Working in Utah

I thought I would dedicate one post to all the jobs we worked while we were living in Utah. That way there won't be multiple boring posts about the jobs we had. So this is how we earned money while going to BYU.

Brian had applied to some nicer jobs on campus when we were still in Tennessee, but he didn't hear back for any of them. (These jobs you usually have to know someone to get the job, but it was worth a try). So when he got back he went to the custodial office and was able to get another custodial job. Fortunately his schedule allowed for him to take an afternoon shift, so he didn't have to work early morning. Unfortunately he was fully awake while he was cleaning and was fully aware of how bored he was.

Because I was in the Junior Core I didn't look for a job right away. After I got into the groove of the semester I realized I had some time and energy left and we were getting broke fast, so I started to look for a job. Unfortunately at that point all the good jobs were taken, and I had to work around my group members work schedules so I didn't take up the few times that our group could meet together. Well one day kind of on a whim I saw an add for dish help at the Cannon Center. I got the job immediately and I soon found out why. The work was bad enough, but I could easily handle the disgustingness of food left over, and even some of the creations made by freshman to make out lives harder. The real hard part was our supervisor didn't actually do much and go upset when we didn't finish up early enough. He was the only boss I ever had who made me cry (I didn't cry at work, I managed to make it to my car). The real kicker was at the end of the semester I was quitting, but they were bringing in the new people for the next semester to train, so there was about twice as many people in the dish room. I had an exit type interview and mentioned how relaxed the dish room was because there were so many people there. The supervisor replied that there was supposed to be that many people to have a full crew. No wonder it took us an extra half an hour each night. I was so glad to get out of that job.

After I got really upset that day in the dish room I started actively looking for a new job. I remembered that when I was in high school a neighbor in our ward was impressed by how well I did at an accounting competition and said I could have a job if I ever wanted one. He was a partner in a small accounting firm called Johnson and Associates. I called Steve up hopeful he could make some work for me. I was really lucky because they were going into busy season, and one of their employees had just left. Steve wanted me to work 20 hours and I wanted closer to 10 because I was still in the Junior Core and you had to get special permission to work more than 10 hours, so we settled on 15. I started out doing payroll for his clients and the quarterly payroll reports. I also did the secretarial stuff during the summer when they had less employees. I worked on entering the books for the small companies they did taxes for, and by the end I was putting in the individual returns they did during busy season. I worked there until Joshua was born, part time until I graduated and then full time for four months afterwards. I really enjoyed working there and learned a lot too.

Brian was able to move up in the working world too. He only had to be a custodian for one more semester, and then he was able to get a job as a TA for a low level chemical engineering course. He was able to do his homework if no one came in during office hours, and was able to set some of his own working hours. He only worked as a TA for one semester (that's all they will hire you for sometimes anyway, because the class is over).

For the spring and going forward until we moved away Brian was able to work as a research assistant. He worked on updating a chemical data base that BYU had that commerical companies would pay to subscribe to the information. It was a really nice job because he could work as little as 10 hours a week up to 20 hours if he was in school, or full time when he wasn't in school. He was also able to work remotely from our laptop and choose his own hours almost entirely. It was also a real resume booster, so it was an all around winner job.

I also had one other job. One summer term I was going to school and wasn't taking very many classes, and there wasn't very much for me to do at work, so I looked for a job on campus. I was able to pick up 10 hours a week working at FARMS.(I don't think it is called that anymore). They were totally cool about working around my school and other work schedule and for me only working a term. I entered their income and did a few other secretarial things as needed. Then I trained my replacement and it was done. So there are our jobs for when we went to BYU.