After high school, I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do for a living. Got a job in a factory, recycling scrap copper wire from buildings that were demolished, junkyards that stripped the wiring out of old cars and equipment, and airplanes. Started taking classes at IU for accounting, but that was boring as all get out. I've always been good at chemistry, so I got a job with an electronics company working in a lab and making batches of electrolyte that went into capacitors. Unfortunately, GE bought the company and moved it to Juarez, Mexico. My mom was a nurse and sort of gave me a push to go to school for that. Graduated and passed my license exam. While I was going to school, I worked in a locked unit for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's patients for a couple of years, and then I did home care for about a year. After graduation, I took a job and was pretty much thrown to the wolves as a brand-new nurse. Lost all my passion for the calling after seeing the ridiculous and de-humanizing way the healthcare system in this country treats the elderly. Stayed long enough to be diagnosed with two ulcers and PTSD. After not sleeping for about 60 hours, I told my wife "That's it!" and I was going to get a "regular" job somewhere until I figured out what I wanted to do. Went to a temp agency and they sent me to the company I still work for. Started on the cutting floor cutting vinyl and carpet for our dealer's orders. As my mental & physical health started to recover, I thought, "This is a pretty good business, maybe I'll try and see what I can do here."
When I started, the people in the company had a huge amount of knowledge and experience and were willing to share that and teach me along the way. I went from cutting vinyl & carpet, to managing the warehouse, to inside sales, to running the commercial side of the business.
Along the way I wanted to learn as much as possible and so I started asking some of the installers who would pick up product, questions. I got to know a few of the older guys, and they appreciated my interest and desire to learn, and I started being a "helper" on some of their jobs to learn, many times I'd even do it for free to learn. Of course, after a while I was able to do small side jobs on my own and would do so, if I needed a little extra money from time to time. A few of them would call me and ask me to do small jobs for them if they were busy. I learned how to heat weld and flash cove.
I was never a master mechanic, because I just didn't do it enough, but my work was solid, and I never had call backs or claims. At any rate, as my role here increased, and my knees started going, I had to stop doing side work and focus on managing commercial. Especially after my knee replacement.
The insight and perspective that installation provided me is absolutely invaluable to what I do. It also gave me the ability to sort out reality from "marketing". We have a pretty standard practice here if we're selling something, we've "put our hands on it" to make sure we're not overselling it and we know the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Last year, to improve my health I started walking and picked up a camera. I wish I had found photography a long time ago, but I'm happy to have found something I enjoy and I'm looking forward to retirement. Probably won't happen any time soon, but it's something to look forward to.
