jesserichard

[jesserichard]

My name is Jesse and this is my first blog post on my Epicure page. I am not special, I do not have any magic words of wisdom or sage that will be the answer to all things going wrong. All that I have are words and topics that come I think about, sometimes even dwell on, and would like to share.  With that being said; one belief that I have is that one has to be open to be credible. Here is a little about me. I am 24 years old and I graduated college in 2014 with a Bachelors in Marketing and a minor in art. If you ask many of my friends, they would say that I should have swapped those and I would agree. I was a distinguished member of my college track team and did pretty well in Hammer Throw. I was lonely after a rough breakup and wanted to find a wholesome girl who I could live happily ever after with. So....I made a Tinder account. I was randomly swiping the summer after graduation and found a cute light-skinned girl who was taking classes about 40 minutes away from my parents house. I was afraid that I would not be able to find her later so I added her on Instagram and were exchanged a few comments but left it at that. I coached college track and field immediately after graduation and was paid enough to enjoy a roof over my head in an adjoined triplex next to a weedman and a divorced single father who was a mechanic...I think. Me and that girl from Tinder got serious and after an awkward visit at my apartment-which was over an hour from where she lived-I asked her to be my girlfriend. I was fearing that I was falling behind in the rat race. My friends and roommates from college were living comfortably with $40k salaries in large metropolitan areas and I was coaching kids in a town whose main attraction was the annual "pickle Festival." I loved coaching but it was very time consuming and barely paid anything. I saw my bank account hit $0.00 with a week to go before my MONTHLY paycheck on several occasions. I decided to move an hour north to be in the same city as my girlfriend and find a higher paying job. I started a job as an inside sales rep for a fence company. They were going to pay me $17/hr at 43 hours a week. Coming from having $120 left after bills were paid, this seemed like a great idea. I quickly realized that my boss was under pressure and often made promises that he could not keep. I was promised room to grow in the company, but I met several other with my position in other states that saw the same title on their business cards for years with no promotion or raise. It was very hectic and I often got overwhelmed by that endless amount of work. Some days I could not finish it all so I would come in early the next day to get the last bit done. I started hating it. My little brother was working a lumber yard about an hour away and I wanted him to make a little more money so he can start making some moves. I asked him to apply for the warehouse position at my job and he was hired. Ironically, I got a job offer two weeks later for a management training position at a successful paint company. I started working at the paint company and I was kind of taken aback. It reminded me of a fast food diner on a saturday night. I took orders from homeowners and painting contractors, entered the orders on the computer, got the paint from the warehouse, tinted it to the desired color via our automatic tinters, shook the paint, and rang them out at the register. Over and over and over again. I did this for 44 hours a week at the hourly equivalent of the magical price of $41k/year. I started feeling more confident about my career path and financial stability so I felt like I was progressively maturing in life. ME and my girlfriend Aleeza decided to move in together. Part of the program was to work at different stores in the area so that I could get a feel of different markets, management styles, processes, and products. After starting in July of 2016, I was finally placed permanently at a store about 25 miles from my apartment-which was about a 40 minute drive. It was bittersweet but I felt that if I prove myself, I could eventually be a mobile sales rep or store manager in a year and some change. I am not a few months deep into my new position but I am already having regrets.

Epicure

[jesserichard]