but I did see most of them.

This experience taught me that a great first impression can be more powerful than previous work experience. I'm pretty sure I got hired because Robert and I hit it off right away and because at 15, I was already introducing myself as an accomplished film director. I think he appreciated my gregarious nature and film zeal.

Are you wondering what my second job was? It will be revealed in a future post.

Anyone out there ever work for a video store?