The Distance
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“The Distance”
By Darricka Malone
…[s]he's racing and pacing and plotting the course,
[S]he's fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But [s]he's striving and driving and hugging the turn…
“The Distance” by Cake
In April 2011, I attended the Memphis in May music festival with my friend Amy. Despite growing
up in a small town in Eastern Arkansas that was only 30 minutes away from Memphis, this was my first
time attending this well-known music festival.
The first band scheduled to play on the Budweiser® stage was Cake. They started to play a few
songs from some of their earlier CD’s, then they played a couple of songs from their new CD that was
either already available for purchase or was coming out soon. After about an hour of performing, the lead
singer announced to the audience that they were going to perform one last song for their fans. This
announcement brought a strange hush over the crowd. All the talking, shouting, and the smoking of
cigarettes and weed stopped. I glanced over the crowd and saw the anticipation on their faces, the same
look that was probably displayed on my face of “please play my favorite song. I wasn’t sure what song
the other fans were waiting on, but I knew what I wanted to hear.
Suddenly, the lead singer begins with “Reluctantly crouched at the starting line…” The audience
went wild, the silence was broken; the crowd erupted with extreme excitement and super powered
energy. The shouting, dancing, and head rocking became more intense, a true sign that the audience
was waiting to hear “The Distance.” Once the song ended, the energy of the crowd was that of renewed
energy and satisfaction. As my friend and I walked through the dense crowd, we heard commits like;
“man that was awesome” and “closing the concert with that song was great.” Everyone leaving the
concert appeared to be completely “hyped.”
After the Cake concert, my friend and I began to make the journey to the next show. During our
walk, I had an epiphany. I realized that I had been “going the distance.” For the first time, I realized that I
was finally apart of the professional working world that included the perks of money for trips, clothes,
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concerts and vacation days that allowed me to take off and enjoy myself. By continuing to go “The
Distance”, I had finally achieved my goal of securing a job in my field of study; I had finally arrived at the
finish line. I had finally finished the race.
It was August 1999 and I and was finishing my last semester at UCA. I was fortunate enough to
acquire a job at TELE-WIRELESS working the night shift opening and processing payments. Working the
night shift was an extremely difficult task. The art of working on this shift was to find ways to keep
yourself awake. For me, it was walking around with a CD player complete with headphones. It was beige
and silver in color with all the “bells and whistles. It was my sanctuary, my escape from the noise of loud
machines, the whispers of gossiping employees, and my choice to stay awake and stay sane.
I had a variety of CD’s that I hauled around with me in a padded CD case on nights I was
scheduled to work. During those long work nights, I found myself jamming to Outkast, Fleetwood Mac,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Korn. But the best CD that got me through those nights of fighting the urge to
sleep so I could get my work done was the band Cake and their CD titled Fashion Nugget. Even though
the entire CD was awesome, I played one song over and over, “The Distance,” not knowing at the time
that the lyrics of this song would ring true in my own life.
According to the Workforce Central Florida article “Understanding Four Generations in the
Workplace,” there are currently four generations of workers in today’s workforce: Traditionalists, Baby
boomers, Generation X and Millennials. The article explains further that Traditionalist were born before
1945 and that they believe in a more structured environment where they respected authority figures and
expected to have a lifetime career with their employer. The Baby boomers are those who were born in
the timeframe of 1946 to 1964. Born during a time of reform, they are the generation who lacks fear in
questioning authority and prided themselves on having a professional career and accomplishments. They
are not very keen on flexible work schedules or working from home (Workforce Central Florida website).
However, Generation X seeks a more of a “work/life balance.” They believe in acquiring new skills that
they can take with them to other companies and tend not to have any loyalty in their work environment
(Hmm, this sounds familiar). Millennials are considered the youngest of the four groups. Like those of
Generation X, they to desire a “work/life balance” and a lack of loyalty in their place of work. However,
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they tend “to live in the moment,” view work as “a means to an end”, and have less attention spans
because they grew up learning to multitask (Workforce Central Florida website).
