Well living in the cacoon of studies and student life (I didn't party either), you miss out on the real life episodes and trails that face people in the everyday work life.

Like traffic, dorkie bosses, wingding employee's, 1/2 of your cheque taken by taxes and so on. It was so nice to live at school, and get cut rates on everything cuz you were a student (who can't spell - right?).

For summer work, I got a job at the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede in the Merchandising department working in the warehouse, filling customer orders for souviners, and running an 8 member staff during the weeks of the Stampede.

This was a very good time to practice the things I learned in Management at SAIT, but sometimes you find what you learn, and what is real life don't mix very well!

It was interesting, and I enjoyed working there. The staff was very friendly and helpful, but needless to say, they were full time, and I was part time (contract) so there was a bit of difference in how things were looked at.

With my bosses and hard work from the staff under me, we managed to keep the losses to under 1% for a $700,000 inventory. That is exceptional considering industry standards are 2-3%. Considering the volume and time restraints put on us, we did very well. Just for example, some stampede buckles alone go for over $130 dollars. I'm not sure if some of the staff didn't take any and sell on the side though...

In the final year of graduation 1995, I went job hunting and came across Primerica Financial Services. They had a great outlook on life, a great idea in trying to educate the general public on how mutual funds work, and term insurance versus whole life/cash value products that do more harm then good to people hoping for a nice retirement setup.

I worked at this for a year, but unfortunately being a hard closed business, plus being on 100% commission with no outside income allowed by law, it was difficult. Death and taxes is not something someone want's to talk about. Plus the controversial subject of life insurance doesn't help either.

I did this for a year like I said, got blasted by a few on the newsgroups on the internet, I still can't believe they lie so openly, but eventually had to face the facts that I wasn't making a living out of being with Primerica.

Sadly, the company grew large, but forgot it's roots with the small guy, the new sales guy, and many have dropped off and left the company. Many of my friends have left now, and many of the managers have and are leaving also. I feel that if PFS doesn't wake up to the needs of the new sales agents, they are a not going to be around much longer.

One reason I'll add I also left PFS was because my immediate manager, Brad, suffered physical pains and stress, so much that he had to take time off and get healthy again. He never got visited by the upline managers, let alone called much by phone, and never got any sickness benefits or support. I saw him go from a Regional Vice President with up to 17 people down to one or two of us under him. He was a sad man, so much, yet now all gone. The company is doing well, and the ones above him are doing well, but he wasn't. Something wrong with this picture.

You can only sell hype for so long...

Moving on, in the beginning of 1996 I had left PFS, and went to look for a real job. One that doesn't feed it's employee's only promises, and "could be's" but real cash, and real benefits.

I bounced around from temp job to temp job, and falling behind one month on rent. It was a very difficult time in the early months of 1996. Slowly I managed to dig myself out, and with the help of God, paid everyone back who I owed.

My break came in May 1996 when Schlumberger Oilfield Services was looking for a data operator and they hired me on. I'm a DOS/WINDOWS guy, and had to learn VAX/VMS all of the sudden! Now soon we will be going to UNIX and Windows NT. It's not programming if that is what you are wondering what I do, it's transmission control of data. Meaning when the oilfield trucks do seismic testings, and other things down an oilwell to see if there is oil or gas there, they send that information via satellite to here in Calgary from all over Canada, and parts of the States. We process that information and make prints, floppies, dat tapes and so on with it. Then if need be, ship the data out within an hour to the client. It get hectic at times with the deadlines, but when some wells are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can expect the owners/companies to be edgy.

Well they laid off a 100 of us from Schlumberger back in 1997 due to low oil prices, it was the best thing that happened to me! I went on to get my certification in Microsoft, with a MCSE, MCT, A+, MOUS, MCP and so on. I went into the training aspect and doors have opened which I am thankful for the places I've taught in: Netcor, ATTA, Bow Valley College, Red Deer College, and so on.

You can read my profile by clicking here: Instructor Tom's Profile