Sara and Melissa Talk About...Bad Jobs

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now into our sixth year!

This month, we are talking about bad jobs we've had in the past. A bunch of books we've featured have been about characters who have bad job experiences. The Devil Wears Prada definitely comes to mind, as who could imagine working for Miranda Priestly? (We talked about horrible bosses a while ago, but this time we're talking about the job experiences.)

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them. 

Melissa Amster:

When I was in college, I was looking to make extra money over the summer. I worked at a day camp, but that didn't really pay too well. I interviewed at a bunch of restaurants I liked and was hoping to work at Ed Debevic's, as it was my favorite place and I could have fun being mean to everyone while getting away with it. However, that was not meant to be and the only restaurant that would hire me was...wait for it...IHOP. 

It probably could have been a decent job, if not for the obnoxious coworkers who made lewd comments and the rude, entitled customers. Sunday breakfast was hellish, to say the least! There was also this mean, cranky old lady who would sit in the back corner and complain about everything and help everyone with their side work, except for me of course. She would take all the silverware and wouldn't share it when I needed to do my side work. I got snide about it after a while and made a point of saying that I share my silverware with others who need to do their side work. She would also follow me around the restaurant and mess up what I was doing for the tables. 

Back to the lewd comments...when I talked to a manager about it, he said he'd do something but then ended up making lewd comments too. While I had some decent customers, they were few and far between. (Fun side note: This cute guy customer told me I had the personality for Ed Debevic's and didn't mean it as an insult. He just thought I was funny.) And don't get me started on the uniform. Boys got to wear long sleeved white shirts and pants while girls had to wear these ugly blue dresses with short sleeves. We were carrying hot plates on our arms! Needless to say, I haven't set foot inside an IHOP in 29 years! I was also glad to learn that the specific IHOP I worked at has since been torn down.

Good riddance!

The other bad job I had was a few years out of college, where I was working for a facilities management company that handled plasma donation centers around the country. I wasn't told until after I started that I would need to be available by phone 24/7 to deal with plasma center emergencies. So yeah, I would have to take a call at 3:00 a.m. and then find companies that could handle that middle of the night emergency. Some of these plasma centers weren't anywhere near places that could get there at the drop of a hat. I also didn't like the managers I had to deal with after the first one left. So when our contract ended, I was actually thrilled. No more company cell phone!!! 

Since then, I've had some decent jobs and am currently enjoying what I do, even though I deal with some big egos sometimes. (All part of the business, right?!?)

Sara Steven:

A couple of decades ago, I fell into property management. A neighbor of mine had recommended I replace her recently vacated part-time leasing consultant position for the apartment community down the street from our neighborhood, but at the time, I had a full-time job and had no need to change professions. Several months later, I did. I didn’t know if the apartment community needed someone. I knew nothing about property management. But after a two-hour interview with the manager, I started out part-time and just a few short months later, went full-time, splitting my time between two properties.

I worked for that management company for over five years. After a brief stint at a 55+ community, I moved on to a different management company and held firm there for several years until I’d made the decision to become a stay-at-home parent. When I left the biz, it was a tough decision for me. I loved property management. I enjoyed helping someone find their perfect home. The job was fun, and I made lasting friendships. 

After stepping away for over a decade, I decided to get back into property management. A small management company took a chance on an old mom who’d been out of work for a very long time, and for that I was grateful. But I noticed pretty quickly that the line of work I’d fallen in love with, had some of my best memories of, was not the same business I remembered. 

For starters, I worked with five managers in the thirteen months I worked for the company. The first one had been promoted and moved on to another property. The person who replaced that manager was only my manager for two months before changing management companies. The third manager did the same thing, as did the fourth. And the fifth manager was the one that finally broke me, forcing me to turn in my two weeks notice. 

Out of all five managers, three of them decided to steal my commissions. The first manager did it stealthily–on the bonus sheet she’d turn into corporate monthly, instead of writing my name down, she’d write her name. I never even knew it, not until a whistleblower alerted us to that behavior. She still works for that management company, believe it or not. The regional knew it was happening–he confirmed that to me when I asked. The second manager who stole commissions was even stealthier; she was a minimalist and would only take a little cream from the top, so as not to alert anyone. Not that anyone seemed to care one way or the other. 

The third thief (the fifth manager I had the displeasure of working with) didn’t seem to care to hide it. She converted all of my leads into her name. When I called her out on it, she said it must have been some sort of software glitch. She refused to “fix” the supposed issue, and no one at corporate supported me, so I decided it was best to part ways. It wasn’t a huge loss. Aside from the commission nabbing, I dealt with a shooting at the community, a SWAT team who’d swooped in to arrest a resident who had been found guilty of murdering four people–one of the managers had let the convicted murderer move in without a background screening done beforehand–along with drug activity, cockroach and bed bug infestations, and consistent arguments with residents who refused to pay rent and didn’t feel it was their problem to do so.