Despite the fact I am a part of the Generation X group, I had the expectations of those of the
Traditionalist generation. I believed if I got a degree and my foot in the door of a good company, I would
eventually move-up the corporate latter to a position in my field of study. Unfortunately, my 20 th century
school of thought of having a successful career didn’t fit into the 21 st century workforce model. I found
myself working 3 years in a basement, processing cellphone and telephone payments. It didn’t matter
how many jobs I applied for and the number of pre-screenings I went to, my expectations of how things
was supposed to work out was becoming obsolete.
When December of 1999 rolled around, I had officially graduated from UCA after six years of
attendance. I waited patiently for my degree certificate to arrive by mail the month of February of 2000.
Once I had that certificate in my hand, I felt that the only direction I would be going in the corporate world
was up.
I was sadly mistaken because, in the 21st century workplace, a degree may be required, but it
doesn’t insure a successful career.
The job that I had at the time was considered to be “a foot in the door” job and I believed that by
having my degree was going to help me make a smooth transition into my dream job, which was working
in the advertising ,marketing, or something that my degree would be a good fit. Those dreams were soon
dashed when my supervisor informed me that I had to be employed in my current job for a year before I
could apply for another position in the company. In most corporations, this was standard. However, I was
a little heartbroken but decided to make the best of this situation. My plan was to work in the Remittance
Processing department for a year then begin my job search within the company soon after. I was
“plotting the course.” It seemed like forever, but I had served my year in the remittance processing
department and began my job search.
“Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The
green light flashes, the flags go up. Churning and burning, they (I) yearn for the cup.”
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Every chance I got, I searched job postings on both the internet and the intranet of the company,
but found nothing that I was interested in. Months past and I continued to search. Finally, I began to see
job postings that would be a perfect match. Some of the job postings clearly stated that a degree was
required and the experience was 0-2 years’ experience. This was perfect, I was a recent graduate, and
the job was an entry-level position. You would think this would be a slam-dunk, at least getting an
interview with the hiring manager. I found out quickly that wasn’t the case. If my resume showed some
potential to the recruiter, you would receive a call from the recruiter for a pre-screening. The recruiter
would send the results to the hiring manager and if the hiring manager approved, you were invited for
another interview. This process became somewhat of a hardship when I started working on the morning
shift. You would have to drive across the other side of town for the pre-screening, which meant that
everyone knew that you had an interview and you had to make up your time you spent not working even
though it was an internal interview.
After many months of applying for internal positions, I finally received a call from a recruiter who
wanted to schedule a pre-screening. I was hoping to hide this fact from my department manager by
leaving for my interview a little early so he wouldn’t see me. To my dismay, my plan failed. As I was
making my way out of the building, my department manager was walking in. The look on his face was
that of surprise and bewilderment. For a few seconds, we stared at each other. I could tell from the
expression on his face that he wanted to ask me why I was dressed up and where was I going. I was too
busy staring at his shaved head. Wow, I thought to myself; he finally relinquished his vanity and accepted
the fact he was going bald. For the past year, he hand been trying to keep that patch of hair that was
located in the front of his head, which only sends out a signal of a man denying the fact that he was losing
his hair. "Thank God he finally shaved his head," I thought to myself. I finally broke the silence by saying,
“good morning.” He responded with a sarcastic tone of, “and good morning to you,” while displaying an
inquisitive look on his face. It didn’t take long for my supervisor to reveal that I was indeed on my way to
an internal pre-screening for an internal position. My quest for seeking a new position that would lead me
on my journey up the corporate latter came to an abrupt end when the hiring freeze went into effect. A
year and a half went by before the freeze was lifted. I began my search again. Every job I applied for
resulted in either a rejection letter or a pre-screening interview, which would be followed by a rejection
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letter a week later. I had work there for two years and I hadn’t moved anywhere. However, the journey
took an unforeseen turn, the powers that be decided to outsource our department to a bank. Our team
was informed that there would be lay-offs and job reassignments. I was one of the luckily ones-I was
going to be reassigned to a new job. Of course, it wasn’t anything I was interested in and I would be
working for a manager I despised. He approached me and presented a job offer, not as my job
reassignment. Seeing this as a job offer and not my job reassignment, I politely refused his offer and
informed him that I wanted to explore other opportunities within the company that would coincide with my
education. I received a telephone call on my day off, which was a conference call that didn’t include my
supervisor but those individuals who planned the restructuring of the department, the current manager of
the department, along with new the manager. I was informed that if I didn’t take this job, I was agreeing to
resign from the company when my current department would be outsourced. The overwhelming feeling
of being ganged up on caused me to concede to these unfair terms.
