I tried my hand at college for a year and almost one semester, but it was not for me. All I really wanted to do was write. I didn't feel like suffering through tough math and science classes in order to obtain an English degree with the rare likelihood I may someday end up a published novelist. Instead, I chose to work. I worked at a few dead end jobs like every nineteen year-old. I was pretty bored with every job I held until I found a job in another field I loved: law enforcement. In 1999, two months before I turned twenty-seven, I became a dispatcher for the city police, which I loved! The excitement was addicting and, though it was a lot to learn, I thrived in the challenging environment. I did not love the constant switch from days to nights every 6-8 weeks and I really hated constantly being screamed at by the public I was trying to help. So 2 years and 8 months later, I transferred to the office and became a Community Service Officer. I did everything from data entry, direct traffic, process evidence, community events, take minor walk-in reports, and a large variety of other things.
The last year and a half of my time with the police I was trained to be the city's crime analyst, which meant predicting crime patterns, creating charts & maps, and developing a weekly crime bulletin. This was where it all fell apart. I had taken over the position from a woman who was now the office supervisor and she hated that I was continually praised by the police chief, detectives, and other officers for my work. This was praise she had not received. Jealousy reared it's very ugly head and she created lies about me to the point I was placed on probation and had to defend myself in order to save both my job and reputation.
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Acts 4:29
Remember in my last blog that I said I hated being scrutinized at every turn as a PK? Well, this was ten times worse. I had to go before board after board of any where from two to six people and defend myself against false accusations. I was told I was allowed to have a lawyer or other advocate present, but they never told me when these meetings would take place and would simply ambush me and demand I attend one of these interrogations. If I refused to speak, they threated to fire me on the spot. The moment I started to pray that God would guide my words, I found myself suddenly taking a stand against the unethical and immoral behaviors going on in the office. I had never intended to do such a thing, and yet, low and behold, I would be in one of these abusive meetings and bold words would come out of my mouth that I surprised myself by saying! I took a courageous stand for Christ I never knew I was capable of taking. Almost all of my co-workers turned against me, and even my friends told me to either shut up, quit rocking the boat, or leave. Even the Christians in the department refused to stand by me and did not want me speaking out against the blatant sexual behaviors, supervisors speaking out against Christian employees, and nepotism going on in the office. My own supposed best friend in the department even thought I was exaggerating about the persecutions I was going through and told me so. (Several years later she apologized after those in the office that went after me turned against her as well.) I would go to work day after day receiving the silent treatment from co-workers I had given birthday & holiday gifts to for seven years. I was very alone and isolated in a department I had once loved like family. They had praised me and made me employee of the month in 2005, and made my life a nightmare in 2006. I went from hero to zero in a very short amount of time. To this day I am not certain if jealousy or religious discrimination was the issue that started the whole nightmarish ball rolling. Either way, I fully believe it was spiritual warfare and it was all in God's plans. I never found out the city's final ruling against me because the day after the last meeting set to determine my fate, I was offered another job, so I grabbed a hold of it like it a drowning man reaches for a life preserver. I turned in my resignation before my boss got to work and never once looked back.
My next job was another dead-end, boring, low-paying one, barely worth a blip in this story. It is only significant because it plays a role in taking me to another major turning point in my life. If I had not been so discontent working there, I never would have started looking for another job in less than a year.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Another great love of mine is animals. I have a great compassion for them and have always wanted to work with animals. In childhood records, whenever asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I often wrote things like: "elephant trainer," or "rodeo rider," and even "veterinarian." Anyway, I'm getting off the subject! I had once applied for a job as a veterinary technician sometime in the early 1990's. I had a working job interview that went so well they almost hired me on the spot, but chose someone with experience instead. I came up against this same wall each time I applied for a job in the veterinary field. I couldn't even get hired as a kennel attendant without experience. So how do you get experience without being hired? Well, in February 2007, a veterinarian in Eagle decided to give three of us the opportunity to work as vet techs even though we didn't have any training. Leslie was so stressed out, she quit and went back to being our receptionist (which I'm glad she did because she is one of my all-time favorite co-workers). Maria quit because she had an ill daughter and needed to work closer to home. That left me and one other experienced vet tech, who had to have knee surgery and was out of commission for almost 2 months. I was absolutely thrown into to the deep end and expected to swim like an Olympian. I learned the job quickly and successfully, but it was nothing as I had expected. It was a very tough job physically and emotionally and I both loved and hated it with a passion. The 15-year vet tech vet (ha ha) eventually got fired for a bad attitude and Natalie came aboard as my new co-worker. Along with Leslie, Natalie became my other favorite all-time co-worker, and she even became like a sister to me. When she was fired at the end of 2009, due to circumstances beyond her control, it all went down hill from there.
To be continued...
P.S. For a little bit more of my testimony, you can also read my below blog:
http://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2014/05/prologue.html
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