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First Jobs, Best Jobs & Workplace Chaos
5 Plays10 months ago
From cringe-worthy first gigs to dream jobs and the absolute mayhem in between! We’re diving into our very first jobs, the ones we loved, and the wildest things that ever happened while on the clock. Tune in for hilarious stories, unexpected lessons, and maybe even a little workplace drama. Whether you're reminiscing about your own job journey or just here for the chaos, you won’t want to miss this one!
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Transcript
Intro
Tattoo Update and Car Maintenance
00:00:30
Shelley
Hey guys, welcome back.
00:00:31
Heather
Welcome back.
00:00:33
Victoria Ouellette
Hello.
00:00:35
Shelley
How's everybody's week?
00:00:37
Victoria Ouellette
it was good. i got my, i got more of my tattoo sleeve to work on. So we're getting closer to being finished.
00:00:43
Shelley
o
00:00:46
Victoria Ouellette
I'm excited.
00:00:48
Shelley
How bad did that hurt?
00:00:50
Victoria Ouellette
So bad.
00:00:51
Shelley
ah
00:00:51
Victoria Ouellette
still hurts. Because it was right on my elbow and like the bend of my arm and it was not a good time. But I'm excited that it's getting done. So there's that.
00:01:04
Heather
um i
00:01:05
Shelley
It looks really cool.
00:01:06
Heather
I really didn't do anything this week or weekend. I mean, we went to the flea market today, but that was about it.
00:01:13
Shelley
We, ah this week, we pretty much got the oil change in our car.
00:01:13
Victoria Ouellette
What about you, Shelly?
00:01:21
Victoria Ouellette
Exciting stuff.
00:01:21
Shelley
And then we got, oh, we gave the car her first car wash ever.
00:01:27
Victoria Ouellette
Your car's a girl.
00:01:27
Heather
Which is a little crazy, considering how long you've had it.
00:01:31
Shelley
We've had it since 2018 and the car's always been in the garage. It's never been. I mean, Tony washed it once with like a chamois or whatever in the driveway. But yeah, it never went through a car wash and she was really happy.
00:01:47
Victoria Ouellette
Does she have a name? Since she has such gender.
00:01:49
Shelley
no. and no haven't figured that out yet.
00:01:53
Victoria Ouellette
Okay. Just curious.
00:01:54
Shelley
No.
00:01:56
Heather
I mean, if she doesn't have one now, she's probably not ever going to have one.
00:01:58
Shelley
No.
00:01:59
Heather
So...
00:01:59
Victoria Ouellette
Right. She's been around a while, For judging by that, then my car is not happy with me.
00:02:00
Shelley
you have You have to be nice. You know, she has low mileage, so she's, like, really happy with us. know, so, yeah.
00:02:11
Heather
Yes. Same. Neither is mine.
00:02:16
Shelley
Yeah, so often you use your car a lot more than we do, so it's probably really happy that it gets to go out and do things.
00:02:16
Victoria Ouellette
I'd like to think mine's happy with me regardless. Okay, I take care of it.
00:02:26
Victoria Ouellette
Right, it explores the world like lots of it.
00:02:28
Shelley
Yeah, mine stays in the driveway. Stays in the driveway and maybe gets out once a week.
00:02:35
Victoria Ouellette
Maybe.
00:02:35
Shelley
If that. Okay, so that sounds
First Job Experiences
00:02:39
Shelley
pretty awesome. Alright, so today's episode is going to be about work and our career backstories.
00:02:49
Shelley
Sounds exciting.
00:02:50
Victoria Ouellette
Yep.
00:02:51
Shelley
We're going to talk about our first jobs that we've had.
00:02:56
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, just kind of a little bit more of where we are in life and how we got here career wise.
00:02:57
Shelley
Some
00:03:02
Victoria Ouellette
um Yeah, learn a little bit more about us. Maybe people can relate or if you have any questions about them, you know, things like that.
00:03:13
Victoria Ouellette
You want to get us started? What was your first job, Shelley?
00:03:17
Shelley
Okay, so my first job that I remember, i used to work in a produce plant. So it was mainly with tomatoes.
00:03:29
Shelley
So we had to sort tomatoes for eight hours a day.
00:03:33
Victoria Ouellette
Do you now love tomatoes?
00:03:33
Shelley
And I hate tomatoes. You know that.
00:03:37
Victoria Ouellette
i know.
00:03:39
Shelley
um yeah so they would be sorted in different colors. But it wasn't only tomatoes. Like, we get the odd, like... other vegetable or whatever, um but mainly tomatoes. And then they would get shipped off to like different restaurants or um grocery stores or whatever.
00:03:57
Victoria Ouellette
Why would you have ran if it was mainly tomatoes? Where do where do the other ones just randomly show up? Why?
00:04:02
Shelley
I don't know. Sometimes the trucks would come in um from all over and they bring like bananas. Like I've tried like it's first time I've ever had like dragon fruit or star fruit or blood orange.
00:04:08
Victoria Ouellette
Oh. Me too.
00:04:13
Shelley
um
00:04:14
Heather
I love blood oranges.
00:04:14
Shelley
Papaya.
00:04:15
Heather
They're so hard to find.
00:04:16
Victoria Ouellette
too
00:04:16
Shelley
Papaya. I've never had like papaya before until then. um But let me tell you, and maybe you guys know because I don't really buy tomatoes unless Tony wants them. But a rotten tomato is the worst smelling thing I've ever smelled.
00:04:31
Heather
So the only thing I can think of right now is if we really want to prank and be mean to Shelly's, we just need to buy a ton of tomatoes now.
00:04:38
Shelley
Oh my god.
00:04:38
Victoria Ouellette
yes Let's just fill her room with tomatoes.
00:04:41
Shelley
No thank you.
00:04:43
Victoria Ouellette
Her office.
00:04:44
Shelley
Tony would be happy he'd have all these tomatoes.
00:04:47
Victoria Ouellette
but thrilled
00:04:47
Shelley
but but
00:04:48
Victoria Ouellette
So is that job what made you hate tomatoes or did you hate tomatoes when you worked there already?
00:04:53
Shelley
Yep. I hate tomatoes since I was born. And I...
00:04:57
Heather
You were born.
