Blockbuster Video…one of the best and most exhausting jobs I have ever had, and probably will EVER have. I was so blessed to have this job. I graduated from high school in 2002, and I started work in August at the brand new Super Target that had opened near my house. My friend Vicki and I got hired together, and we helped turn the old Montgomery Ward store into a Super Target. So I worked there through Black Friday and into December, decided me and retail weren’t meant to be, and I left. I started the job hunt just after Christmas, and it was brutal. I had 4 months at Super Target under my belt, so I had little to no experience. I got through a few months with babysitting alone, but I had my first car (a PRECIOUS yellow 2003 Volkswagen Beetle) so the car payment needed to be paid. Babysitting was barely cutting it.
My last stop before class one day was at a Blockbuster near my community college. The manager seemed like a complete tool and didn’t sound encouraging about anything. I filled out an application on their little kiosk, talked with him for a few minutes, and then went on my way. A few weeks later they called to say I got the job, and I was thrilled! My two older siblings had worked at Blockbuster and they had seemed to really enjoy it. Plus, I got 5 free movie rentals a week and access to movies before they hit the shelves. What could be better than that???
My coworkers, actually. Shortly after I arrived, the manager left and a new guy, Mike, came in. Then three kids from my old high school were hired, and we were all the Dream Team for a little while. We GENUINELY were like family. We covered without hesitation for each other, and the dynamic was something you just don’t find in many businesses. The assistant managers were LuCinda, Christy, Margaret, and Quan. I adored them. When I wasn’t working or at school, I was quite often up at the store visiting with them and pitching in here and there. I was miserable at home a lot, and they never seemed to be bothered by this 18-year old hanging around. They listened to my boy troubles, family troubles, anything and everything. I was even a bridesmaid in Margaret’s wedding. We all hung out outside of work a lot.
Working alongside Edgar, Stephanie and the high school guys (Eric, Brian, and Andrew) was awesome, we immediately started acting like siblings: joking and laughing constantly while on shift. None of us could be called lazy (except our manager, Mike, haha), we all busted our butts. We had a pretty big store and there was constantly stuff to do. This was MUCH better than Target, my detail-oriented-obsessive-compulsive personality thrived there. If someone offered me a time machine to go back and relive those days, I would. I LOOOOOOVED my job there, as exhausting and draining as it could be. You were constantly moving, there was no standing around looking bored. Towards the end of my time there, a few of the assistant managers started showing me closing duties and giving me slightly more things to do, they knew I liked to stay busy to pass time and they thought I’d maybe one day like to be an assistant manager myself.
Sadly, I was horribly underpaid at Blockbuster, I think almost all of them were. We worked SO FRICKIN’ HARD each and every day, and I was only making $7.10 an hour. I ended up taking on two other part-time jobs while I worked there. Monday through Friday my schedule was working from early in the morning until around 2:00 as a nanny, then driving to Sewell to work from 3:00-7:00, and then off to work at Blockbuster until midnight. Usually two nights I was off from Blockbuster, mostly during the week since I had more time for Blockbuster on weekends and wanted the hours. Saturdays brought a 10-hour day at Sewell, then I’d leave a little after 5:00 to close at Blockbuster (which was 1am on the weekends). Sunday I worked at my church in childcare from 8:30-12:30, then went and worked at Blockbuster. It was during this time that I had my own place for the first time, and I needed all of these jobs to afford my rent, bills, and still have fun money. Being bad at managing money and being exhausted all the time, I had to quit Blockbuster and nannying to work just at Sewell, which meant I moved back home. I hated to leave Blockbuster, but The Gang was already starting to break up and move on to different things. The only one still there to this day is Stephanie, who is also the one I talk to the most still. I have Margaret and LuCinda on Facebook, and Andrew (husband) and I had Andrew (coworker) as a waiter recently at Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill. But other than that, I’ve lost touch with everyone. That’s fine, of course, I always think back on my time at Blockbuster as a fun time. Being right out of high school and trying to decide what I wanted to be, not to mention dealing with friends going away to school and not seeing the same people I used to hang with anymore, was a trying time in my life. And I know that I made it through SOLELY because I had the biggest support system I could’ve hoped for. They each meant so much to me, and still do. We were the most bad-ass Blockbuster around, haha, and I will always be eternally grateful for my Blockbuster family.
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