“Their prowess is potent and secretly stern.”
However, once the call had ended, I became enraged and depressed. After a few minutes of
screaming and crying, I called my mother at work to inform her of what had taken place and the reason
why I didn’t want to work for a manger I didn’t like. My mother who is a firm believer in ignoring the
crappy events that goes in a work place advised me if I wanted to leave TELE-WIRELESS to pursue
other ventures that she would fully support me. However, she informed to think it over first and not do
something hasty due to the vicious incident that occurred. I put my two weeks' notice in three weeks
before the department was to be outsourced to a bank. On June 15, 2002, I worked my last shift, did my
exit interview, and went out to lunch with co-workers to say my final good byes. It was a hard choice but I
was determined to move on and seek out my dream career. The managers who ganged up on me in a
threaten manner were shocked. They couldn’t believe that I was actually leaving. I had a desire to
pursue my career and I refused to let anything stand in my way. What they couldn’t understand at the
time was that I had nothing to lose.
For the next two years, I worked temporary jobs to make ends meet. My first temporary job was a
great starting point for a possible career in doing technical writing or graphic design. Even though I was
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qualified for the position and there was possibility of a full time position and advancement, $9.13 per hour
was not enough, especially when you are accustomed to making more than that an hour. I finally landed a
permanent position at a law firm but I became very depressed with the work I was doing. For five days a
week, I would electronically update notes of bankruptcy files.
Seven months later, I found a contract position at the electric company. I enjoyed the work but
the hours became unpredictable. I would schedule a hair appointment for five o’ clock on Friday, after I
would make my appointment, all employees would receive an email stated that we needed to work until
seven or risk working a whole day on Saturday. When an African-American woman has a hair
appointment, there is no stopping her unless she dies suddenly, there is a death in the family or she is
going into labor and that is only if her water has broken. After six months of that hassle, I accepted a
position at a bank. I knew from the get-go that there was no future for me there, so I resigned and began
working as a temp at an insurance company. I was hired as a full time employee after five months of
working as a temporary employee. Once again, I was starting over.
“Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The
green light flashes, the flags go up…”
Working for the insurance company wasn’t so bad, but I still yearned for that perfect job as a
writer or editor. Sadly, technical writing jobs no longer existed at the Little Rock insurance worksite. Once
again, I was still determined to achieve a position that would involve some form of writing.
“Still driving and striving as fast as [s]he can…”
As with the usually status quo, I spent a year in the customer service processing department. I
enjoyed the job but not the pay. Insurance companies and banks pay their low-grade employees the bare
minimum. After a year of working in the customer service department, I applied for a job in the
compliance department. It was more of an administrative assistant position but the job involved proof
reading advertisements and coordinating the production process of the advertisement pieces. I enjoyed
this job very much. At the time, it seemed there was room for advancement. After working in the position
for two years, I was informed that my position would be dissolved. I found myself scrambling to find
another job within the company. For a while, the situation appeared to be hopeless but at the eleventh
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hour a forms specialist position opened up. I thought this position would be the perfect job to set me on
my course of getting some experience as a technical writer or editor. Due to the fact my current position
was ended, I was immediately interviewed for the position and was made a job offer. I felt that I had won
the lottery. However, I quickly discovered that my job duties included changing the font of the text on
policy and certificate pages, loading those policy and certificate pages into a mainframe system, fixed
problems that would arise if the policy pages didn’t print out correctly and prepared electronic documents
for the insurance’s third-party administrators. While working in my low paying job, I begin to take postbaccalaureate classes in the Rhetoric and Writing department at UALR. In 2008, I applied for the
graduate program and was accepted. When I received that acceptance letter in the mail, I felt as if I won
the lottery once again.
