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Describe your first job.

This is appropriate for a blog after work.  My first job was at Preston Country Club for Pets.  It sounds very glamorous, but my job was anything but.  I worked at a kennel in the woods in the middle of nowhere.  When I first started working there I spent a lot of time in the basement (a place called the Toy Room), where all of the small dogs were kept.  My job had me cleaning cages constantly.  After about a year there, I was trained to actually let the dogs out--a task that someone else had always done--and I learned how to clean the kennels upstairs.  That same summer I began working in grooming at the kennel.  Grooming is quite possibly the worst place imaginable.  The number of times a dog decides to shake water off all over you...

The third and final summer I worked at the kennel, I began working in a place we called "Yorkieland."  This was definitely the best part of my job.  Two days a week I was designated to take care of about thirty Yorkshire terriers by myself, from eight am to four pm.  I'm not being sarcastic when I say it was the best job.  I controlled when I took my breaks; no one breathed down my neck or pestered me; and the dogs were relatively quiet when I stopped running around taking care of them.  I would gladly still work there today if they would take me back.

The last winter I worked, I was asked to come to the house.  I know this sounds really sketchy, but I promise it's not.  I went to my boss's (and his wife's) home and washed their Yorkshire terriers.  This wasn't necessarily my favorite part of the job, but there was a sense of pride knowing that they both trusted me enough with their dogs.

Sometimes I miss the kennel, especially the pay.  However, I also worry that I would have found myself too comfortable there and wouldn't have wanted to leave.  Everything happens for a reason; but I sure miss $9/hr.