As long as I can remember I’ve had a job. I got my first job at 15 at a Christmas tree farm in Dixon. It was hard work. We were outside rain or shine making sure everyone had their perfect, most magical Christmas tree. I spent most of the time slightly soggy with burns all over my hands—I was never very good at working the popcorn and free cider machines. Although the scars have faded (mostly), the lessons I learned at the job, the work ethic that I uncovered, the love of financial freedom, and the best friend that I made while working there are all still intact.
From that moment on I decided that there was no reason for me not to work. From that moment on, I officially joined the hoards of people all over the work that we refer to as “work-a-holics” and I have never looked back. In high school I had at least one, if not two jobs all the time. In college I worked almost full time all the way through. After college, even though I was working full time I began working for a caterer, bartending, and coordinating weddings to keep busy and pay the bills.
That is where this journey begins for me. I’ve always worked for the sake of working, to not be a burden on my parents, and to feel the financial freedom that I first felt at 15. But I hit a point where I realized that I’ve never actually chosen a job or a career. I’ve always taken the first job offered to me and jumped in full force. I’ve never asked myself “ok Allison, what do you want to do? When you go to your future children’s career day, what do you want to stand up and tell a class full of 3rd graders is the dream you have created for yourself?”
So my plan is to explore. Try new careers, find things I like, things I’m good at an go from there. If I can figure out a way to turn traveling, outdoors adventuring, reading, writing, or animals into a career, I will. But for now I’m really just exploring my options. Along this journey, I have set some ground rules for myself:
1. I refuse to be unemployed for more than 2 weeks at any point, even if it means taking a random job for a week or two, including, but not limited to cleaning out closets, garages, and reorganizing craft/ storage rooms (all of which I have done so far and loved, minus the killing an army of black widow part).
2. I will try to save as much money as possible for Costa Rica and possibly future travels (SE Asia, Machu Picchu, etc) but I also refuse to become a financial burden on my parents.
3. I will not tie myself down to any job I am unhappy with.
4. At this point, I will not take a job that has more than a three month commitment.
5. I will feel free to turn down any job that I don’t want (and already have).
6. I will apply for everything.
After my first week of unemployment I knew I needed something, so with these ground rules in place, I began searching for jobs. Within a week I had been hired to work on a city council election campaign, where a friend of mine was currently working. Although I’ve mentioned this campaign before, I think it’s important for me to delve a little further, not into getting doors slammed in my face, but into the actual people I work with. Every job teaches you something, and while I am learning a lot from this job, the major take away message that I am getting is a clear concise message of diversity.
Working on a political campaign sounds glamorous. I’m fairly certain my friends are under the impression that I’ve suddenly transformed into Olivia Pope and spend my days looking fabulous and covering up all of the wild stories in politics. They keep asking if my job is anything like Scandal or The Good Wife, when in reality, it’s much better than that. Comedies are way better than dramas, jeans and tennis shoes are much better than $1,000 suits (that one might be up for debate) and spending our days laughing and building relationships with each other and the people in our district is much more rewarding than I imagined it would be. The perfect comparison is when Leslie Knope runs for city council in Parks and Rec. We are an eclectic, quirky, unbelievably diverse crew working hard to get the best guy elected to do his best job possible for Sacramento. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. The amount of variety in our six or seven person team is unbelievable.
Our candidate is a nice guy, something I was never sure I’d say about a politician. He and his wife and kids surprise us with late night Taco Bell. He spends his weekend walking the street with us, talking to voters, even in the incredibly unsafe neighborhoods, which is definitely a rarity for Sacramento politicians. His parents moved to the US from India and he takes incredible pride in Sacramento and sees such potential in our growing city. He really cares about the local politics, but he’s strong enough and well spoken enough that he is ready to go to DC if necessary to fight for necessary FEMA funding that Sacramento, especially South Natomas (the neighborhood I grew up in) desperately needs.
Our campaign manager is our token white guy. He’s unbelievably smart and incredibly well spoken. He’s 27 (same age as me) which astounds me. He’s well put together and sometimes I feel like I’m getting smarter just listening to him talk. He has the sweetest girlfriend, who is always willing to lend a helping hand. When we all leave at night she is just getting there to help with things. Her dedication to something that he is so passionate about is a quality that I admire and believe is important in a relationship. It’s fantastic to see and something I hope to find in a future spouse. She also seems pretty fun, maybe I’ll see if she wants to join me for happy hour sometime!
The rest of our crew is a bit hilarious really. We have the future lawyer, about to take the bar (my friend that got me the job). He’s an incredible mix of half Latino, half Black, although it would be hard to guess his ethnicity just looking at him. He’s what I believe a lot of our future generations will begin to look like as racial and ethnic lines start to blur. His sense of humor is sassy and sarcastic, but is always great to be around while walking for 6-8 hours. Our next Hispanic man is a bit younger than me and looks, sounds, and seems like every other white college kid. The day I found out he was Hispanic, I’m pretty sure someone had to pick my jaw up off the floor. He’s somewhat soft spoken, but is starting to open up. He seems incredibly smart though and his phone skills are unbelievably refined. The same day I was hired, another Hispanic man was hired as well. On the outside, he’s a little more of what I think of as a stereotype. He is in his late 30s with a wife and two young daughters. He’s a reformed gang member/ drug dealer/ alcoholic/ drug addict, who has spent the last 5-10 years really getting his life together. He normally works construction, but there are no jobs available right now and his babies need to eat. But he’s great at this job. People listen to him and he can relate to some of the voters in a way that the rest of us haven’t figured out how to do.
Although I am a fairly small, blond haired, young woman, I have never felt unsafe when walking through neighborhoods with any of these guys. Recently we hired two more people: a middle aged woman who is a bit overweight and keeps talking about wanting to go to Mexico because she’s never been on a vacation and a young African American man who just moved to the area and is working two jobs, desperately trying to find a place to live. We also have random friends and family members of our candidate that help us out. And then there’s me, and by now you are quickly learning just how eccentric and quirky I am.
There is no question in my mind that we make up our own version of Leslie Knope’s campaign team (our campaign manager even says literally just like Rob Lowe’s character Chris Traeger as “lit-re-lly”). I am enjoying learning and being a part of this unique team. It’s very easy to live your life thinking there is only one way to live and do things, but my eyes are “lit-re-lly” being opened each day. I am becoming aware of political issues, social issues, and personal issues faced by diverse groups of people throughout my home town. I count myself lucky to be able to have this kind of experience. The knowledge I am gaining is something I hope to continue in the future.
For now, we’re gearing up for election week. I’m probably going to spend this week walking so much I won’t be able to stand, making so many phone calls I’ll never want to look at a phone again, and counting so many poll numbers that I’ll forget to count. And I can’t wait!
Until next time,
Al
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