00:04:58
Shelley
My mom, when the story is, my mom, when she was pregnant with me, all she ate was tomatoes on everything.
00:05:05
Victoria Ouellette
ah
00:05:06
Shelley
Tomato on pizza, tomato on, like, tomato sandwiches, everything like that. So, I guess maybe she ate too many. That's what old wives' tale, but...
00:05:14
Heather
So what made you say, oh yeah, i and this will be my first job.
00:05:14
Victoria Ouellette
I know.
00:05:17
Heather
I wouldn't mind working here.
00:05:18
Shelley
Well...
00:05:19
Victoria Ouellette
I'm going to apply here.
00:05:20
Shelley
ah Well, no, I didn't even have to. I don't know if I had to apply. My cousin was actually a supervisor there. So I was like, you know, 18. I was 18 when I got it.
00:05:30
Shelley
and he's like, you want a job? And I'm like, yeah, sure. So that's how I got it, really. So was pretty easy. And then I actually moved up to supervisor. i was I don't even know how long I was there. wasn't very long.
00:05:45
Shelley
um i only got to be a supervisor because the other supervisor that was there, she was like on sick leave. So I had to like go into the big coolers with like all the vegetables and do like inventory count and make sure
00:05:53
Heather
Thank you.
00:06:00
Shelley
um yeah we got the shipments out and stuff like that it was kind of stressful for only being like 18 19 years old but yeah so that was my first job yes right yeah I didn't work like when I was in high school like when I was 16 17 like normal people get jobs when they're 16 I mean I helped deliver papers
00:06:10
Victoria Ouellette
That's how you know we've lived completely different lives.
00:06:16
Victoria Ouellette
It's funny.
00:06:24
Victoria Ouellette
Normal people.
00:06:25
Heather
ah wouldn I wouldn't say normal people.
00:06:25
Victoria Ouellette
What's that? ah Me neither. No.
00:06:27
Heather
i wouldn't
00:06:27
Shelley
I know a lot of people that had i had jobs at 16 when I was growing up.
00:06:28
Heather
I wouldn't say that.
00:06:31
Heather
Oh yeah, i mean, there's a lot of people that get jobs at 16, but that's not necessarily normal. I mean, I think, I mean, I guess it's depending on how you're raised or how your kids are raised. but
00:06:42
Shelley
Yeah, so...
00:06:42
Victoria Ouellette
Heather, you want to get in to yours?
00:06:44
Shelley
Huh?
Pizza Industry Stories
00:06:44
Victoria Ouellette
Or you still more, Shelly?
00:06:46
Shelley
No, I was just going to say that was my first job.
00:06:50
Victoria Ouellette
That's very interesting, yeah, because I didn't know that.
00:06:52
Heather
Yeah, I didn't but didn't know that either.
00:06:52
Shelley
Oh, you didn't?
00:06:54
Victoria Ouellette
No.
00:06:55
Shelley
Oh, I thought I told you. Well, you learned something new, right?
00:06:59
Victoria Ouellette
Right?
00:06:59
Heather
Yep. um So my first job was um when I was 16 and it was at Papa John's. We worked inside. was, I mean, almost everything you can do inside of a pizza place or Papa John's. That's, that's what we did.
00:07:15
Heather
um Started out as cashier and then you eventually learn how to make the pizzas. And um I eventually learned up. Yeah. moved up to a shift leader so I would eventually either open or close the store most of the time it was closing the store um very rarely did I have to go deliver pizzas but I did I did do that once in a while if I needed to um nothing special about it but it was I always said it was a good first job to have I mean and got to go in and prep all the stuff I needed for pizzas and learn how to make when the store was closed we got to create our own stuff it was it was fun
00:07:50
Shelley
Oh, that's cool.
00:07:52
Victoria Ouellette
So much free pizza.
00:07:52
Shelley
ah know I know um my first American pizza, I think, is Papa John's.
00:07:54
Heather
yeah
00:08:00
Heather
oh
00:08:00
Shelley
Tony loved Papa John's, so we'd always get it.
00:08:02
Shelley
But then we tried it here in this town, and it's not the same as it is of Virginia. So I don't like it here.
00:08:09
Heather
i will I will say Papa John's is not my go-to and I don't know if it's because we worked there for so long like and I had so much of it when I worked there or if it's just my taste buds.
00:08:20
Heather
I don't really know, to be honest, but I'll eat them, but it's not my first choice.
00:08:23
Shelley
So i was a but what was the wildest, craziest pizza you ever made? Or you just made your favorite?
00:08:30
Heather
Yeah, I didn't really make any crazy things. We used to make like our own like subs and stuff back before. like they didn't even i don't even i still don't think Papa John sells subs yet, but yeah they didn't have anything like that.
00:08:37
Victoria Ouellette
They didn't have them then. yeah
00:08:40
Heather
So we used to just make our own things like that, like pizza subs and whatever.
00:08:44
Victoria Ouellette
So I'll answer that question, but I guess I should also state first. My first job was also Papa John's with her, ah with Heather. She got the job first and then I got the job right after her.
00:08:56
Victoria Ouellette
I don't think I ever became a shift leader there though, right?
00:09:01
Shelley
So she was your boss?
00:09:02
Heather
I don't think so.
00:09:03
Victoria Ouellette
She was my boss. Yep. She was my boss for a while.
00:09:04
Shelley
Was she bossy?
00:09:06
Victoria Ouellette
Yep. But I also had another job. I worked at Walmart at the same time. So i but Papa Jobs was technically my first job. And then I got a job... um at Walmart as well, working overnights.
00:09:17
Victoria Ouellette
So, um, but yeah, I think one of the, one of the, I don't know why I remember this so much, but one of the craziest pieces I've ever made was like, they wanted like four times black olives. So I swear it was just a pizza full of, full of black olives.
00:09:29
Shelley
Oh my God.
00:09:31
Victoria Ouellette
I was like, this is, I hate black olives.
00:09:31
Shelley
well Yeah, me too.
00:09:35
Victoria Ouellette
ah Wayne might love it, but it was like, yeah, they asked for like four times black olives. I swear it was just like a inch thick or more.
00:09:43
Shelley
Oh my gosh.