You’d think I would have walked away completely from this line of work, but I didn’t. Just recently, I thought I’d found the perfect job for me. A leasing consultant position just five minutes from where I live. It was a really nice property, with Monday through Friday hours, unheard of in property management. My interviews went well, and it felt like my luck had changed and I’d get to see some glimmers of what I’d experienced all those years ago when I first got into the profession. But on day one, the manager informed me that their sister property–a property where she and the assistant manager would take turns working, would be sold soon, and when I asked what that would mean for me, she noncommittally said that she thought it would be fine. A sale was never mentioned to me when I interviewed. There was only room for two desks in the tiny office on site. 

It only got worse from there. I have a health condition due to a disc compression on my spinal cord in my neck, and I made that clear to the manager when I interviewed. The condition requires me to be more active. I can’t sit strapped to a desk for hours on end. She informed me that it would be so wonderful for me to do the legwork, delivering notices, walking units, helping maintenance to relieve some of their load. But it never happened. In fact, when I needed to take a break to use the restroom, I was asked to finish a task first before I was allowed to use the restroom. The two months I worked there, I was in constant pain daily. I went from minimal visits with medical care professionals, like yearly check ups, to needing to consult with four doctors, because I was in so much pain. It got to the point where I was told I needed to quit the job for my health. Immediately.

I am a glutton for punishment, because I recently accepted a full time position in leasing, but other than some quirks and annoyances, it’s going okay. I’m not in pain. I actually get to walk the tour path, inspect apartments before someone moves in, to ensure they are ready for the new resident, deliver notices, and I do the majority of the tours, so I have a nice balance between sitting at a desk, and moving my body. It’s not perfect. I know not many jobs are. But at least I can use the restroom at my discretion. And just the other day, someone I’d toured with (and who had later applied) let me know that I was the sole reason she decided to move there. She told me that nice properties can be a dime a dozen, but a good leasing staff is hard to come by. That made me feel valued and appreciated and makes what I went through to get to this point kind of worth it.  

Tell us about YOUR bad job experience(s).

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Spotlight and Giveaway: Valley Verified

Legally Blonde meets Silicon Valley in this new addictive novel . . .

We are excited to feature Kyla Zhao's latest novel, Valley Verified, today. It sounds intriguing and is perfect for anyone who loves stories about careers and office culture. Fans of Laura Hankin will enjoy it, as well. Thanks to Berkley, we have one copy to give away!

On paper, Zoe Zeng has made it in New York’s fashion world. After a string of unpaid internships, she’s now a fashion columnist at Chic, lives in a quaint apartment in Manhattan, and gets invited to exclusive industry events.

But life in New York City isn’t as chic as Zoe imagined. Her editor wants her to censor her opinions to please the big brands; she shares her “quaint” (read: small) apartment with three roommates who never let her store kimchi in the fridge; and how is she supposed to afford the designer clothes expected for those parties on her meager salary?

Then one day, Zoe receives a job offer at FitPick, an app startup based in Silicon Valley. The tech salary and office perks are sweet, but moving across the country and switching to a totally new industry? Not so much. However, with her current career at a dead end, Zoe accepts the offer and swaps high fashion for high tech, haute couture for HTML. But she soon realizes that in an industry claiming to change the world for the better, not everyone’s intentions are pure. With an eight-figure investment on the line, Zoe must find a way to revamp FitPick's image despite Silicon Valley’s elitism and her icy colleagues. Or the company’s future will go up in smoke—and hers with it.

"Sharp and incisive yet brimming with heart, Valley Verified establishes Kyla Zhao as one of our brightest chroniclers of Gen Z ambition, idealism, and passion. A riveting, satisfying read.”
—Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit

"Kyla Zhao's Valley Verified captures the experiences of a young woman navigating the hierarchies and prejudices of her Silicon Valley company while staying true to herself and carving out the place she deserves in the world. A page-turner that brims with humour, snappy dialogue, and sharp observations of an industry."

—Balli Kaur Jaswal, author of international bestseller and Reese's Book Club pick Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

Credit: Kyla Zhao

Kyla Zhao had her first women's magazine byline at the age of sixteen, writing about weddings for Harper's Bazaar Singapore before she'd even had her first kiss. Since then, she has also written for the Singapore editions of Vogue and Tatler—experiences which helped shape the settings in this book. A native Singaporean, Kyla now works in Silicon Valley after graduating from Stanford University in 2021 with an MA in communications and BA in psychology. She's still trying to understand why Californians adore hiking and Patagonia fleeces so much. 

Visit Kyla online:
Website * Twitter * Instagram

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends January 23rd at midnight EST.

