Since graduating high school Brendon Christopher has had eighty-one jobs. He decided he wanted to taste life, many lives. He did it with his job-hopping journey in America. His job experiences, some good, some bad, are a collection of true stories about his career choices. He chronicles good times and bad times, many bad times. How to pay his rent? How can he eat? He persevered and tells his personal accounts.
Some of the most interesting jobs were as a limo driver. He got this job by meeting and talking to his next door neighbor. Funny adventures.. First assignment: Pick up client, Ed Warding, at LA Airport. He makes a sign with the instructions and the client's name. As they are leaving the airport, he realizes he crumpled the paper with the clients name and his destination and tossed it under a car. His boss, Marv, calls asking if all is ok. It is with great imagination that he gets the info on where he is taking his client without letting his boss know he "goofed".
Taking the Woo-Tang Clan, to the Las Vegas Convention Center, was a crazy ride! They were a rap band going to Vegas for a fashion award given by TV/Radio. This was a much more complicated assignment but the pay was "tasty."
He worked as a plumber's assistant, loved being a courier, did not finish the day as a Mall greeter, did not last much longer working manually as a mover, and did seven months as a floral arranger. He was an impostor in the marketplace and did not find it difficult to yell at his boss, walk out and never return.
Mr. Christopher gives a list of don't do's for the first two weeks of a job, adding, "co-workers are savages, and the 9 to 5 is a g.d. jungle, and every new employee is a defenseless cub out there all alone." Follow these hints.
Brandon Christopher writes about his telling journey and it is funny and thought provoking. I enjoyed it and you will too.
From the porn magazine to the moving truck to the dark
sewers of California, Brandon Christopherβs journey in the
American job market is not only absurd, but also full of
wit
and profound observations. He steps out from behind the
driverβs wheel, the cash register, and the office desk to
record the lighter and darker sides of humanity in the
workplace. Christopherβs tale makes even the most mundane
job seem fascinating and the most exciting career appear
hum-drum and hollow. The Job Pirate strips off the façade
of
the average employee to see what is hidden underneath:
βThat new employee that you see hanging his vintage
blazer onto the backrest of his swivel chair is me. My
cubicle is right next to yours. I donβt say much, I dine
alone, I drink a lot of coffee, and I know my legal right
to
two cigarettes in an 8-hour workday. And yes, you were
right, Iβm not really the Marketing Strategist that I told
the boss I was. But Iβm sitting here in this cubicle, and
the resume that got me this job is in my attachΓ© case
right
beside me. It clearly states that I have more than enough
experience to run this companyβs entire advertising
department and Iβll be here between three weeks and a
year,
so you better get used to the idea.β
Often hilarious and sometimes profound, Christopherβs
stories take us through the offices, department stores and
kiosks of the West Coast. We ride along with him as he
chauffeurs the famous, the dead and sometimes just their
furniture. Christopher gives us an irreverent inside
glimpse
into the work life of the people we see everyday.
Even though at times he exhibits moral ambiguity, we
find ourselves rooting for him against all the odds
because
we can see our own struggles in his attempts to acclimate.
We can all relate to this story of selling our soul to the
company store and then buying it back for pennies on the
dollar, just to have that one more day of freedom.
No excerpt available.
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