A year and a half passed and I found myself discontented with my forms specialist position. The
reason for my unhappiness was that I knew I reached my limit of achieving my desired career goal. Even
though the work was a little predictable and I could use my down time for homework and reading
assignments for school, I was bored and ready to move on. I had hit the glass ceiling.
During spring break of 2009, I found myself searching for other positions and internships on
different websites. After about an hour of searching, I found an opening for a desktop publishing position.
I had seen many job positions like this before, but this position didn’t require very much experience. My
previous work experience, bachelor’s degree, and enrollment as a Professional and Technical Writing
graduate student made me qualified for the position. After a couple glasses of wine, I applied for the job.
Truthfully, I expected another rejection email. However, to my surprise, I received a phone call from a
recruiter of the company. She asked a few questions about my knowledge of different software
applications and my experience from previous jobs. The recruiter informed me that she would pass the
information she had gathered from me to the hiring manager. Once again, I didn’t expect to hear from her
again. A week later, my cell phone ranged. It was the recruiter calling to inform me that the hiring
manager wanted to do a phone interview. I was given the conference call number with the passcode
number, and the date and time I was expected to dial in. During my panel phone interview, I was drilled
repeatedly about my software experience, my work experience, how I handle job stress, and how I
balanced my personal life, work, and graduate school. I felt like I was being interrogated. When the
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interview was over, I was relieved and wiped the sweat from my forehead. The interview wasn’t a bad
one, just intense. I assumed that the panel would move on to more experience candidates than me and
that another individual would be chosen for the position. I was just grateful for the opportunity to be
interviewed.
Another week came and went, my cell phone ranged once again. It was the job recruiter again. I
started to get the feeling of being stalked because I had never gotten this far when it came to applying for
a desktop publishing job. The recruiter informed me that a face-to-face interview was scheduled for the
following week and gave me directions and instructions upon my arrival to the job site. I must admit, I
wanted to stop this process because I couldn’t get over the fact that I was chosen for a face to face
interview. However, I went ahead and did the interview in person; thinking that once it was over, the hiring
manager would move on to another candidate.
For the past week, I had slacked on checking my personal email. However, Friday night was the
night I logged into the internet and listen to my Yahoo radio station. This was the highlight of my Friday
nights, especially with my mom being out of town. I had planned to jam and rock hard to my favorite
music. Of course, first things first, I had to check my email. I saw an email from the job recruiter I had
been communicating with for the past two weeks. I assumed it was a rejection email but decided to read
it and get the disappointment out of the way. I began to read the email and I was immediately taken a
back. It was not a rejection email. It was an offer of employment. My heart began to race a little but I
read the email further. The email contained documents I needed to fill out by a certain day to confirm my
acceptance of the position. Reading a little further, I saw what holidays the company observed, the health
benefits, vacation days, and a host of other information. But what really caught my eye was the pay. For
a moment, I thought I had something in my eye. Then, I thought there was a spot on my computer screen
so I began to clean off the screen but the dollar amount was still there. I immediately got up from my
computer and went outside for a cigarette to think about this opportunity that was before me. By the time
I had finished my cigarette, I had made a decision to accept the job. I went back to my computer to
download all the necessary forms and began to fill them out. Once I was finished filling out all the forms, I
emailed them to the job recruiter. I received an email that following Monday informing me the day and the
time I was start my new job.
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Two weeks later, I found myself working my last day at the insurance company, having lunch with
soon to be former co-workers, and saying my final goodbyes. As heartbreaking as this was, I had to
follow the urge to keep going the distance.
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WORKS CITED
Cake. “The Distance.” Fashion Nugget. Capricorn Records, 1996.
