Wow Blake. Thanks for sharing all that! There's many things I'd like to comment on there but I'll hold off and give other people a chance too. You asked us to post things things here so we could all get to know each other a little better and I think that's a great idea.
It would take forever for me to answer all of those questions in one post. lol So I'll pick and choose for now.
My very first job was working for McDonald's. It was minimum wage of course and it paid me the princely sum of $2.95 an hour. haha Before taxes, FICA, etc. I was rollin' in dough. I had the world by the cojones. haha NOT!!
I'm not working right now due to health reasons. My last job and longest serving one was as a restaurant manager for 17 years.
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One of my favorite jobs was working as a student employee on campus in the admission's office of my alma mater when I was 19-20 y/o. I and a couple other student employees did mostly clerical stuff. We helped process applications for incoming
Freshmen, calculated their GPA's, did data input on the computers, filing, copy machine duty, etc. That particular section of the large office had 2 full-time employees. Both were women who were about 58 and 28 y/o. Very nice "bosses" as it were. They felt more like friends. I actually looked forward to leaving class and going into "work".
This was also the site of one of my favorite workplace memories. I never told anyone about it until I mentioned it to my mother about a year ago. The subject of our conversation was, "Were we ever in a situation where we might have changed someone's life (for the better of course) by just coincidentally being in the right place at the right time."
As I say, one of the jobs I did most often in the office was calculating GPA's for incoming
Freshmen applicants. You'd assume that wasn't necessary because their high schools do that automatically on their transcripts. The thing is that universities calculate the GPA on only core curriculum classes. They automatically exclude all grades for classes like Phys Ed, Industrial arts, School yearbook staff, Cheerleading, Art class, Home Ec., Typing, Auto shop, etc. Only core curriculum subjects like math, science, history, social studies, English, foreign languages, and the like are included when calculating the "true" GPA for college admission purposes. Since those non core curriculum classes tend to be those where most students get A's or B's...once you exclude them, the students' GPA's will usually fall lower than the GPA they think they are carrying based on what their high school tells them. Sometimes much lower...
All of us in the office including our bosses spent most of our time calculating GPA's and the follow-up processing. All of the applications done by student employees were double-checked by our bosses for accuracy before final processing.
Let's say the minimum GPA required at the time was a 3.0 If a student falls anywhere below that they are automatically denied. The same goes if their SAT or ACT scores fall below the minimum. But they have option to appeal to our admission board of about 10 people for further review. But only if they choose to do so. If they do, they are encouraged to send in letters of recommendation to bolster their case. What the universities don't tell people outright is that if they are a minority or a potential athlete that that holds some extra sway with the appeals committee. They may choose to allow them to enter under the terms of an academic probation status.
One day I was told to make copies of about 8 files of people who were appealing their denials. It meant making 10 copies of every single document in their file and then stapling the individual packets together in 10 stacks for each member of the board to review simultaneously. The machine I used did not have a collator. You could only copy one page at time.
So I am standing at the copier working on documents fro one young man who has a GPA of about 2.78 His SAT scores were average but passing. As you stand there waiting for 10 documents to copy you have little else to do but read the pages you are going to put on the copier next. The boy's parent sent in a letter expressing how heartbroken and shocked they were at their son being denied. They ask for extra consideration for their son. A teacher of his sends in a positive letter of recommendation. The boy's pastor sends in a letter of recommendation, speaking of him in very glowing terms. He expresses shock and dismay that such a fine young man would be struggling to get accepted in the first place.
In a quick look at his file the I saw the young man in question was not a minority and had nothing in his records indicating a particular sports interest or talent. I knew he was probably toast.
So I have his transcript in hand ready to set it down on the copy machine and I see where an "A" has been crossed out in pencil by our staff because it's a non academic class. But it's in error because the class is something like Spanish. I knew this would improve his GPA but I wasn't certain it would push him over the top. I was reasonably confident that it
could. Or at the very least, I knew that it would improve his chances with the appeals committee. I stopped everything I was doing right then and there.
I practically ran across the hall to my desk in the other room. Very discreetly and without telling anybody what I was doing, I recalculated his GPA factoring in the extra "A". He got a 3.02! He made it by the hair of his chinny chin chin... But he was in!
No need to go through the appeals committee. No need to wonder if all his dreams for the future were in doubt. He was in. Fair and square.
I quietly took the file over to the person who had done the GPA the first time. In discreet and hushed tones so others nearby wouldn't hear, I explained the situation and showed her the transcript and the new GPA. She kept her composure but she was quite shocked and embarrassed at the mistake. Plus the fact that it had almost made it to the appeals committee.
I didn't have to notify my boss. Because the person who did the original application and GPA
was my boss! haha She quickly rechecked my math and then changed the GPA in the computer. Once that was done it would automatically send the young man a letter of acceptance to the university.
I never told the older boss what happened. I never bragged about it to the other student employees. I never told anyone about it. That never went beyond the two of us.
It does give me reason to smile though that a young man and his family almost 30 years ago were on pins and needles waiting to open the mailbox. Both hoping and yet dreading to see if there was a letter from the university regarding their appeal. As the student-to-be opened the letter and the whole household surely celebrated...it does my heart good to know that I had a hand in that.
to the real world of menial entry-level jobs! 
But,
