(22nd Entry) Where to, What next? (Part 3)

When I graduated from college I couldn’t/didn’t find a job. I went on interviews and tried to use contacts to find one. Of course I graduated with a degree in Humanities not exactly a specific skill set. My first part time job ever was while I was a freshman in college. I worked at an indoor gun range and security company as a dispatcher at nights and weekends. My second part time job was working for the campus police department as a “walker” at night in Nacogdoches, TX. Actually both of these jobs gave me some interesting experiences. (Probably not the type that are relevant for the blog.) The thing they had in common is that the reason I got both were because I had friends working at each place.

As I wrote my first two job experiences above I realized something that I had never thought of before. Both jobs were at night. Hum! Interesting! And both have to do with security, radios, talking, etc. As a “walker”, my job was to lock and watch campus buildings and let girls into their dorm when they forgot their card keys from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. Actually this wasn’t a bad job. I eventually got to drive a little pick up instead of walking all night. This actually surprised me that I was allowed to drive a school vehicle. I gave rides to students that needed rides late at night.

Why am I writing this? As I sat in a little room filling out an application for the campus job I heard the police chief’s secretary basically say… How does he think he can do this job? Luckily my friend went to the police chief and the next thing I knew I had a campus job.

There’s a great story that took place a few years later. I had a friend named Lynn who was a quadriplegic. He had a companion dog named Inca. Lynn and I would go to the football stadium at the university to exercise. Lynn would roll around one of the upper decks and I would take Inca to the track at field level to exercise her. One day I get cornered by a University Police Officer. We didn’t know one another. He said, “Your not going to run that dog.” You can probably guess what my answer was… “Yes I am.” I explained that the dog was certified, etc. I might be stubborn, hardheaded, etc., but I realized that this guy was serious… but then again, so was I. I decided to let Inca loose and told her to run to Lynn which she did. Inca was an incredible dog and the last thing I wanted was for her to try protecting me if anything happened.

To make a long story short, I suggested that we go to the police station and call the police chief. He agreed. As soon as we walked in the same secretary said hello and told the police officer that I was the best “walker” that had ever worked there. He had no clue that I knew everyone. The reason that the police showed up is because the coaches thought that the dogs toe nails would hurt the track.

The police chief said that it was somewhat controversial that I was running the dog since it wasn’t mine. His solution was to take Lynn down to the track and let Inca pull him in his wheel chair. This is what we did. The coaches weren’t too happy, but there was absolutely nothing they could do. Inca could pull Lynn in his wheelchair at a 8 minute mile pace. Eventually I think the coaches actually looked forward to us coming.

Next blog… Putting the pieces of this puzzle together, the past few blogs, and how I got my first corporate job.