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Spotlight: The Most Likely Club

Today we are pleased to be celebrating the publication of Elyssa Friedland's latest novel, The Most Likely Club. Melissa says it is sure to delight fans of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. You can see her review here. It's the perfect back-to-school read, so definitely add it to your TBR!

In 1997, grunge is king, Titanic is a blockbuster (and Blockbuster still exists), and Thursday nights are for Friends. In Bellport, Connecticut, four best friends and high school seniors are ready to light the world on fire. Melissa Levin, Priya Chowdhury, Tara Taylor, and Suki Hammer are going places. Their yearbook superlatives confirm it: Most Likely to Win the White House, Cure Cancer, Open a Michelin-Starred Restaurant, and Join the Forbes 400.

Fast forward twenty-five years and nothing has gone according to plan as the women regroup at their dreaded high school reunion. When a forgotten classmate emerges at the reunion with a surprising announcement, the friends dig out the yearbook and rethink their younger selves. Is it too late to make their dreams come true? Fueled by nostalgia and one too many drinks, they form a pact to push through their middle-aged angst to bring their teenage aspirations to fruition, dubbing themselves the “Most Likely Girls.”

Through the ensuing highs and lows, they are reminded of the enduring bonds of friendship, the ways our childhood dreams both sustain and surprise us — and why it’s deeply uncool to peak in high school. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

“A hilarious, delectable, and much-needed time machine back to the nineties.”
—Jo Piazza, bestselling co-author of We Are Not Like Them

“Endearing and immensely readable, Elyssa's Friedland's The Most Likely Club is an ode to female friendship, second chances, and the people who are 'Most Likely' to love us the most.”
—Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestseller of The Last Thing He Told Me

“Elyssa Friedland writes with heart, depth and humor in this story of four friends exploring what they wanted in high school, and what they have today. Utterly delightful and uplifting!”
—New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins

Photo by Brian Marcus

Elyssa Friedland is the author of five novels and a forthcoming picture book. She attended Yale University, where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News, and is a graduate of Columbia Law School. She worked as an associate at a major firm before turning to writing full-time. She teaches an undergraduate course at Yale called Contemporary Novel Writing. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, LitHub, POPSUGAR, RealSimple.com, Bustle, Modern Bride, New York magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS MarketWatch.com, Yale Alumni Magazine, and more. Elyssa resides in New York City with her husband, three children and puppy.

LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick and a Book of the Month selection. It was the OneBook, One Hadassah selection for August 2022 and is currently in its 5th printing. THE FLOATING FELDMANS was a People Magazine “People Pick” and a “SkimmReads” selection and was praised by Cosmopolitan, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, Woman’s Day, Woman’s World, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and more. THE INTERMISSION was praised by The Wall Street Journal, SheReads, PureWow, POPSUGAR, HelloGiggles and featured in USA Today. Her debut novel, LOVE AND MISS COMMUNICATION, was a “best book” in Cosmopolitan, Glamour and InStyle magazines. THE MOST LIKELY CLUB, her fifth novel, will be on sale 9/6/22. THE MUSEUM OF LOST TEETH, her first picture book, will be published in February 2023. She is also a co-author of FIRST STREET, a serialized novel available in electronic and audio formats about four ambitious lawyers clerking at the Supreme Court.

Elyssa loves wine, ice cream, Forensic Files, and texting her friends obsessively. (Bio courtesy of Elyssa's website.)

Visit Elyssa online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

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Sara and Melissa Talk About...Work

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. Today, we're talking about anything to do with working, jobs, careers, etc. That's definitely a central focus in a lot of chick lit novels! 

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them.

Melissa Amster:                                                                                                    I've held office jobs ever since I graduated from college. Even before that, since I did some summer jobs at an office, as well. When I lived in New Jersey, I had my first work-from-home job doing medical billing for a couple that also worked out of their home. After I moved to Maryland, from late 2009 until the spring of 2020, I had been working in an office. Since then, I've become a work-at-home mom again, thanks to the pandemic. So today, I'm going to talk about the benefits of working at an office vs. working at home.

Working at an office:

* I had a social life. I usually had friends at whichever office I was working at. I'd have lunch with friends in the office or we'd go out somewhere for a meal. I spent a lot of time chatting with colleagues. (Well, when I was at the facilities management job, I was more of a loner but I did meet a few nice people. I ate lunch with the company of a book until my husband started working for a different company in the same building.) 

* I had a reason to dress up. Even when my office went casual, I still tried to wear something nice. 

* I listened to audiobooks. It kept my commute interesting and I'd also have them available for when I was doing something tedious. (My older son thought my job mainly consisted of stuffing envelopes.) 

* Two words: Free food. There was never a shortage of snacks or meeting leftovers and people were always bringing in baked goodies (present company included). 

