A Brief History of My Career, Pt.2: The decision.
-Continued from January 2006
From then on, I had it in my heart that I was going to be a hairstylist. Occasionally, friends and I would get together and we'd play 'Salon'. As I had no idea what I was doing, we most often just did big silly hair, as it was easiest . . . and fun to see each other with big mid-80's hair in the mid-90's (as is apparent from the photo here). But, I was still honing my craft, building my confidence for the day I took the fashion industry by storm. But then I heard some terrible news . . . a stylist makes no money. Well, Heavens to Bette Middler! I wouldn’t want to embark on a career path that was going to send me into the poorhouse. Instead I decided that I would just work at odd jobs and have no ambition.
One particular morning my mother woke up to me still awake from the night before (back when I watched TV, I could find myself at 9am having not gone to sleep, flipping from infomercial to infomercial). “I’m sick of you just sitting around doing nothing. You’re gonna at least help me around here. Get ready, we’re going shopping.” So off we went to a parade of Wal-marts', Saans', Extra Foods’, and the local Tim Hortons. Not wanting to listen to 'Dance Mix '92 (the only tape my mother kept in her car) for the fourth time that day, I switched to the radio, just in time to hear the Employment Report. “Really Big Video Store is looking for a full time clerk. Wage starting at $10/hr. Shift work. Apply in person, with resume, to Donna. No phone calls please.”
Well that’s sounds like fun. I’ve always loved movies, and my family bonded over home rentals on a very regular basis. I liked people. I loved customer service. Working at a video store was perfect. And ten bucks an hour to start is pretty good (especially when you’re living at home not paying rent). So I applied. Got hired. Started that Monday.
I made fast friends with all the staff. Well, except Terri, but no one liked her and she liked no one. In particular, I met Steve and Jen; an east coast couple that had just moved to Yellowknife to start their hairstyling career. I told them about how I had always wanted to be a stylist, but wanted a job that made more money.
“Well, there is pretty good money in hair, if you’re good and you’re ambitious.” they told me. I had no idea about educators, salon ownership, commissions etc. Mother had told me there was no money because when she was a stylist in the late 60’s and early 70’s, there was no money in it. But after the glam rock / disco era, hair was huge (figuratively and literally). Suddenly, hairstylists were GODS!
Well, being the textbook Scorpio I am, I immediately started researching my destined career path. The path I was meant to be on since I learned that first braid 12 years earlier. I researched schools: how they taught, location, reputation. Marvel College was the winning school.
Within months, I was out of the video store, packing my worldly possessions, saying goodbye to friends and loved ones and moving to Edmonton.
If you read back to one of my first posts (when I talked about fears), I talked about thinking back to those small decisions in life. And their ripple effect on our lives. As I sat packing, I thought about these small decisions. Had I gone to bed earlier that night, mom would not have asked me to go shopping with her. Not going shopping I would not have heard of the job at Really Big Video Store. Having not worked at RBVS, I would not have known that hairstylists could make money. Not knowing that, I would possibly still be in Yellowknife, still in the closet, still working as a taxi dispatcher, still making $8/hour, still living at home. But that wasn’t for me I though… No!
I was going to be a college girl!
-To Be Continued…
One particular morning my mother woke up to me still awake from the night before (back when I watched TV, I could find myself at 9am having not gone to sleep, flipping from infomercial to infomercial). “I’m sick of you just sitting around doing nothing. You’re gonna at least help me around here. Get ready, we’re going shopping.” So off we went to a parade of Wal-marts', Saans', Extra Foods’, and the local Tim Hortons. Not wanting to listen to 'Dance Mix '92 (the only tape my mother kept in her car) for the fourth time that day, I switched to the radio, just in time to hear the Employment Report. “Really Big Video Store is looking for a full time clerk. Wage starting at $10/hr. Shift work. Apply in person, with resume, to Donna. No phone calls please.”
Well that’s sounds like fun. I’ve always loved movies, and my family bonded over home rentals on a very regular basis. I liked people. I loved customer service. Working at a video store was perfect. And ten bucks an hour to start is pretty good (especially when you’re living at home not paying rent). So I applied. Got hired. Started that Monday.
I made fast friends with all the staff. Well, except Terri, but no one liked her and she liked no one. In particular, I met Steve and Jen; an east coast couple that had just moved to Yellowknife to start their hairstyling career. I told them about how I had always wanted to be a stylist, but wanted a job that made more money.
“Well, there is pretty good money in hair, if you’re good and you’re ambitious.” they told me. I had no idea about educators, salon ownership, commissions etc. Mother had told me there was no money because when she was a stylist in the late 60’s and early 70’s, there was no money in it. But after the glam rock / disco era, hair was huge (figuratively and literally). Suddenly, hairstylists were GODS!
Well, being the textbook Scorpio I am, I immediately started researching my destined career path. The path I was meant to be on since I learned that first braid 12 years earlier. I researched schools: how they taught, location, reputation. Marvel College was the winning school.
Within months, I was out of the video store, packing my worldly possessions, saying goodbye to friends and loved ones and moving to Edmonton.
If you read back to one of my first posts (when I talked about fears), I talked about thinking back to those small decisions in life. And their ripple effect on our lives. As I sat packing, I thought about these small decisions. Had I gone to bed earlier that night, mom would not have asked me to go shopping with her. Not going shopping I would not have heard of the job at Really Big Video Store. Having not worked at RBVS, I would not have known that hairstylists could make money. Not knowing that, I would possibly still be in Yellowknife, still in the closet, still working as a taxi dispatcher, still making $8/hour, still living at home. But that wasn’t for me I though… No!
I was going to be a college girl!
-To Be Continued…
posted by Lance Morrison @ 7:10 PM
1 Comments:
Very cute post. And thanks for the comment honey... I've had one hell of a rough week and I'll visit more after a solid ten hours of SLEEP. Mwa. That's a kiss.
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