Day Job Interview: Greg

This is the sixth (and final!) installment in the Day Job Interview Series.

Greg, Inventory Management at a CD Shop

1. Where do you work, and what do you do?

Second hand CD shop, inventory management.

2. How long have you worked there?

Coming up on four years in October.

3. Does your job require regular hours? If so, what are they?

Eleven to eight, which allows to me to avoid the rush hours.

4. Do you like what you do? Do you respect it?

Yes, I like what I do. It's rather easy-going and free of stress, it allows me to remain connected to the world of recorded music, and I'm friends with most all of my co-workers. The drawbacks: lack of chairs, lack of sense in management, lack of social skills in customers. Also, not everybody likes it as much as I do and because of this my empathy is sought after on a regular basis.

I would have respected it when I was ten years younger, and I feel some amount of respect from people who are that age now. If I'm still doing this in another ten years the word "respect" will probably have evaporated from my vocabulary.

5. What’s the best part of your job?

The jokes.

6. What’s the worst part of your job?

Sometimes it seems like I'm living the same day over and over again. The same people come up to me with the same greetings, looking for the same music, wearing the same clothes, smelling the same way. There are exceptions, of course, and for them I am grateful. I find the exceptions delightful.

7. Do you consider your job a career, or is it something you do to make money to subsidize other pursuits (or to bide your time until you can get your career job)? If not, what do you want to be when you grow up?

It's definitely the latter. And what, who rather, I want to be when I grow up: Duke Ellington.

8. Caffeine: preferred source/amount per day?

Usually one large, or two small (since the City Bakery will give free refills). Sometimes in the afternoon one of those little cans of a double shot of espresso from Starbucks, but then the buzz is nearly cancelled out by the knowledge that i've given money to The Big Coffee Corporation.

9. Describe the type of people you work with. Are they similar to you (age, interests, etc.) or very different from you?

Most are a little older, some perhaps twice as old (people who once had good music industry jobs involving an office, retirement plans, health care, generous vacation time, networking possibilities, free tickets, free records, etc., but who have since been laid off and replaced by interns or not replaced at all... the big music corporations are shrinking and will maybe one day be only bad memories. I digress.) We all obviously share a deep interest and love of music and perhaps a fetish for collecting little plastic or vinyl discs. The people who are strictly into classical music seem to be very different from me, especially as they get older. To extrapolate on this point would take many more words than you would be willing to read right now.

10. What do you do to goof off?

Deface cover art. A recent example: I put two small yellow fangs poking out of Jesus's sympathetic smile on the cover of "The Passion of the Christ" soundtrack and prominently displayed it on the shelf. It was so subtle that someone picked it up and showed it to their friend, asking "should i buy this for my mom?" The reply was something like "no, that music wasn't very good." It was not so subtle, though, to prevent the manager from picking it up later and saying, "ALRIGHT, WHO DID THIS?"

11. What's your favorite work implement/office supply?

We keep a stock of new, empty jewel cases for the times when something gets cracked or is discolored due to years of cigarette smoke buildup. I really enjoy changing the case of something that looks old and undesirable and then seeing it reborn as a brand new object, seemingly fresh out of the shrinkwrap. I have an unlimited supply of the power that Ponce De Leon sought all his life in vain.

12. Do you travel for your job? If so, do you get to go anywhere interesting?

Sometimes we'll (one or two of us) travel to someone's dwelling to buy a collection that's too large for the owner to bring into the store by him or herself. This is usually a very depressing and or dirty operation. Dust, mold, indiscernible stains, hairs, crumbs, blood, snot, and sometimes dead spiders or other things will usually be discovered at some point when going through a collection like this.

It's usually during these times when i think that i'd better go home and dust off the tops of my cds and records, or maybe just sell them all so that no one will be getting their hands dusty on my stuff and judging me after i'm dead.

Greg spends most of his time thinking about or listening to music, and so likes to have jobs that don't require much thinking during off-work hours. He has a traditional midwestern work ethic, something that most easterners respect and admire when not taking advantage of it.