That would be the episode title if this story was an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Except they're in their mid to late 20s while I was 20...but I digress. Since I made the HIMYM reference I might as well frame this story as if it were an episode of said show.
Kids, have you ever wondered if people think to themselves, "how did I get to this place in life?" I'm sure a lot do, but I don't. I can trace my current life's direction, most especially my job, to the Quarter Life Crisis.
Some background is required. Fall of 97. I'm 19 soon to be 20. I've basically been named Assistant Manager of the retail store I was working for part time (it became official not long after). I stop going to college classes (though I obviously keep working on the shows at the theatre, because I've told quite a few stories about that particular show), but I make the mistake of not actually withdrawing from them. Cut to late winter/early spring 98. Said retail store fires me for really bogus reasons (that I heard were actually protested by a couple of store managers, which made me feel good, but let's look at this: I announced my intention to become a full manager and take over a vacant store after I basically ran the store I was an AM at until I inticed an old manager to come to it...and a week and half later, I'm being fired. Sheeeenanigans!! It's not the story, but let's just say that there was a new regional manager who had a vastly different agenda than the old, and was weeding out people she saw as being too latched in to the old...one of my old managers, right before the new RM drummed him out, tried to warn me, but I was 20 year old kid. Invincible. This was a very long parenthetical). Around the same time I receive the letter from the college, telling me that I've been academically dismissed, which is a nice way of saying "you flunked out, dumbass."
So, I learned a couple valuable lessons there...there's no such thing as job security, and if you stop going to classes, WITHDRAW FROM THEM.
Well, I guess I got used to working full time or something, because my first solution was to go to a temp agency. I started getting work almost immediately (being able to type really fast helps a lot in the temp world, no matter what gender you are, but believe it or not, I actually type faster now). Then, around late May, early June, I get an opportunity at a temp-to-hire position. Customer Service Call Center for the now defunct MCI Wireless. The first three weeks were in a isolated room being trained (though the last couple of days we started taking calls while being shadowed by an experienced employee, while being monitored by the rest of the class one by one...talk about pressure). I got in to that groove for about a month once the classes were over.
I was making decent money, but wow, not my kinda job. You were expected to always be on the
phone and there were managers monitoring how long you kept your line off the queue list. But you also had to fill out a lot of paperwork depending on the nature of the call...so you'd have to learn to multi-task and do that paperwork while handling BS type calls, like angry guy doesn't like his bill, etc. That was easy, I'm not horrible at multi-tasking...but not in that enviornment. Too much stress. This was back in the days when cell phones didn't have the convenient packages with minutes per month/free nights and weekends and people used airtime WAY more so they were always pissed off at the size of their bills. And half the time I couldn't understand them because of various accents. Suffice to say, it started to take a toll on me. I really started living for lunch break and watching the clock a lot. Even though all the experienced people thought I was worth keeping, which they told me a lot. They had a lot of turnaround, after all, hence the temp-to-hire stuff.
Then, in August...The Quarter Life Crisis.
I woke up, and dragged my ass in to work. All the feelings that had been building about everything basically came to the surface at once after the first caller of the day. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? I can do better than this! Etc. I went out for a break (that was one cool thing that place had going for it...they recognized that it was unfair to let people have cigarette breaks but not give similar breaks for non-smokers), and walked around the building.
And in a way, the QLC (get it?) made me snap.
I walked back in, I grabbed the few personal effects I had at my cube, and I walked to the floor manager and said "sorry, I can't do this anymore, I'm out." And proceeded to leave while they were still spluttering.
I do kinda feel bad about just walking out, but that's why I refer to this as the QLC...I really had a form of a breakdown that day. And damn this story is long.
I didn't even drive home. A lot of the middle of that day is hazy. I remember talking to a lot of people about what happened, but the only person that I specifically remember talking to was, of all people, my then best friends then girlfriend. I think I picked her up and we went to the music store or something. Or maybe it was just on the phone...shit...like I said, really hazy. But somewhere in there, I realized I had to go back to school...that's what was really bugging me that whole time. And various people (including said ex of the ex-best friend) reinforced that. So, still under the influence of the QLC, I drive right up to the college. Wasn't that far, it was a JC after all. My first stop was the theatre...old habits die hard.
And we now get to the exact point where I can see where I am in life today from what happened 10 years ago.
I walk in to the theatre, and my friends John and Justin are there (I know I've talked about John before, he now teaches set design at LSU, not sure if I've mentioned Justin...I would live with both of these guys, and another guy, for awhile right after I got my bachelors in 03). They've worked there as house technicians for awhile, and they're doing summer work. Cleaning, maintenance, that sort of thing. But it's near the end of summer, and both of them are leaving for regular colleges in the fall. I tell them I'm finding out about getting back in to school, and they tell me that if I'm successful, to come back when I'm done. I'm like, okay. Figure they just want to talk more.
So I go to admissions or whatever they called it, and found out I could definitely come back, but I would have to write a petition letter, and once back I was on probation. First sememster back I could only take one class, and it had to be a class I failed. Next semester, assuming I passed that first class, I'd be restricted to under 12 credits for two semesters. Completing that, I'd be off probation. So, if anybody wanted to know why it took me 5 years to get my associates degree after graduating high school...that's a big part. Academic probation is a biznitch.
I head back to the theatre, and tell John and Justin the (relative) good news. They then tell me that if I needed a job, well...they were leaving and the theatre facility manager (a really good guy named Pete) was actually on his way over to check on something for them. I stuck around, and after saying hi (I knew him from the "old days" of course), John and Justin were like "hey, Bart's looking for a job, he's coming back to school." Pete practically hired me on the spot. In fact, I do 
believe I ended up working for him two days later in the sweltering heat, going through a big metal container (like the one in the picture) outside looking for old storage items to throw away...that was a fun day.
Anyway, that's how I first started getting paid for technicians work. And if I didn't have that under my belt, I wouldn't have gotten the student employee job when I went to my four year school, and then wouldn't have had the full time job basically handed to me once I graduated.
All thanks to that Quarter Life Crisis.
Or maybe I'm simply psychic and I knew MCI Wireless would tank...naw.
how awesome would that be? 
