Guys, do you know what I was doing 10 years ago today? I was embarking a cruise ship for the first time.

I was reminded of this because we’re having some growing pains out here at the circus and trying to figure out more effective ways to orient new people and get them the proper training. Because I am a packrat nerd, I thought, “I wonder if I still have my binder of HAL stuff.” And I do.

I started going through it and I found my first contract ever.

Right before ships I was a theology grad student. It took me three years to get that degree and for two of them, I worked as a stage manager for a tiny touring theater troupe in Lynchburg that went to hospitals and juvenile detention centers on the weekends trying to put on these fairly terrible “don’t do drugs” skits. Between the $500/month I made doing that and picking up a few days substitute teaching around my class schedule, I could get by with some roommates splitting the rent bill and my parents footing the bill for my tuition.

My last year of grad school, I worked as an insurance agent at Nationwide and did most of my classes online. The 2008 recession hit my family pretty hard and I felt like I couldn’t take any more money from my folks. I figured I was probably done with stage managing.

Then my life plans all got a little shook up and I went from having a very clear idea of what I thought I would be doing for the next few years to literally nothing. This prompted something of a nervous breakdown and the very logical decision in the middle of that breakdown was to move to San Francisco with my best friend because I’d never seen the Pacific Ocean.

I had no plan. I was 23 years old with a pile of degrees in fairly useless subjects. When I interviewed at the Rainforest Café in Fisherman’s Wharf, because I had worked in a Rainforest Café in New Jersey several summers in college, they told me I wasn’t qualified. I was shot down for job after job after job after moving to one of the only places more expensive than New York City.

I had clearly lost my mind. And the Pacific Ocean is pretty and all but it didn’t quite make up for the completely mad decision I had made. I sat down on a bench at Fisherman’s Wharf and had a pity party for one. When I looked up, I noticed a cruise ship.

I had been on a cruise once when I was 12. My brother was 3 and he performed in a kids talent show. I ran a spot light for it.

I thought, “Cruise ships have theaters.”

I wrapped up my pity party, headed back to my apartment and Googled cruise lines. I applied to every one I could find. Seriously, I did about 25 applications that afternoon.

And then I sat on the floor and watched Scrubs in my depressed haze that scared my roommate pretty good every time she would come home and find me like that.

It wasn’t a classy time in my life.

The next day I went back to applying for any job I could find, going to interviews and being told I wasn’t qualified. This continued for several days until I found myself at the airport, interviewing to work at an FYE.

The manager was so excited I had a theater degree. Actors make the best salespeople. …I wasn’t really in a position to point out I was 110% not an actor, I just needed the job. He offered it to me on the spot and I hesitated. Which, in retrospect, was nuts. I told him I had a few more interviews that day and could I call him the next morning? He agreed and I walked out of the FYE wondering how my life had come to this and super motivated to do anything I could in the next 24 hours to not make FYE my fate.

Please note that I’m not knocking working at FYE, and I do distinctly remember a weight being lifted off my shoulders, like, hey girl, at least you won’t starve, but does anyone really dream of working at FYE? At any rate, I didn’t. This may also have been inadvertently influenced by moving in with my best friend who had an incredible first job in her chosen field – but maybe that’s the difference between majoring in theater, literature and theology and majoring in chemistry and industrial hygiene. 

It was a Tuesday. I wandered down to the San Francisco public library and got a library card since clearly free library books were going to be the only entertainment I could ever afford in that city. I slumped down outside the library and called my mom, who seemed further away than ever (though to be fair, California to New Jersey is pretty far). She said she was very proud of me for getting the job at FYE – even though I’m sure every decision I made that year scared her to death and convinced her my brain was broken.

I hung up and the phone rang again immediately and I thought it was her calling me back and instead it was a guy named Dan who proceeded to do the weirdest interview I’ve had for a job. “Do you have a valid passport?” “Can you get on a ship on Friday?”

When both of those were a yes, he told me someone might be in touch for a second interview. I hung up and laughed because clearly no one was ever going to call me again for a second interview for a magic job that would keep me from working at FYE. About 5 minutes later, the phone rang and a guy named Ken asked me both those questions again followed by “have you ever stage managed before?”

And that, folks, was my whole interview. Ken hung up. I went back to my apartment and resumed Googling for jobs so I wouldn’t have to work at FYE. A few hours later, Dan called back again and offered me the job. Less than 72 hours later I was on a cruise ship.

Ten years later, I’m still a stage manager.

Here are a few things I learned from that weird little period back at the beginning of my career.

• You can’t ever stop moving. I mean, the Scrubs-depression haze at the end of each day was real, but I spent hours every day applying for any job that I could possibly find. First the stage management jobs. Second any theater jobs. Third jobs that would make sure I could eat.
• Don’t be above FYE. I wasn’t above FYE. I was sad FYE might have to be my life for a while, but I was prepared to do it. It’s a side effect of the next step.
• The best time to take crazy risks is when you’re young. You just might have to do things like work at FYE to make them work. If you lose a year or two of great income at the beginning of your career, that’s not awesome, but it’s easy time to recoup. The risks you take during that time can set up your whole career path.
• Don’t be stupid about money. If you want to chase any unusual dream, whether it’s working in the arts or moving to the other side of your country to see an ocean, you’ll probably have to make trade offs – like library based entertainment and free strolls around Fisherman’s Wharf (where the Rainforst Café looms and laughs at you).

There have been times over the last few years where I just sit back and laugh, because I can vividly remember sitting on Fisherman’s Wharf and seeing that cruise ship. I had no idea at the time that was a moment that would guide my whole career path, but it was.

Do you have any vivid career moments in your past?

 

If you’re curious about ship life, here are a few other cruise ship themed posts I’ve written:

• A Day in the Life of a Cruise Ship Stage Manager
• True Story: I Lived on a Cruise Ship
• 5 Lessons I Learned on Cruise Ships
• How to Get a Job on a Cruise Ship
• What to Pack to Live on a Cruise Ship
• Make Friends with the Crew: 3 Ways to Save Money on Your Next Cruise