00:09:44
Victoria Ouellette
black olives.
00:09:45
Heather
So I think the one thing that stands out, well, I think there's two things that stand out to me when when I think of Papa John's, and that's when one of our drivers drove through the front door, and I was standing at the front counter.
00:09:46
Shelley
Wow.
00:09:55
Shelley
oh wow. Wow.
00:09:55
Victoria Ouellette
Ah. And I was doing dishes in the back. Yep. And one of our delivery drivers drove right through the front door.
00:10:02
Shelley
Oh, no.
00:10:03
Heather
actually...
00:10:03
Victoria Ouellette
I remember that.
00:10:05
Heather
I actually still like...
00:10:05
Shelley
What happened? Like, how did he?
00:10:07
Heather
His brakes. I think it was his brakes or something. Just went out or something.
00:10:10
Victoria Ouellette
These brakes went out. Yeah, they didn't work.
00:10:11
Shelley
Oh,
00:10:12
Heather
They didn't work. Yeah, it was... I mean, it's something out of his control. But he literally took out the front door and was like sitting inside the lobby type.
00:10:17
Victoria Ouellette
The whole front lobby.
00:10:19
Heather
Yeah, like...
00:10:20
Shelley
Oh. wow
00:10:20
Heather
I don't...
00:10:20
Victoria Ouellette
Thank goodness.
00:10:21
Heather
I was frozen because i was standing behind the lobby counter. And if he would have went any further, it would have hit that down too. But... and Yeah, it was just crazy.
00:10:29
Victoria Ouellette
Thankfully, it was like we were closed. It was like his last delivery. So he was coming back after the...
00:10:33
Heather
Yeah, there was...
00:10:34
Victoria Ouellette
You know what mean? There's nobody in the lobby. So he nobody got hurt, thankfully. But yeah, it was crazy.
00:10:39
Shelley
Yeah.
00:10:41
Victoria Ouellette
Like, I was doing dishes. All I heard was a big crash. I come around the corner and there's a car in the lobby. Like...
00:10:46
Shelley
Oh my god. Yeah.
00:10:48
Victoria Ouellette
Um, excuse me, sir. You're not supposed to park here.
00:10:53
Heather
um I think the only other thing that that I remember like really i guess strongly from Papa John's is somebody I think and I opened the store once and I think it was a weekend somebody came in there and ordered like 10 pizzas and they paid for it and I didn't think anything of it but it was a fraud credit card that they used so I had to go into the sheriff's department like like how they line up guys does any of these look familiar to any of these it was so scary and crazy because I didn't remember what the guy looked like and you know how many customers we seen like I don't
00:10:53
Victoria Ouellette
oh
00:10:53
Shelley
That's crazy.
00:11:12
Shelley
Oh.
00:11:17
Shelley
Oh, wow.
00:11:21
Shelley
Right.
00:11:22
Victoria Ouellette
Right. I hardly look at people.
00:11:22
Heather
It was crazy.
00:11:23
Shelley
That's crazy.
00:11:23
Heather
Yeah.
00:11:24
Shelley
oh my gosh. Oh.
00:11:26
Victoria Ouellette
So for me, from there, I did move on to Domino's and I worked at Domino's for a very, very long time.
00:11:31
Shelley
ah
00:11:34
Victoria Ouellette
But like, um I mean, I was still young. I think I was, what, 16 when I moved on to Domino's and I moved up to shift lead and eventually up to um general manager of the store because the general manager there I don't know, took on a different store or something.
00:11:54
Victoria Ouellette
So he gave it to me like when I was, what, 18, 19, I was running a whole Domino's to myself, which is crazy, but I had done it since I was 16.
00:12:00
Shelley
Wow.
00:12:03
Victoria Ouellette
So to me, it was like second nature, you know, just doing everything.
00:12:06
Shelley
Right.
00:12:07
Victoria Ouellette
But I mean, the only thing it added when I took over was like doing interviews and hiring people and scheduling and all that stuff. So, but I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun, but i I bring that up to say one of the other craziest things that's ever happened um when I was working at at Domino's was we were right we were like right beside, I think it was a bar or something like that.
00:12:33
Victoria Ouellette
And we were like just about to close. And for some reason, this store had like... um There's like a little there was like a little tiny hallway between the glass in the front of the store and where the store actually starts because there was like a bathroom there.
00:12:48
Victoria Ouellette
um So there was like this little tiny piece of the store where people could go into. And there was a guy that came in completely naked
00:12:58
Victoria Ouellette
drunk and was sleeping in that part of the store after we closed and one of one of our last drivers that came in from his last delivery had noticed him and was like um there's a naked guy sleeping in the lobby and
00:12:58
Shelley
Oh, no.
00:13:05
Heather
I remember that.
00:13:18
Shelley
oh my God.
00:13:19
Victoria Ouellette
okay, so we had to call the cops and get them out of there. But it was like, why are you are you naked? What happened?
00:13:27
Shelley
Right? What happened to your clothes?
00:13:27
Victoria Ouellette
So yeah, was crazy.
00:13:28
Shelley
Wow. You didn't or even order pizza, hey?
00:13:31
Victoria Ouellette
or actually, no, I don't even think he did order pizza. That's rude.
00:13:36
Shelley
Dang.
00:13:39
Victoria Ouellette
But yeah, i worked at, I think Domino's was the last place I worked really before i left Florida for South Carolina. No, that's not true.
Career Transitions and Insights
00:13:49
Victoria Ouellette
That is not true. I had a warehouse job. I worked seven but at night to seven in the morning at, oh man, what's that shelving company?
00:13:56
Heather
closet moon.
00:13:58
Victoria Ouellette
Closet made. Yeah. I cut.
00:13:59
Shelley
Oh, we have those in our closet.
00:14:01
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah. I cut closet made shelves. Yeah. That's possible. I used to cut closet made shelves into the length that they needed to be cut.
00:14:09
Shelley
that's we have in the closet.
00:14:09
Victoria Ouellette
Well, I didn't, the machine did. I just took them out, put them in. ah
00:14:12
Shelley
Well, I'm going to say you cut our closet.
00:14:14
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah.
00:14:14
Heather
and
00:14:14
Victoria Ouellette
I made yours specifically for you, Shelley.
