When I became pregnant with my third child, again I wanted to stay home with my family. Again, I didn’t have a plan and still didn’t know how to talk to Juan about money. I left Simas Floor Company anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my job back when I needed to return to work. I worked temp jobs and was so miserable. Fortunately, I found work at a private flooring company in Stockton which gave me the most freedom to put my interior design education to use. I was able to really grow there. I would meet with contractors in the early morning and families in the evening. I was gone often but my business was growing through referrals. I was designing!
It was challenging work because I was paid by commission. Even though some weeks I couldn’t guarantee a decent pay check, it was still work I wanted to do. So I worked more. The more I worked, the more I was away from home. The work got more challenging because the housing bubble was nearing its peak. HGTV was popular and suddenly everyone was a designer. I had to learn how be a stronger saleswoman which I wasn’t so good at doing.
But what really tipped the scale was one day Juan argued with me about his socks being dirty. I hadn’t been home to do to the laundry. Which was annoying but again he was young and still too machismo to argue about it. I didn’t want to argue. It was just another reason to look for something stable.
That’s when I attended a job fair at the Civic Auditorium. I had no idea what I was doing there or what I was supposed to do. I walked around without a resume or contact information. I hadn’t approached any table. I bumped into a previous coworker who told me to go to the Kaiser table. I didn’t know anything about medicine I told her. She laughed and said just go! I approached the table and signed up for an interview for the Kaiser Permanente Member Services Call Center.
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