Personal Narrative: A Career In The Workplace

While no longer young, I was over forty without a serious career. With an interest in ballroom dancing, I worked as a volunteer disc jockey for my uncle’s dance club. This gave me a new set of acquaintances to interact. This was also a place to network. I was willing to work any job, even a low-level one or a side job to pay bills. Without knowing it, this worked to my disadvantage. One hiring manager looking at my employment history told me that I was too willing to work any job. She said she would have been willing to hire me had I fewer positions; my willingness to work any job made me an unsuitable choice. She told me, ‘you are not worth more than the least important job you are willing to work.”

It ran against the work ethics that held

The ladder was old and had no markings: company, brand nor warnings. It was an extension ladder that I climbed without anything to lock it in place or anyone below the ladder to secure it. I was standing about twelve to fifteen feet painting the trim at the front of the house when its base started sliding back. In a fraction of a second, I was falling. A big event was happening and there was not a thing I could do about it. Gravity was ending my short stint as a painter.

It was collapsing. It slid away from the house and fell in the driveway with me riding it down. Instantly, I knew it was happening. Realization was instinctive. Before I could shout, or have a thought, it slammed onto the driveway. There is an image that one might see their life flash in front of them. For me, the very second I grasped the situation, it was over. Blinding pain shot through me just to tell me I was still alive. Looking at my legs, one of my feet looked as if it were pointing in the wrong

It had become a comfortable position, as I leaned on the ladder to paint. My knee hit the ground a second before the ladder. My face slammed the ladder, causing many little blood vessels in my nose to rupture. Instantly, an overwhelming pain rippled through my body. I have always had a high tolerance to pain; this was like nothing I had ever felt before. My voice shattered the air as strongly as the fall had shattered my leg.

The moment the ambulance pulled out of the firehouse, I could hear the siren. Had they driven it through the outer fence of the gated community to the backyard, it was only one block away. It may have only taken a minute to get there, but in my pain, it felt like an eternity listening to the siren. They took me immediately after all the braces were in place for potential back and neck injuries. Rockford is not known for having the best roads, and I felt every bump in the road. I insisted that the ambulance take me to Saint Anthony Hospital. In so much pain, I could not think, I just wanted it all to go