Workforce Central Florida. “Understanding Four Generations in the Workplace.” 12, October 2013, 21:15
<http://www.workforcecentralflorida.com/>
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“The Distance”
By Darricka Malone
…[s]he's racing and pacing and plotting the course,
[S]he's fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But [s]he's striving and driving and hugging the turn…
“The Distance” by Cake
In April 2011, I attended the Memphis in May music festival with my friend Amy. Despite growing
up in a small town in Eastern Arkansas that was only 30 minutes away from Memphis, this was my first
time attending this well-known music festival.
The first band scheduled to play on the Budweiser® stage was Cake. They started to play a few
songs from some of their earlier CD’s, then they played a couple of songs from their new CD that was
either already available for purchase or was coming out soon. After about an hour of performing, the lead
singer announced to the audience that they were going to perform one last song for their fans. This
announcement brought a strange hush over the crowd. All the talking, shouting, and the smoking of
cigarettes and weed stopped. I glanced over the crowd and saw the anticipation on their faces, the same
look that was probably displayed on my face of “please play my favorite song. I wasn’t sure what song
the other fans were waiting on, but I knew what I wanted to hear.
Suddenly, the lead singer begins with “Reluctantly crouched at the starting line…” The audience
went wild, the silence was broken; the crowd erupted with extreme excitement and super powered
energy. The shouting, dancing, and head rocking became more intense, a true sign that the audience
was waiting to hear “The Distance.” Once the song ended, the energy of the crowd was that of renewed
energy and satisfaction. As my friend and I walked through the dense crowd, we heard commits like;
“man that was awesome” and “closing the concert with that song was great.” Everyone leaving the
concert appeared to be completely “hyped.”
After the Cake concert, my friend and I began to make the journey to the next show. During our
walk, I had an epiphany. I realized that I had been “going the distance.” For the first time, I realized that I
was finally apart of the professional working world that included the perks of money for trips, clothes,
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concerts and vacation days that allowed me to take off and enjoy myself. By continuing to go “The
Distance”, I had finally achieved my goal of securing a job in my field of study; I had finally arrived at the
finish line. I had finally finished the race.
It was August 1999 and I and was finishing my last semester at UCA. I was fortunate enough to
acquire a job at TELE-WIRELESS working the night shift opening and processing payments. Working the
night shift was an extremely difficult task. The art of working on this shift was to find ways to keep
yourself awake. For me, it was walking around with a CD player complete with headphones. It was beige
and silver in color with all the “bells and whistles. It was my sanctuary, my escape from the noise of loud
machines, the whispers of gossiping employees, and my choice to stay awake and stay sane.
I had a variety of CD’s that I hauled around with me in a padded CD case on nights I was
scheduled to work. During those long work nights, I found myself jamming to Outkast, Fleetwood Mac,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Korn. But the best CD that got me through those nights of fighting the urge to
sleep so I could get my work done was the band Cake and their CD titled Fashion Nugget. Even though
the entire CD was awesome, I played one song over and over, “The Distance,” not knowing at the time
that the lyrics of this song would ring true in my own life.
According to the Workforce Central Florida article “Understanding Four Generations in the
Workplace,” there are currently four generations of workers in today’s workforce: Traditionalists, Baby
boomers, Generation X and Millennials. The article explains further that Traditionalist were born before
1945 and that they believe in a more structured environment where they respected authority figures and
expected to have a lifetime career with their employer. The Baby boomers are those who were born in
the timeframe of 1946 to 1964. Born during a time of reform, they are the generation who lacks fear in
questioning authority and prided themselves on having a professional career and accomplishments. They
are not very keen on flexible work schedules or working from home (Workforce Central Florida website).
However, Generation X seeks a more of a “work/life balance.” They believe in acquiring new skills that
they can take with them to other companies and tend not to have any loyalty in their work environment
(Hmm, this sounds familiar). Millennials are considered the youngest of the four groups. Like those of
Generation X, they to desire a “work/life balance” and a lack of loyalty in their place of work. However,
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they tend “to live in the moment,” view work as “a means to an end”, and have less attention spans
because they grew up learning to multitask (Workforce Central Florida website).
