I scrolled through this massive thread and didn't see a post by me, so here it goes (WORD CASTLE INCOMING, SORRY):
I started working at age 10 as a paperboy after my neighbor transferred it to me when he moved away. I used to go with him on the route all the time, which was fun. It was a good way to get a few bucks in my pocket and get some exercise. I did that for 5 years and quit to work at a small mom-and-pop grocery store that catered to the rich people in my town. I learned a lot of life lessons there while being introduced to dealing with the general public. I first got my taste of management from this place as well. I worked there for about 5 years and quit when they wouldn't give me the day off to attend my grandmother's funeral. At that point, I was also working 2 days a week in the parts department of a Chevy/Hyundai dealer, which was WAY more interesting than dealing with crazy people looking for the perfect carton of eggs (Ever see Clerks? Yeah, those people are REAL). My stay at the dealer was short lived, as my dad had an opening at the landscaping supply warehouse where he worked as a driver, and that paid $2 more an hour. I worked there for a summer and then found a part time gig slinging parts at Autozone. My buddy Greg worked there, and he liked it, so I was interested on going there. After what was probably the most insane job interview I have ever had (two corporate goons from their Tennessee HQ did the grilling and were freaking INTENSE), I was in. Yeah!
I've talked about my experiences there at great length more than a few times, but I'll summarize it: It poisoned my soul and gave me disdain for my fellow humans that I am still working out of my system to this very day. Everything bad about society on a whole was seen by my eyes while working there. Desperation, misdirected anger, confusion, ignorance, inebriation, and more were things I saw on a daily basis from both customers AND fellow coworkers. Despite this endless cycle of malignancy, I found some good in working there. I met some good people and learned some hard lessons about how things work in the real world. After subjecting myself to this horrible anthropological experiment for 5 years, I finished college and applied to a local financial giant that was the springboard for many careers from local friends and family members. I remember dancing in the alternator aisle when I got the call with the job offer! What I wasn't prepared for was nearly 10 years of entrapment in dead-end corporate HELL.
I started at the big finance place in the summer of 2006 as a Portfolio Accountant. At first, things were great! I wasn't dealing with the public, and I had some buddies that worked there as well so we had a good time. I picked it up real quick, and was on the fast path to promotion. Then, out of nowhere, our boss packed her stuff up in a box and left. For good. This caused all sorts of havoc, and my team was never the same. Furthermore, that promotion I was going for was given to the business head's buddy off the street. I had over a year of experience, and this guy was selling real estate. WTF. After that, they sent me to another team where the situation was not great. I was promoted, but then almost immediately demoted when I had to cover for some kid that went to JAIL FOR 6 MONTHS IN ANOTHER STATE (apparently that's not grounds for firing someone at that place) and missed out on all the training I needed to keep my promotion. During this time, the market started collapsing (recession, baby!) and the company decided that they were going to close our building, so I found another job internally at a different office further away from home.
When this thread started, I was at this stage in my career. That job was crazy hard. I was one of 10 people in a company of 20,000+ people that had this job function. I had trouble at first, but eventually figured it out. I had a decent boss and one of the guys on the team ended up being eerily similar to me and we became good friends. The team was really close for a while and worked hard, but things got weird. After a few years, I found out that three of the women on the team were basically stalking me and a few of the other team members through our social media accounts. We reported it to HR and blocked them, but HR said it was outside of work and not a problem. Then, they stopped talking to us altogether. One of the women told her husband a bunch of lies about a coworker and the dude showed up to threaten my friend. Then, another one of them decided to go insane on the floor, throw stuff at me, and call me all sorts of obscenities. I went to HR, they did nothing. Then, it happened again; went to HR, and somehow I got in trouble for getting yelled at and stuff thrown at me. All the while, the soul crushing commute consumed 3+ hours of my life a day, and I became a complete mess. Also, again, I was strung along with the promise of promotion with no result. I was getting underpaid and things were not good at home because of that. I went without a raise for 5 YEARS, even though I had great reviews; "market instability" was always the excuse. And on top of all that, they were making cuts every 3rd Wednesday of the month for years, laying people off unceremoniously and inhumanely. Security would make the rounds, and every conference room got a box of tissues for when people started crying. They got especially layoff heavy during the holidays, which was a nice touch.
I reached my breaking point after about 5 years of this. I was done being treated like trash, and started seeking out other employment.
At first, I looked internally. I had an interview where I absolutely nailed it. The hiring manager and I immediately hit it off, and he basically told me the job was mine. Then, a month passed and I noticed the position had been filled. I emailed the manager, and he said he couldn't comment. I then asked my new manager (the old one had enough as well and quit!) and he said my position was locked and I was not allowed to seek promotion or transfer internally. Being one of 10 people that knows how to do a job is great to a fault. That was the fault; I was stuck there forever.
BERK.
A few weeks before, my buddy Greg also had enough of his job at the financial giant and left to work for a small company closer to home in their IT department. He loved the place, and I was jealous. Mere hours after I learned the news that I was stuck in a poop sandwich, he calls me and tells me a coworker just got spectacularly canned and there was an opening. I sent along my resume, got an interview, and got the hell out of that corporate berkshow and never looked back. After nearly 15 years of constant disappointment, I FINALLY HAD A DECENT JOB. 
I've been at this place 3 years next month, and while it's had its ups and downs, I love it. It's closer to home (I cut 2+hrs time off my commute!!!) and the people here are great. I have a real voice in what we do, and we really get things done. I also get face time with the CEO on a regular basis. THE CEO! I saw the CEO at the old place exactly once amid his entourage of hired goon security, and if you looked at him the wrong way, you were GONE. Needless to say, I plan on staying here a long time. It's family owned, and I feel like part of a great team here.
And as many of you know, back in 2015, I started freelance writing. After reading car magazines for years, I always dreamed of being the writer and not just the reader. I went to college and majored in History, and learned valuable skills on how to write in my time there. I wrote for myself, but never shared it with anyone else because I was afraid to. After feeling worthless for years at all those jobs, I didn't want to deal with the rejection. That started to change around 2014. While down at the $2014 Challenge, I had a conversation out by the pool with none other than David S. Wallens. I befriended David on the night of our midnight Jeep XJ-R Turbo Parking Lot Thrash during the $2010 Challenge when I was the de facto host to the gathering crowd while the guys wrenched on the car. What I didn't know then was how that night, entertaining a bunch of people while my friends were fabbing up turbo plumbing by flashlight in a hotel parking lot, would change my life forever.
Back to that conversation in 2014: David and I talked about a bunch of stuff, but I always circled back to the question, "How can I become a writer?". The answer is simple: just write! Wait for the right moment, and stick yourself out there. So I did. The moment we arrived back home, I started with chronicling all the stupid automotive mishaps my friends and I got into when we were younger. It was a lot of fun.
Then, the moment! We had a photo shoot with BangShift.com, and one Brian Lohnes. He was a local guy and we had been growing up in parallel, doing the same things and going to the same places just minutes apart for years. He got a break years ago writing for Hot Rod Magazine and David Freiburger, and never forgot how cool that feeling was. I asked if I could send a story his way and he agreed. I shot him over "The Monte Story", which is my favorite story to tell new car guys I meet. He loved it, and threw it up on the site. Check it out if you want! This is also the origin story for GRM'er Pseudosport's name, so there's that.
Since then, I became a regular contributor to BangShift, I've written stories right here for the fine folks at GRM (talk about a dream come true!), and I'm a contributor on my friend's video game site SmashJT.Com. I've had to take some time away from this for the past few months due to my wife being ill, but I'll be back at it soon. 
Only then it seemed I still enjoyed it.
