I Got My Job The Old Fashioned Way.....Connections!

The oldest running joke in the world is that in order to get a job within the government, you need to know someone.


"Hi Bob!"
"Hi Jim!"
"You hear the latest about Vinny?"
"No, why?"
"He got a job with the government."
"That moron? How he get a job?"
"His cousin, three times removed, is dating the sister of the local bookie, whose step-brother is a barber for a guy, whose second cousin is friends with the first cousin of a girl, who's a secretary at a temp agency, whose owner is a step-sister to a guy, who's a clerk at DMV, whose brother is dating a girl whose sister is a florist...."

You get the basic idea.

While this may be true to a certain degree, it still boils down to the fact that while you may have gotten your job through non-traditional methods, you still have to prove your worth (unless you have a relative or a friend to protect you from yourself).

Yes I did get my first state job through a very tenuous connection (my mother was in a bible study group and was friends with my soon to be supervisor), but it still boiled down to me having prove that I could do the job.

The job, as it was originally designed, was to haul down very old, very dirty and very musty volumes of newspapers and get them ready for microfilming; to tag along as the Lenny to my supervisor's George on tips to historical societies and libraries; the serious number cruncher and the all seeing, all knowing inspector of microfilm.

Another long running joke is the private sector is that all government workers are highly overpaid and grossly under worked.

Let me put that ugly myth to rest by saying this: for the privilege of slaving away in a dusty, moldy, fetid attic; destroying large volumes of newspapers for hours on end; looking at unlimited rolls of microfilm until the very sight of a box containing such put me fast asleep; and making deliveries to all points of the state for the fantastically unheard sum of...

(wait for it)

$5.50 per hour @ 34 hours per week/68 hours bi-weekly. Roughly $748 per month. An excellent sum to support a wife, one kid and a mobile home.

This is what happens when you stupidly quit your higher paying previous job without having anything else lined up in the wings.

Yup, I was now on the long and (hopefully) fruitful path to state employment....
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Next time: Simply Indispensable.