Despite the fact I am a part of the Generation X group, I had the expectations of those of the
Traditionalist generation. I believed if I got a degree and my foot in the door of a good company, I would
eventually move-up the corporate latter to a position in my field of study. Unfortunately, my 20 th century
school of thought of having a successful career didn’t fit into the 21 st century workforce model. I found
myself working 3 years in a basement, processing cellphone and telephone payments. It didn’t matter
how many jobs I applied for and the number of pre-screenings I went to, my expectations of how things
was supposed to work out was becoming obsolete.
When December of 1999 rolled around, I had officially graduated from UCA after six years of
attendance. I waited patiently for my degree certificate to arrive by mail the month of February of 2000.
Once I had that certificate in my hand, I felt that the only direction I would be going in the corporate world
was up.
I was sadly mistaken because, in the 21st century workplace, a degree may be required, but it
doesn’t insure a successful career.
The job that I had at the time was considered to be “a foot in the door” job and I believed that by
having my degree was going to help me make a smooth transition into my dream job, which was working
in the advertising ,marketing, or something that my degree would be a good fit. Those dreams were soon
dashed when my supervisor informed me that I had to be employed in my current job for a year before I
could apply for another position in the company. In most corporations, this was standard. However, I was
a little heartbroken but decided to make the best of this situation. My plan was to work in the Remittance
Processing department for a year then begin my job search within the company soon after. I was
“plotting the course.” It seemed like forever, but I had served my year in the remittance processing
department and began my job search.
“Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The
green light flashes, the flags go up. Churning and burning, they (I) yearn for the cup.”
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Every chance I got, I searched job postings on both the internet and the intranet of the company,
but found nothing that I was interested in. Months past and I continued to search. Finally, I began to see
job postings that would be a perfect match. Some of the job postings clearly stated that a degree was
required and the experience was 0-2 years’ experience. This was perfect, I was a recent graduate, and
the job was an entry-level position. You would think this would be a slam-dunk, at least getting an
interview with the hiring manager. I found out quickly that wasn’t the case. If my resume showed some
potential to the recruiter, you would receive a call from the recruiter for a pre-screening. The recruiter
would send the results to the hiring manager and if the hiring manager approved, you were invited for
another interview. This process became somewhat of a hardship when I started working on the morning
shift. You would have to drive across the other side of town for the pre-screening, which meant that
everyone knew that you had an interview and you had to make up your time you spent not working even
though it was an internal interview.
After many months of applying for internal positions, I finally received a call from a recruiter who
wanted to schedule a pre-screening. I was hoping to hide this fact from my department manager by
leaving for my interview a little early so he wouldn’t see me. To my dismay, my plan failed. As I was
making my way out of the building, my department manager was walking in. The look on his face was
that of surprise and bewilderment. For a few seconds, we stared at each other. I could tell from the
expression on his face that he wanted to ask me why I was dressed up and where was I going. I was too
busy staring at his shaved head. Wow, I thought to myself; he finally relinquished his vanity and accepted
the fact he was going bald. For the past year, he hand been trying to keep that patch of hair that was
located in the front of his head, which only sends out a signal of a man denying the fact that he was losing
his hair. "Thank God he finally shaved his head," I thought to myself. I finally broke the silence by saying,
“good morning.” He responded with a sarcastic tone of, “and good morning to you,” while displaying an
inquisitive look on his face. It didn’t take long for my supervisor to reveal that I was indeed on my way to
an internal pre-screening for an internal position. My quest for seeking a new position that would lead me
on my journey up the corporate latter came to an abrupt end when the hiring freeze went into effect. A
year and a half went by before the freeze was lifted. I began my search again. Every job I applied for
resulted in either a rejection letter or a pre-screening interview, which would be followed by a rejection
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letter a week later. I had work there for two years and I hadn’t moved anywhere. However, the journey
took an unforeseen turn, the powers that be decided to outsource our department to a bank. Our team
was informed that there would be lay-offs and job reassignments. I was one of the luckily ones-I was
going to be reassigned to a new job. Of course, it wasn’t anything I was interested in and I would be
working for a manager I despised. He approached me and presented a job offer, not as my job
reassignment. Seeing this as a job offer and not my job reassignment, I politely refused his offer and
informed him that I wanted to explore other opportunities within the company that would coincide with my
education. I received a telephone call on my day off, which was a conference call that didn’t include my
supervisor but those individuals who planned the restructuring of the department, the current manager of
the department, along with new the manager. I was informed that if I didn’t take this job, I was agreeing to
resign from the company when my current department would be outsourced. The overwhelming feeling
of being ganged up on caused me to concede to these unfair terms.