00:14:15
Shelley
Thanks.
00:14:16
Victoria Ouellette
Okay.
00:14:17
Shelley
Well, they're coming out of the wall.
00:14:17
Victoria Ouellette
Okay.
00:14:18
Shelley
Do you want to come and fix it?
00:14:19
Victoria Ouellette
but No, just cut them. I don't fix them.
00:14:25
Victoria Ouellette
That was the last job I did before I moved to out of Florida to South Carolina. And then I ended up back at Domino's until I went to school for massage therapy.
00:14:38
Shelley
Crazy.
00:14:40
Victoria Ouellette
Yep. So then I did massage therapy for a couple years. Then I went to school for assisting.
00:14:47
Victoria Ouellette
I worked at dental assisting for about a year and then I got pregnant.
00:14:53
Victoria Ouellette
So I was a stay at home mom for like seven years, eight years. And then that's when I decided I should get into i'd see i started school.
00:15:04
Victoria Ouellette
while being a stay at home mom, because my second son I knew but still at home. So I wanted to be done with school by the time he started kindergarten. So that's crazy actually how it worked out.
00:15:15
Shelley
Now you're busy.
00:15:16
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, now I just, my first, very first IT job was, don't don't know if I should say company names, should I?
00:15:16
Shelley
Now you're busy.
00:15:23
Shelley
I wouldn't.
00:15:24
Heather
Probably not, no.
00:15:24
Shelley
but
00:15:27
Victoria Ouellette
um Yeah, my very first IT t job was overnight and it wasn't like a real IT job. but i can I don't know the best way to describe it. It was more like a support for a specific company, a specific brand.
00:15:41
Victoria Ouellette
So like how I'm IT now, I'll call support for these companies. I was the person on the support phone. ah so
00:15:51
Heather
for that specific company, right?
00:15:52
Victoria Ouellette
Right.
00:15:52
Heather
Is that what mean?
00:15:53
Victoria Ouellette
that's
00:15:53
Heather
Okay.
00:15:53
Victoria Ouellette
Exactly. Yeah. For that specific company. So if they had problems with their devices for that company, they would call support. I would answer the phone.
00:16:04
Victoria Ouellette
If that makes sense.
00:16:05
Shelley
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:16:07
Heather
Yeah.
00:16:08
Shelley
And now you're at your job.
00:16:11
Victoria Ouellette
I'm at my job now and I work for a lot of different companies, but mainly law firms. So I am help desk plus.
00:16:24
Heather
Help Desk Plus.
00:16:25
Victoria Ouellette
Help desk plus everything else that needs to be done. That's how I feel anyway.
00:16:34
Heather
Yeah, pretty much.
00:16:37
Heather
Did you want to get into yours, Shirley?
00:16:39
Shelley
Yeah, there was a couple jobs. Well, one of my favorite jobs, I wasn't it at it for very long, but I was a porter at the hospital when I worked at the hospital, obviously.
00:16:52
Shelley
So the porter pretty much was a person that... If somebody came in and needed x-rays, like at the hospital, you would take that patient to the x-ray person like x-ray lab. Or if they needed flood work youd run labs to the blood you'd run blood to the lab.
00:17:09
Shelley
um Emergency, you would... I thought there was something that we did at emergency. I wasn't been there for very long. But I remember um one time when I was getting trained, ah the girl that I was working with, we had to go to the OR one day.
00:17:16
Heather
Thank you.
00:17:27
Shelley
They had just did mastectomy. And we had to take the specimen to the morgue. And then there was like, she's just carrying it around in a bucket.
00:17:38
Shelley
Like you couldn't see it. It was like, you know. But I'm like, oh. And then there was another time where there was like a foot. A potato foot in the morgue.
00:17:49
Shelley
That was so creepy.
00:17:49
Victoria Ouellette
yeah Do they still call do they call them porters here?
00:17:54
Shelley
I have no idea.
00:17:55
Victoria Ouellette
Is that, I don't know anything.
00:17:57
Shelley
That was just the job title um back home. Yeah.
00:18:01
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah. That's what i was just wondering if they call them the same here.
00:18:04
Heather
i think do. I want to say they do. But I don't remember.
00:18:12
Shelley
Yeah. So the last job that I had, I was working in a nursing home as a certified nurses, ah nursing assistant, which I had said in our first episode. That job I missed because we did a lot of hands on with our residents.
00:18:27
Shelley
um You had your good days and you had your bad days, but it was it was rewarding work because you really got to know these people and they became kind of like your family. So it was hard when you know they passed away um but we worked a lot yeah it was if you were closer you know you try not to get too close because of that you know but because everybody's human has emotions um but uh
00:18:45
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, that would be hard.
00:19:00
Heather
Everybody's human and has emotions.
00:19:02
Shelley
but yeah it was it miss that job i miss the residents i mean by now residents that i had worked with have passed on um
00:19:10
Victoria Ouellette
but tonight So was that your favorite job that you had?
00:19:14
Shelley
Yes, it was my favorite job because we did a lot with them. Like, you know, we had some jokers, some residents that, oh, man, some really good ones. And they'd have, like, really fun activities.
00:19:27
Shelley
um They would have put on a costume contest. So we, I remember this one resident we had, um we dressed them up as Shrek. They actually got, we got body paint, like green body paint.
00:19:40
Shelley
And he was all for it. He was like, oh yeah, let's do it. so we painted him from head to, well, not to his legs, but, you know <unk> know, he was in a wheelchair and we painted his body green, like his arms and his face and his neck and everything.
00:19:54
Shelley
And we put the Shrek ears on and Somebody many had made him like the top for it, like the tunic part. Yeah, it was really good. um But they loved that, you know, and the kids come by, like little kids. They just love the little kids when they come.
00:20:09
Shelley
um yeah, it's rewarding work if you ever work with elderly. Yeah.
00:20:14
Shelley
Yeah.
00:20:14
Heather
yeah which mean i didn't take care of them like that but i did work with them i guess in the hospital as well um it just wasn't seen a were you you said you were done that was it for your
00:20:15
Victoria Ouellette
That's cool.
00:20:22
Shelley
Yeah.