* Office parties. They were a nice break from the day-to-day routine and a fun way to connect with colleagues. 

* My own desk and comfy work chair. I also got to decorate my desk to suit my personality. 

Side note: I saw on my Facebook memories feed that today is the seven year anniversary of when I moved into the new office building.

At my desk on the last day at the old building, showing off my candy basket

Working from home:

* No commute. Even though I miss listening to audiobooks, I don't miss traffic! (And I've seen all the road construction leading to my former office. It's not pretty.) 

* I can work in my pajamas if I want to. I don't usually do that, but it's nice to have the option. Even so, I'm saving a lot of money on clothes.

* I'm on my own schedule. If I don't start at 9:00 a.m., no one is complaining. I also can take my kids to appointments and not have to worry about their end of day schedule either. 

* Saving money on not dining out so often, even though I do miss my lunch outings.

* Everything is contained on my laptop so I don't need to worry about two separate computers. 

* My husband works from home too, and it's nice being together even when we're doing completely separate things. The house doesn't feel totally quiet. 

* I don't need to wear a mask at home. If I were to go to an office, I'd be masked up all day long.

As you can see, there are pros and cons to the different work environments. Maybe, in the future, I'll want to go back to an office job. When it's safe to not have to wear masks anymore, perhaps? For now, working from home works well for me. 

Sara Steven:                                                                                                                                         My sixteen year-old is just beginning to venture into the work realm. Now that a few of his closest buddies have secured themselves part-time jobs, he’s thinking of putting himself out there and has even applied for a job at a nearby Harkins theater. The zest for independence and freedom, along with a much-desired need for a little extra dough reminded me of my own jobs when I was his age, during a time when earning a dollar an hour babysitting was considered a pretty decent wage. I think like most young girls, that was my first foray into the workforce, when overworked parents were looking for a break and decided to give the mousy book reading kid next door a chance. That job had become a central theme during my teen years, actually. Having four siblings of my own, taking care of children seemed to be a great fit in my wheelhouse. But it wasn’t all diaper changes and Chutes and Ladders.

At fourteen: I worked with my grandmother. She was an office manager for the nearby elementary school, and she’d let me hang out and photocopy documents and file them, or sometimes she’d give me organizational projects to bide my time until she was off the clock. I didn’t get paid, unless you count the trips to Dairy Queen afterward, but it didn’t matter to me. I couldn’t wait for my school day to end, so I could take the city bus out to the elementary school and start my “real” job assisting her and the other ladies in the office. 

At fifteen: a family friend needed a sitter, so I regressed back into my former profession. But man, was that a sweet gig! Someone would pick me up from school, drive me out to the house, and I would provide care for one of the sweetest little preschoolers I’d ever met. His name was Willie, and his mom was pregnant at the time with who would soon be Coral, and when Coral turned six weeks old, I had another child to tend to. I still can’t get over the fact that anyone would have thought a fifteen year-old was old enough to take care of a new baby, but I honed my skills with Coral. I’m still the sleeping baby whisperer, and can get any baby to fall asleep in my arms, guaranteed. I owe that all to Coral.

At sixteen: I went to work after school for my best friend’s family business. Her dad owned an electrical shop, and when I wasn’t filing, typing, doing data entry or answering calls, I would solder circuit boards. I had a steady hand in those days.  

At seventeen: I found out that a nearby daycare center needed workers who could helm a before and after school program for a Catholic church I’d driven by or walked by plenty of times, but had never stepped foot in. I would get up really early to keep an eye on the private school children, then skedaddle on over to my high school to start my day, then head on over to the Catholic school again when class let out. This went on all school year, and the center also provided care for the holiday seasons and when various school breaks occurred. Parents would sign their kids up for summer break--which is three long months out in Oregon, where I’m from--but I relished in the extra money as well as the freedom to create group activities and go on field trips to the library, museums, or local parks. This was the job I stuck with until I moved from Oregon shortly after I turned nineteen. 

I don’t know what kind of memories my son will have where first jobs are concerned. It’s so different now, with Covid and social distancing. I noticed a “Help Wanted” sign at the local McDonald’s, but it also said: “must be 18+.” You know it’s different when the classic employers from our youth who notoriously would give teens a chance only want someone who is eighteen and older. I’m encouraging him to find a job, but I’m not pressing too hard, either, given the current environment out there. I figure he’ll find what works for him when he’s ready, and someday, he’ll have his own first job(s) to reminisce over. 

Side note: I did work for a sandwich shop for two weeks--the longest two weeks of my life. After burning my hand on scalding hot coffee and scoring second degree burns, for which a doctor had written a note forbidding I put that hand in hot water, my manager insisted I wash dishes anyway. When I refused, she fired me. We all have that kind of story to tell, I imagine...    

Share your thoughts about jobs and/or careers with us!