“Their prowess is potent and secretly stern.”
However, once the call had ended, I became enraged and depressed. After a few minutes of
screaming and crying, I called my mother at work to inform her of what had taken place and the reason
why I didn’t want to work for a manger I didn’t like. My mother who is a firm believer in ignoring the
crappy events that goes in a work place advised me if I wanted to leave TELE-WIRELESS to pursue
other ventures that she would fully support me. However, she informed to think it over first and not do
something hasty due to the vicious incident that occurred. I put my two weeks' notice in three weeks
before the department was to be outsourced to a bank. On June 15, 2002, I worked my last shift, did my
exit interview, and went out to lunch with co-workers to say my final good byes. It was a hard choice but I
was determined to move on and seek out my dream career. The managers who ganged up on me in a
threaten manner were shocked. They couldn’t believe that I was actually leaving. I had a desire to
pursue my career and I refused to let anything stand in my way. What they couldn’t understand at the
time was that I had nothing to lose.
For the next two years, I worked temporary jobs to make ends meet. My first temporary job was a
great starting point for a possible career in doing technical writing or graphic design. Even though I was
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qualified for the position and there was possibility of a full time position and advancement, $9.13 per hour
was not enough, especially when you are accustomed to making more than that an hour. I finally landed a
permanent position at a law firm but I became very depressed with the work I was doing. For five days a
week, I would electronically update notes of bankruptcy files.
Seven months later, I found a contract position at the electric company. I enjoyed the work but
the hours became unpredictable. I would schedule a hair appointment for five o’ clock on Friday, after I
would make my appointment, all employees would receive an email stated that we needed to work until
seven or risk working a whole day on Saturday. When an African-American woman has a hair
appointment, there is no stopping her unless she dies suddenly, there is a death in the family or she is
going into labor and that is only if her water has broken. After six months of that hassle, I accepted a
position at a bank. I knew from the get-go that there was no future for me there, so I resigned and began
working as a temp at an insurance company. I was hired as a full time employee after five months of
working as a temporary employee. Once again, I was starting over.
“Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The
green light flashes, the flags go up…”
Working for the insurance company wasn’t so bad, but I still yearned for that perfect job as a
writer or editor. Sadly, technical writing jobs no longer existed at the Little Rock insurance worksite. Once
again, I was still determined to achieve a position that would involve some form of writing.
“Still driving and striving as fast as [s]he can…”
As with the usually status quo, I spent a year in the customer service processing department. I
enjoyed the job but not the pay. Insurance companies and banks pay their low-grade employees the bare
minimum. After a year of working in the customer service department, I applied for a job in the
compliance department. It was more of an administrative assistant position but the job involved proof
reading advertisements and coordinating the production process of the advertisement pieces. I enjoyed
this job very much. At the time, it seemed there was room for advancement. After working in the position
for two years, I was informed that my position would be dissolved. I found myself scrambling to find
another job within the company. For a while, the situation appeared to be hopeless but at the eleventh
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hour a forms specialist position opened up. I thought this position would be the perfect job to set me on
my course of getting some experience as a technical writer or editor. Due to the fact my current position
was ended, I was immediately interviewed for the position and was made a job offer. I felt that I had won
the lottery. However, I quickly discovered that my job duties included changing the font of the text on
policy and certificate pages, loading those policy and certificate pages into a mainframe system, fixed
problems that would arise if the policy pages didn’t print out correctly and prepared electronic documents
for the insurance’s third-party administrators. While working in my low paying job, I begin to take postbaccalaureate classes in the Rhetoric and Writing department at UALR. In 2008, I applied for the
graduate program and was accepted. When I received that acceptance letter in the mail, I felt as if I won
the lottery once again.
