You Got the Job...Now What?

For the past 11 months (and something weeks), I've been struggling. I left a decent job because I wanted something different; I wanted to actually use my degree and step out of the reception shadows and into the sunlit roads of editorial land. To bide my time in between scouring the state (and surrounding areas) for employment, I baked. Muffins, cakes, pies, cookies, you name it, I made it. It was my release from the stress and disheartening reality that despite my delightfully charming demeanor, nobody wanted to hire me. Nobody wanted to hire anybody. Suffice it to say, the recession was kicking my ass. But by the grace of whatever deity you believe in, I now find myself employed, in a bakery of all places. And while normal people would be uncontrollably releasing bodily fluids during fits of pure excitement, I'm downing Pepto Bismal to stave off the nausea.

I spent four years working towards a degree in English so I could work in the editorial world. After graduation (and months of menial office work), I finally landed my first REAL job writing greeting cards for an brand new company. It took me just over six months to realize I did not belong stuck in the middle of the greeting card stacks. Too much rhyme and bland rhythm for me, but I still appreciate the value of their existence in my life (most of my friends receive cards on a semi-regular basis). I moved on to the nearest job available: enter the restaurant industry. This was quickly followed by another few months of menial office and reception work. Nothing too exciting, but I did manage to make a few new friends along the way. All the while, I kept sending out resumes, hoping for the leap into editorial to appear. But in the back of my head, I kept thinking about baking and the joy of pastry arts. I'd joke about opening my own bakery, what I would name it, what I would serve, how it would be decorated. I'd toy with the idea of going to pastry school, spending a semester abroad studying chocolate from the best in the world (Vive la France!). But something would come along and derail these musings, reality would come back into the mix, and the bakery slid back into the mist.

These past 11 months (and something weeks), I've wondered if my inability to procure gainful employment in the editorial world was not a testament to the continuing failure of the economy but a sign from the universe, urging me to actually pursue that lark of a dream resting in the pastry business. Through the magic of connections (because let's face it, it's all who you know), I walked into a local bakery a hopeful young woman, and came out an employee who starts her first day on Thursday. But what if I don't like it? What if this lingering dream I have of working in the baking and pastry arts field turns out to be a nightmare? Then what? The people I met with today, the owner and my manager, were nothing short of wonderful. Tough, hearty folk who appreciate a hard day's work, but still amiable and friendly. But what if this doesn't work out? There is more on the line than just employment this time.

Until those questions are answered, I take deep breaths, and hope for the best. Keep those fingers crossed people. We're nowhere near done.