00:20:29
Shelley
Yeah, that was it. That was i my last job. So I don't think I could do it now because it's very ah backbreaking work. Like with all the trugs first, but I'm pretty sure everything's mechanical now.
00:20:43
Shelley
It's um it's like shift work
00:20:43
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, it's still a lot of work though. It's yeah.
00:20:45
Heather
I was going to say it depends on where you're at, I think. But yeah, I still see it.
00:20:47
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, for sure.
00:20:48
Heather
CNAs do a lot of work.
00:20:50
Shelley
shift work now like We used to work three twelves a week because, like, you know, we were only allowed to work so many hours every two weeks.
00:21:01
Shelley
So and then it would be overtime. So, yeah, you'd be coming off like some people would work five twelves in a week and it's like, oh, my God, but it was overtime. But crazy.
00:21:11
Heather
Okay.
00:21:12
Victoria Ouellette
too much.
00:21:13
Shelley
That's too much.
00:21:13
Heather
a
00:21:14
Shelley
Yeah. But.
00:21:15
Victoria Ouellette
Too much.
00:21:17
Shelley
Yeah, that's it. What about you, Heather?
00:21:19
Heather
so was trying to figure out i was at papa john's for a while for quite a while actually and then i um had got pregnant and i don't remember where i went when i left there but i'm pretty sure it was ah warehouse job and i was making hoses while packing up i was doing the packing stuff the shipping stuff for um
00:21:47
Shelley
What type of hoses?
00:21:51
Heather
It was like the the big black hoses that you see when you're pumping gas, like that go from the tank to the the handle.
00:21:58
Shelley
Oh, we don't have any those hoses. I was going to say, maybe hose you packed is in my yard.
00:22:04
Heather
and No, it was, um yeah, the big.
00:22:06
Victoria Ouellette
the one at your gas station, Shelley.
00:22:08
Heather
Yeah, the ones at the ones at your gas station.
00:22:08
Shelley
Oh, right.
00:22:09
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah.
00:22:09
Shelley
Okay.
00:22:12
Heather
um But that was so long ago, man, they've probably been replaced. I don't know how often they were replaced. but um I think from there is when I um went and worked at the hospital and I worked in patient meals in the hospital.
00:22:26
Heather
um And I did that for, I think, five or six years. But I also went through a pregnancy there, ah um which was a lot of work because it was a lot of walking. I actually, i actually passed trays out um to the sixth floor.
00:22:36
Shelley
I did that too. Sorry.
00:22:41
Heather
So I had the furthest walk.
00:22:44
Victoria Ouellette
Ugh.
00:22:44
Heather
um
00:22:44
Shelley
Wow.
00:22:45
Heather
And then, um I mean, well, yeah, but I still had to go up the elevator and walk to the south end of the hospital.
00:22:48
Shelley
No elevators?
00:22:52
Shelley
Oh, yeah. did you guys
00:22:54
Heather
So
00:22:55
Shelley
Did you guys have like big steel carts with all the food?
00:22:58
Heather
Yeah, big steel carts.
00:22:58
Shelley
Yes.
00:23:00
Heather
and right as you came out of our... As soon as you came out of our um department, there was a hill right there.
00:23:10
Heather
So we always had to either go down the hill. So you had to stop the huge cart with full of food from rolling down the hill.
00:23:13
Shelley
Yep.
00:23:15
Heather
Or you when you were going back, you had to push it up. the hill So it's always very annoying.
00:23:18
Victoria Ouellette
Oh, dang.
00:23:18
Shelley
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:23:20
Victoria Ouellette
That sucks.
00:23:20
Heather
So it was a pretty good workout. And.
00:23:23
Victoria Ouellette
So you did that while pregnant, like pushing the alarm?
00:23:23
Shelley
Yeah.
00:23:24
Heather
Oh, yeah, the whole pregnancy.
00:23:24
Shelley
Oh my god.
00:23:26
Heather
Yeah, the whole pregnancy.
00:23:26
Victoria Ouellette
That sounds miserable.
00:23:27
Heather
Yeah.
00:23:28
Victoria Ouellette
but
00:23:29
Heather
Because I always got comments when I was walking down the hall. Well, at least you're in the right spot.
00:23:32
Victoria Ouellette
Right?
00:23:33
Heather
You're going to labor.
00:23:33
Victoria Ouellette
I guess.
00:23:33
Shelley
yeah
00:23:33
Victoria Ouellette
That probably was the most commented thing for you.
00:23:34
Heather
You're in the right spot. Yeah, it really was.
00:23:38
Victoria Ouellette
I don't think.
00:23:40
Heather
um But I did work my way up to a supervisor there. So I i ran the um the whole the dietary training.
00:23:50
Heather
I guess kitchen I don't I don't know how you would differentiate but because there was a a dining room kitchen and there was a patient meals kitchen um we worked 12-hour shifts so um actually when I started there
00:24:00
Victoria Ouellette
So there are two separate kitchens in the hospital.
00:24:03
Heather
Yeah. Well, all of the food is made upstairs where we were, but then a lot of it was brought downstairs to the to the dining room where the everybody ate.
00:24:06
Shelley
think
00:24:08
Victoria Ouellette
Okay.
00:24:11
Victoria Ouellette
ah Okay.
00:24:13
Heather
um But it did have their own like certain things down there in the dining room, like soup things.
00:24:17
Victoria Ouellette
Hmm.
00:24:18
Heather
And there was a sandwich making place down there and there was all kinds of stuff.
00:24:20
Shelley
Yeah, we had that too.
00:24:21
Heather
Yeah. I think they had pizza that came in, Chick-fil-A or there was a bunch of other stuff that got brought into the dining room um for people to eat or buy, obviously, and eat.
00:24:26
Shelley
Oh, wow.
00:24:26
Victoria Ouellette
Oh.
00:24:30
Victoria Ouellette
That's cool.
00:24:32
Shelley
did you have Did you have a person...
00:24:33
Heather
oh
00:24:35
Shelley
I know you were just doing patient trays, so you didn't really deal with the dishes and stuff.
00:24:40
Heather
no we did we
00:24:41
Shelley
So did you have a person that like did the pots? You know the inserts?