A year and a half passed and I found myself discontented with my forms specialist position. The
reason for my unhappiness was that I knew I reached my limit of achieving my desired career goal. Even
though the work was a little predictable and I could use my down time for homework and reading
assignments for school, I was bored and ready to move on. I had hit the glass ceiling.
During spring break of 2009, I found myself searching for other positions and internships on
different websites. After about an hour of searching, I found an opening for a desktop publishing position.
I had seen many job positions like this before, but this position didn’t require very much experience. My
previous work experience, bachelor’s degree, and enrollment as a Professional and Technical Writing
graduate student made me qualified for the position. After a couple glasses of wine, I applied for the job.
Truthfully, I expected another rejection email. However, to my surprise, I received a phone call from a
recruiter of the company. She asked a few questions about my knowledge of different software
applications and my experience from previous jobs. The recruiter informed me that she would pass the
information she had gathered from me to the hiring manager. Once again, I didn’t expect to hear from her
again. A week later, my cell phone ranged. It was the recruiter calling to inform me that the hiring
manager wanted to do a phone interview. I was given the conference call number with the passcode
number, and the date and time I was expected to dial in. During my panel phone interview, I was drilled
repeatedly about my software experience, my work experience, how I handle job stress, and how I
balanced my personal life, work, and graduate school. I felt like I was being interrogated. When the
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interview was over, I was relieved and wiped the sweat from my forehead. The interview wasn’t a bad
one, just intense. I assumed that the panel would move on to more experience candidates than me and
that another individual would be chosen for the position. I was just grateful for the opportunity to be
interviewed.
Another week came and went, my cell phone ranged once again. It was the job recruiter again. I
started to get the feeling of being stalked because I had never gotten this far when it came to applying for
a desktop publishing job. The recruiter informed me that a face-to-face interview was scheduled for the
following week and gave me directions and instructions upon my arrival to the job site. I must admit, I
wanted to stop this process because I couldn’t get over the fact that I was chosen for a face to face
interview. However, I went ahead and did the interview in person; thinking that once it was over, the hiring
manager would move on to another candidate.
For the past week, I had slacked on checking my personal email. However, Friday night was the
night I logged into the internet and listen to my Yahoo radio station. This was the highlight of my Friday
nights, especially with my mom being out of town. I had planned to jam and rock hard to my favorite
music. Of course, first things first, I had to check my email. I saw an email from the job recruiter I had
been communicating with for the past two weeks. I assumed it was a rejection email but decided to read
it and get the disappointment out of the way. I began to read the email and I was immediately taken a
back. It was not a rejection email. It was an offer of employment. My heart began to race a little but I
read the email further. The email contained documents I needed to fill out by a certain day to confirm my
acceptance of the position. Reading a little further, I saw what holidays the company observed, the health
benefits, vacation days, and a host of other information. But what really caught my eye was the pay. For
a moment, I thought I had something in my eye. Then, I thought there was a spot on my computer screen
so I began to clean off the screen but the dollar amount was still there. I immediately got up from my
computer and went outside for a cigarette to think about this opportunity that was before me. By the time
I had finished my cigarette, I had made a decision to accept the job. I went back to my computer to
download all the necessary forms and began to fill them out. Once I was finished filling out all the forms, I
emailed them to the job recruiter. I received an email that following Monday informing me the day and the
time I was start my new job.
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Two weeks later, I found myself working my last day at the insurance company, having lunch with
soon to be former co-workers, and saying my final goodbyes. As heartbreaking as this was, I had to
follow the urge to keep going the distance.
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WORKS CITED
Cake. “The Distance.” Fashion Nugget. Capricorn Records, 1996.
Workforce Central Florida. “Understanding Four Generations in the Workplace.” 12, October 2013, 21:15
<http://www.workforcecentralflorida.com/>
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