lesson 19: postponing workin' for the man -or- it's hard to decide what you'll be when you grow up

"I didn't know what to take in University after I graduated from high school. I liked lots of stuff but couldn't narrow it down."

"So what did you do?"

"I decided to take some time before I started, try some different things. First, I got this retail job at a toy store."

"That seems appropriate."

"And despite the fact that I had no previous experience in retail, I became the manager after only three months."

"Woah. How did that happen?"

"Everyone who was senior to me got fired. I kind of got promoted out of default."

"So what did you have to do?"

"Oh I had to balance the cashes and reorder stock. Hire staff. The usual stuff."

"Did you like it?"

"I actually did. At least for the first half-year or so. My favorite part, though, was making displays. I remember having this idea for a Lego display which was actually really self serving."

"How so?"

" I love Lego so I made about twenty different space themed sets, which meant that I actually spent hours playing with Lego. And then I made this huge beautiful display with all of these space ships suspended with fishing wire and a black backdrop with Christmas lights poking through as stars. It was fantastic."

"Did you sell more Lego?"

"Um. I'm not sure."

"Oh. Isn't that the point? Of displays?"

"I wasn't very business minded at the time. But the display was incredible. They kept it up for about a year after I left."

"I don't know what to say to that other than it *might* have had to do with the fact that it would take days to take it apart again. When did you finally decide what you're career path would be?"

"Decide? Oh, um, well eventually I went to university for a prolonged period of time while working part time and got a bunch of credentials in different fields. Then started working full time."

"Ah, you're the driven decisive type."

"Absolutely."

"Lego, eh?"

"Yep," she grins happily to herself.

"You are a nerd."

"Hey! That was more than twenty years ago," her face falls and she fidgets in her chair.

Image by Gaetan Lee