00:24:46
Heather
yeah we always had somebody assigned to the pots position yeah I never had to do that one thank god but
00:24:48
Shelley
Yes! That was the worst. worse I had to do that. Well, I mean, it's different. Whatever. But that was the worst job ever.
00:24:56
Victoria Ouellette
What did they have to do?
00:24:58
Shelley
Wash those pots.
00:24:58
Heather
Those huge pots ah that cook all that food in, like enormous pots.
00:24:59
Victoria Ouellette
Just...
00:25:00
Shelley
Those huge pots all day.
00:25:03
Victoria Ouellette
So therere there was one person's job to just wash those pots.
00:25:04
Heather
Yeah.
00:25:05
Shelley
Yeah. Yes.
00:25:07
Heather
There was a lot of pots because I think breakfast breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus all the desserts, plus we did catering, plus we did the dining room food.
00:25:08
Shelley
There was a lot of pots. Yeah.
00:25:15
Shelley
Yep.
00:25:15
Heather
Like that there was a lot of pots that went into that dish room.
00:25:18
Shelley
And then sometimes like if the cooks would burn the pot, burn something, you're scrubbing pots.
00:25:19
Victoria Ouellette
Jeez.
00:25:24
Heather
Oh, yeah.
00:25:24
Victoria Ouellette
Ugh.
00:25:24
Heather
You're the one cleaning it. You're the one cleaning it. Yeah. That's not their problem.
00:25:26
Shelley
Cause if they didn't, if they didn't spray it good enough, there was burnt crap in there. Yeah.
00:25:32
Heather
Yep. Yep.
00:25:33
Shelley
Well, and,
00:25:34
Heather
i think I think I had to do it like once or twice, but that wasn't like my primary like position go into.
00:25:39
Victoria Ouellette
but I assume there's also like big giant sinks to wash them in right
00:25:39
Shelley
our
00:25:42
Shelley
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They're huge. Well, the ones that we had are giant sinks.
00:25:44
Heather
Yeah.
00:25:46
Shelley
Sorry.
00:25:46
Heather
Yeah, there was.
00:25:46
Shelley
I'm taking over yours.
00:25:47
Heather
There was. No, you're fine. No, there was big, big giant sinks, but it was still not any less annoying. I mean, when you went in the dishroom, you knew you were leaving that day soaking wet.
00:25:55
Victoria Ouellette
yeah
00:25:58
Heather
Okay.
00:25:58
Victoria Ouellette
so yeah
00:25:59
Heather
Just period.
00:25:59
Shelley
Oh yeah.
00:26:00
Heather
You were leaving and going home soaking wet because there was no way around it.
00:26:00
Shelley
Don't wear... Mm-hmm.
00:26:03
Victoria Ouellette
Oh, yeah.
00:26:05
Heather
Your shoes were wet.
00:26:05
Victoria Ouellette
That's...
00:26:06
Heather
Your outfit was wet. Everything about you was wet.
00:26:09
Shelley
like Ours was different because like when you first walked in into the kitchen, you would walk in and there would be the dishroom. so it would have like the big dish dishwasher machine. Then you'd have someone unload the dish carts.
00:26:22
Heather
Mm-hmm.
00:26:22
Shelley
And then you'd have someone like white like washing the plates. And then someone loading the dishwasher. And then that person loading the dishwasher had to unload the clean dishes. So it like they had to change their aprons to make sure that there was no cross-contamination.
00:26:39
Shelley
I don't know. It's weird.
00:26:40
Heather
We had, we didn't have anybody that rinsed them off or did we?
00:26:40
Shelley
And then the pot section.
00:26:44
Heather
Man, I can't remember that part. We had somebody that loaded the dishwasher. It went around when it was really, really hot. And we had somebody that unloaded it. I was always the one unloading the dishwasher. And i remember at that point in time, that's what made me want to go get LASIK surgery.
00:26:59
Heather
Yeah.
00:27:00
Shelley
oh yeah, because your glasses. Yeah.
00:27:01
Heather
Catching the dishwasher dishes because it was so hot. And when you have dishes on, your glasses, I mean, when you have glasses on, sorry, here your glasses just fogged up the whole time.
00:27:04
Shelley
Hot.
00:27:11
Heather
So you either took them off or you couldn't see anyway.
00:27:11
Victoria Ouellette
Oh yeah.
00:27:13
Heather
So I remember that job is what made me think, wow, LASIK surgery and not having glasses would be amazing. Yeah.
00:27:21
Shelley
ah
00:27:21
Victoria Ouellette
yeah ah That's funny.
00:27:25
Heather
So, yeah, but for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we had to we had to load and unload our dishes and prepare for the next meal. So we did all of those things in the kitchen.
00:27:31
Shelley
Yeah.
00:27:34
Heather
um I mean, even sometimes serving the food, if the cooks weren't available, we had to make the plates up and and do all that as well. So actually enjoyed that job because I feel like i learned a lot about like dietary restrictions.
00:27:48
Heather
Like we had to pay attention if the patient was diabetic, we had to know what they had, what they couldn't have, what they had for breakfast.
00:27:49
Shelley
Yeah.
00:27:54
Heather
So we're not, you know, serving them too much fruit or too much to this or too much of that. And,
00:27:59
Shelley
Or if they were like pre-op and they couldn't have like they had to have clear fluids or solid.
00:28:03
Heather
Yep, clear fluids, clear liquids, or if they were on a brat diet, any of that, like you had to learn all of that.
00:28:04
Shelley
or yeah
00:28:09
Heather
So I really feel like even now in life, like it still helps me know what what each meal or preference is.
00:28:11
Shelley
i didn't mind it.
00:28:18
Heather
Obviously, I'm not an expert at it, but it's still cool to know.
00:28:20
Shelley
Right.
00:28:21
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, that is cool. That would be cool to know.
00:28:23
Heather
Yeah. So from there, actually, I went, that's when I started doing school and stuff, I believe. um And I got my associate's degree in health care administration. And I got a job at a doctor's office, at a urology office. And I was there for ah really, really long time.
00:28:45
Victoria Ouellette
Forever. Yeah.
00:28:46
Heather
I was there for 10 years.
00:28:46
Shelley
As long as I've known you, right?
00:28:48
Heather
Yeah, probably. Well, I worked there for 10 years. um
00:28:52
Victoria Ouellette
10 years.
