The Super 8 Hotel in Pocatello Idaho is a budget hotel, with great furniture and decorations of the rooms. The friendliness of the hotel employees are documented all over reviews and the internet. Running the desk included public speaking, arithmetic, and reasoning skills. Software used within the business, any reports, or routine checklists can change at any time, so employees must be trained to handle new situations quickly. Checking guests in and out is a small portion of the responsibilities of the desk agent. Doing courtesy calls to bring the business back into the lives of the departed guests and other tactics were routine, but the real necessity of the front desk employee is to deal with the shifting and changing needs of each guest. Sometimes there were technical errors needing a voice of patience to calm a mass of growing angry people, or sometimes there were mechanical errors, with clients needing air conditioning without a working unit. All problems must be dealt with accordingly, and often they are fully unique. Improper handling would lead to bad reviews and further issues including loss of revenue. I mostly dealt with the Audit shift, and did what the other desk agents hated to do. The accounting work for Super 8 was constantly going through different changes on corporate side, and thus added new and/or unused reports, all of which still needed to be compiled. Eventually the same information was compiled and decompiled multiple times and sent to a varied amount of shifting officials. Cleaning and regular duties still apply on nights that things go bad, such as a power outage, elevator failing and trapping people needing to be calmed down, Car alarms going off or other sound issues causing a rupture of unpleasant sleepless nights, or psychological issues of guests on substances needing pacified in their own ways. All of the above I have had the pleasure of dealing with and adding to my list of things I have smoothly conquered.
- Idaho State University
The responsibilities of this job varied greatly. One day there was something that could kill you if it was not handled correctly, and one day there was no one but a broom and mop to call your friend. At the RISE building not too far outside of campus they had particle accelerators of different types, and used nanotech and other brand new technologies. This building was going through changes rapidly, rooms were being taken for things outside of the buildings purpose. Finding investors into brand new technologies was not the easiest task for I.S.U. When there was nothing else to do, it was time to clean untouched areas or prep mechanical tools. Landscaping the area came with this job as well, maintenance work was a constant task in the over half unused building if it applied to a possibility or advantage of the future sponsors. When someone needed a third hand, or notepad scribe, or had other small tasks needing help, I was happy to be on the spot.
- National Guard
This wonderful organization is excellent as a part time job. Thinking quick and being told what to think quickly were very important factors in this field. There was pain to deal with, as well as brain work. Team work and getting along in a semi social situation such as the army was about as critical as anything gets in a career. After basic training, the few weekends a year add up in other ways rather than money. I was 74 Delta, Chemical Op. Knowledge was very important in every day, between lethal and non-lethal substances, you must always be fully aware of your body and your surroundings. Training and hard work at getting personally better, was basically the goal until an emergency happened. The highest rank I had achieved was E3, and would still be in the National Guard if I had been interested in HAZMAT or other chemical careers.
- Belmont
One of the greatest forms of examples on how to deal with the darkness that life can bring, was Belmont. These types of institutions have a varied type of client, but which usually revolves around mental disabilities, extreme substance abuse, or people finished with their lifetime sentences in prison and still needing responsible guides. Anger, depression, joy, and confusion were constant issues, and danger was around the corner at every wrong move or decision. I quickly rose to being the favorite employee out of the residential habilitation units, and after my first week I nearly never ran into serious problems again. I spoke as a fair leader, but made sure each person got far more out of me leading than I did. Being a forefront of fun, in a drab and dastardly life, brought me courage to continue stepping into this world. I stayed at Belmont for two years, and worked there twice, taking a half year break in-between.
- ADT
I had a cousin making a team of security monitoring equipment sales representatives, based out of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, and Idaho. When the word was passed down to me I was considered I was complimented. I signed up with them a week later and headed down a chain of airports until I arrived in St. Louis Missouri. As my first time in a big city, and all alone, I was a bit timid at first but grew into it later. For the most part the locals were very friendly. Walking and knocking, was the business creed. We had a list of supplies which companies would fund, and could charge anything we wanted for them, as the new clients would have no idea the cost on them. The monthly subscription purchased did not go at all to the sales rep. Instead the money was supposed to be made off of charging for additional parts and pieces, designed by the blueprints of the clients house themselves. After enough of cutting prices and trying to help out people who wanted but weren�t sure, I decided to come back to Pocatello Idaho where I lived before hand and pick up where I left of from there.
- Sponsored Electronic Athlete
When this started it was nearly impossible to earn a living on. Most people thought that electronic arts were still an unrecognized form of toys. Soon enough it was clear that as technology grew, video games weren�t going away. I got into these types of things officially when I was 12. On a video gaming ranking system I was within the top 300 players of the world on a real-time strategy game called Starcraft. Not long after 1998 was the game turning into many countries first national sport, or first electronic sport. This was more popular in Amsterdam and foreign cultures than it was in the United States, but it grew here indefinitely. I had met with a player who managed the local Sizzler Steak House, and made a bet over whose team would win. I had not known that the game we were using named Halo 2's developer Bungie had kept track of this player and his other player, as the number 1 and number 3 player in all of Idaho statistically. So these gentlemen had a team which were paid to practice and create better tactics. I showed up with three friends who were locally considered "decent" or "adept", and started the battles. The skill of the 4 vs 4 team I had not known were professionals was astounding. Digital Coordination from their hand and eyes was superb, and they took down my team mates easily. They however could not take me down, period. I had taken on a whole team of trained virtual killers, while keeping my teammates losses to a minimal. After our match, and a rematch, and a third rematch, I had the bulk of both teams� points. Upset at my team, this player who was number 1 in the state challenged me to a second bet, a 2v2. Now it was the #1 and #3 highest ranks in the state, versing two unknown players with no subscription accounts to any web battles or magazine supplements. We defeated them 100 to 30, and in a very upset growl the leader�s admitted defeat. Word spread about this, for I had no subscription to the live service which kept track of my details, I was unknown. I was offered sponsorship at first from a local team, and grew out from there. I had given up a large portion of my life for practice and training, and started to lose interest in this high energy field. New and youngers players got better and better every year. I had gone on to play many more games at such a level, including leading the server on a popular Massively Multiplayer Online game named Galaxy Online 2. This game took some serious real life money to get into the middle grade players levels and standards. I was able to do it free, and eventually lead a virtual corporation making the rules and governing 300,000 people. My employees reached as high as 10,000 workers, all people willing to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars a month on a video game.
I have had the pleasure of being my own boss for as long as I have been working. I love to hold the responsibility of my future in my own hands.