00:28:52
Heather
i was there, yeah, I was there for 10 years. I worked my way all the way up to office manager, um which in turn just made me step down from office manager, just wasn't worth it to me.
00:29:02
Shelley
but
00:29:03
Heather
um They would had to pay me a ton more money to get me to stay there in office management position.
00:29:06
Victoria Ouellette
ah
00:29:09
Heather
nothing against office managers by any means it just way too much work for me when i had a family at home and kids and this wasn't what i wanted so um
00:29:18
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:29:23
Heather
I had eventually left there and that's actually when I got my first job in home health care, the office side of home health care. And i've I really feel like that's where I have like fallen.
00:29:37
Heather
I wouldn't say I guess fallen in love with that type of work, the office side of home health. And I don't even know why. Like, I i like the aspect of of having my own office and I guess not per se having face-to-face communication with patients, like patients that walk in.
00:29:53
Heather
Like, I am not a people pleaser type of person.
00:29:54
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah.
00:29:58
Heather
So... it's very out of my zone when I, even though I did it for 10 years and I, I obviously worked in a doctor's office for 10 years. Like I had to put that face on when I was there. It was kind of like a relief to not have to do that when I went to work every day. And I think really that's my main reason for why I like it.
00:30:15
Victoria Ouellette
Well, I mean, you did it also for like 10 years, so it probably is like a huge relief.
00:30:15
Heather
So
00:30:18
Shelley
Yeah.
00:30:19
Heather
it was, yeah, yeah, it really was. So, I mean, i wouldn't, I'd probably not say that I would never go back to, to a doctor's office, but it would,
00:30:31
Heather
I don't know. It would depend.
00:30:32
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, hard choice. Yeah.
00:30:33
Heather
Yeah, it would be, it has its pros and cons, to
Current Jobs and Aspirations
00:30:35
Heather
be honest. Like there's some times where I miss things, like having that patient interaction and the different things that you do and hear about every day and patient stories and know I mean?
00:30:44
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah.
00:30:44
Heather
Those relationships that you build outside of your normal work, people was kind of cool.
00:30:44
Victoria Ouellette
Oh, yeah.
00:30:49
Heather
So um I think that would be the biggest part that I missed.
00:30:50
Victoria Ouellette
For sure.
00:30:53
Heather
Yeah. um but even now I'm at a different company but I still work with home health care um and still the office side I um I don't know I guess I could explain my job but it's really kind of hard to explain if you don't know anything about home health care so um I mainly send out orders to physician offices and get physician orders and chase them down and track them down so they can give them back to me and I can put them in the patient's chart so
00:31:21
Shelley
So when you say ah home health care, so to me, what that means to me, um when I was a CNA, we had girls that were home health aides. So they would like go to the patient's home and, you know, do their ADLs with them and help them out.
00:31:40
Shelley
um That's what I think whenever you're talking about home health care or home health
00:31:43
Heather
Well, yeah, there are some home health care companies that have home health care aides. We, where I work now, we do not, but there are a lot that do have home health care aides. We have like skilled nursing and PT and OT and speech therapy.
00:31:55
Shelley
Okay.
00:31:56
Heather
And um so anytime somebody is homebound and they can't, they can't go out to the doctor's office or they can't go out to physical therapy, that's when home health care comes to them.
00:32:07
Shelley
They go there.
00:32:10
Heather
yeah
00:32:10
Shelley
Okay.
00:32:11
Victoria Ouellette
But it is like doctors, nurses, whatever's going to their home to take care of them.
00:32:16
Heather
Not doctors, but it is nurses.
00:32:16
Victoria Ouellette
Give them what they need.
00:32:17
Heather
Yeah, nurses. Nurses, PTs.
00:32:20
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, that's what I mean.
00:32:20
Heather
Well, I guess PTs count as they they go through as much school as a doctor does. So, yeah, they do.
00:32:24
Victoria Ouellette
I know, right? Well, that's what i I didn't mean like actual doctor, but I know that...
00:32:28
Heather
Yeah, no. Yeah, and skilled nursing and stuff. Yeah, that's weird we always call it skilled nursing.
00:32:31
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:34
Heather
Skilled. Skilled. I can't even think of the name right now.
00:32:40
Heather
But I think, I mean, that's it. I don't really know what else you guys.
00:32:43
Shelley
That's pretty cool though.
00:32:45
Victoria Ouellette
So what was your favorite job then? Shelly answered as well.
00:32:51
Heather
I would say where I'm at now, like home health care.
00:32:54
Victoria Ouellette
That's good. And what would be what's your dream job? Do you have a dream job?
00:32:58
Heather
No, I mean, I think my dream job would be to so work my own work for myself.
00:33:09
Heather
trust me, I know that's a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of work. That's a lot of hours put into work.
00:33:12
Victoria Ouellette
Oh, yeah.
00:33:13
Heather
So like when I say that, I don't mean like, I just want to be lazy and hope my business is successful.
00:33:17
Victoria Ouellette
I just want to do nothing. ah right
00:33:19
Heather
Yeah.
00:33:20
Shelley
but but
00:33:21
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah. What about you, Shelly? What would be your dream job?
00:33:26
Shelley
um I would actually love to work in the hospital. as like either like a lab tech or like x-ray tech type thing but i would definitely want to just stay in the medical field but i would i actually my dream job would be to work in emergency like in the emergency department not as like a nurse but like as like either a ward clerk or like um or even admitted admitting patients you know um i don't know how they do it here but
00:33:48
Victoria Ouellette
Oh.
00:33:59
Victoria Ouellette
That seems the seems reasonable, though. You should go for it. Yeah,
00:34:04
Shelley
I really do. like i really I don't know how like to get into it. I'd have to probably do some research and stuff.
00:34:11
Victoria Ouellette
you could do some research. Figure that out.
00:34:13
Heather
you
00:34:15
Shelley
i think But definitely in the hospital ah aspect of things.
00:34:19
Victoria Ouellette
That's cool.
00:34:20
Shelley
What about you?
00:34:20
Victoria Ouellette
Well, hospital does seem fitting for you.
00:34:23
Shelley
know, I'm a caring soul.
00:34:25
Victoria Ouellette
I know. He's caring for others.
00:34:29
Shelley
for
00:34:31
Victoria Ouellette
um My dream job.
00:34:34
Victoria Ouellette
I guess.
00:34:37
Victoria Ouellette
Besides sitting at home and doing nothing. No, kidding.
00:34:39
Shelley
ah
00:34:40
Victoria Ouellette
ah Would be to work as a software engineer or programmer of sorts. Coding in that industry somewhere.
00:34:54
Victoria Ouellette
Just because I thoroughly enjoy writing codes and building websites and everything involved in that. um It's just really, really hard to get into.
00:35:04
Victoria Ouellette
so I am not amazing at interviews and the interviews for those are insane. And it's like almost makes it not worth it.
00:35:17
Victoria Ouellette
um But I would love a job doing that. So which I've been to school for, so I technically could do. But I'm telling you, the interviews are so scary that I am not great at that.
00:35:29
Victoria Ouellette
So I balance it out and work in I.T.
00:35:32
Shelley
interviews are scary I wish you could just I wish you could just show up I wish you could just show up at the job that you want and be like hey I want to work here oh okay here you I'm qualified I can work like I know what to do or maybe a couple days of training
00:35:33
Victoria Ouellette
t
00:35:34
Heather
That sucks, but maybe one day, though.
00:35:40
Victoria Ouellette
yeah I'm working her now.
00:35:46
Victoria Ouellette
Just give me a chance. I'll show you that I know what I'm doing.
00:35:48
Shelley
Yeah, like, we don't have we don't have to do the whole interview process. Like, it's a waste of your time. It's a waste of my time. Let's just, you know, yeah.
00:35:56
Victoria Ouellette
Right. I'll work for a week and I'll show you that I can do this.
00:36:01
Shelley
Exactly.
00:36:02
Victoria Ouellette
That would be nice.
00:36:04
Shelley
Yes.
00:36:04
Victoria Ouellette
um
00:36:05
Shelley
Why don't they do that?
00:36:05
Victoria Ouellette
I think I also wanted to mention there was a point in time where all of us streamed as well.
Streaming Adventures and Community
00:36:11
Victoria Ouellette
It's kind of like a side job, but we all enjoyed it at some point.
00:36:16
Victoria Ouellette
um So we all streamed on Twitch. Had a good time doing that.
00:36:21
Victoria Ouellette
Right? All right, guys.
00:36:22
Heather
Crickets.
00:36:22
Victoria Ouellette
Right?
00:36:23
Shelley
Sorry, my headset's about to vote to die
00:36:28
Shelley
Yeah, streaming
00:36:28
Victoria Ouellette
and Maybe they didn't.
00:36:29
Heather
cri
00:36:29
Victoria Ouellette
I did. Okay. So...
00:36:31
Shelley
ah streaming. streaming was a lot of fun. And on my particular ah Twitch that I had, um people would make it a point to come in there and scare the crap out of me because I would i would get scared.
00:36:43
Victoria Ouellette
it was so easy. That's why.
00:36:46
Shelley
Because I get scared very easily. So that was their job all the time.
00:36:51
Heather
was their job to go in there and scare Shelly.
00:36:52
Victoria Ouellette
Their job.
00:36:53
Shelley
Yeah.
00:36:54
Victoria Ouellette
They got paid for it.
00:36:55
Shelley
They really did. Swear. You were probably paying them.
00:36:59
Heather
But you got paid for it too. So, I mean, it worked out.
00:37:00
Shelley
I did.
00:37:01
Victoria Ouellette
It works out.
00:37:02
Shelley
then I felt bad for taking their money.
00:37:02
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah.
00:37:04
Shelley
So I made it cheaper. i mean i made one of the commands.
00:37:07
Heather
Made it cheaper to scare her.
00:37:09
Shelley
Yeah. um But whatever.
00:37:11
Victoria Ouellette
Oh, that's funny.
00:37:11
Shelley
But yeah, it was fun.
00:37:13
Heather
No, it was fun. but Having that community was fun too. that's what
00:37:16
Shelley
Yeah, we met a lot cool people.
00:37:17
Victoria Ouellette
Yeah, I think that was the biggest.
00:37:17
Heather
That's what I enjoyed about it.
00:37:19
Victoria Ouellette
I mean, I still have friends to this day that I met streaming, you know?
00:37:20
Shelley
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
00:37:23
Victoria Ouellette
So it's funny. Just like I have friends still the back in the day when we all played World Warcraft.
00:37:24
Shelley
yeah
00:37:27
Victoria Ouellette
and
00:37:28
Heather
oh
00:37:29
Victoria Ouellette
It's crazy.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
00:37:30
Victoria Ouellette
The communities you can build and have for a lifetime is is really cool. How far that's come.
00:37:37
Heather
Yep, for sure.
00:37:39
Victoria Ouellette
But yeah, I think this ah that wraps up this episode. Is there any last comments, guys? Yeah.
00:37:45
Heather
don't think so. I think.
00:37:46
Shelley
No, I think we covered it and as always
00:37:51
Shelley
Thank you all for your love and support as this is now episode five. Wow.
00:37:59
Victoria Ouellette
Yep.
00:37:59
Shelley
Over a month, you guys. um
00:38:04
Victoria Ouellette
Yep. Every listen, we appreciate every comment, uh, every bit of feedback. It really is, um greatly appreciated. We work hard on this and, uh, I know we're new and growing and learning, but we'll get better as we grow and learn.
00:38:20
Victoria Ouellette
And we just appreciate you guys hanging out with us. So, yeah.
00:38:24
Heather
Yeah, thank you, everybody.
00:38:26
Victoria Ouellette
As always, if you have any questions or concerns or comments, questions, anything, I think I said questions three times, you know you can contact us at contact at the 28thanglepodcast.com.
00:38:33
Shelley
but but
00:38:37
Shelley
She really wants your questions, guys.
00:38:39
Victoria Ouellette
yeah I want you guys to ask us questions, okay?
00:38:39
Shelley
but
00:38:41
Victoria Ouellette
Just ask us a question. All right. We'll see you guys next week.
00:38:46
Heather
i
00:38:46
Shelley
Bye.