Scott Sharp
INTRODUCTION
This profession I’ve chosen occurred mostly by accident. When I was fresh out of high school I was much like most graduates; confused, anxious, all knowing, entitled and sometimes downright lazy. The previous four years all I could think about was graduation. The so called real world would finally be mine to explore without parental guidance and people telling me what I can and cannot do with my life. Graduation came and went somewhat unceremoniously. I walked down the aisle, heard a few cheers, grabbed my diploma and then what? Then it hit me. It felt like losing someone really important to me. I was suddenly lost. The memory is vivid, heading back to my chair with my diploma in hand. I was completely lost. The pain in my gut was overwhelming. The normalcy I had grown to know and love was suddenly gone. These people that were my friends, I may never see again. Would we all go our separate ways? Would we speak often or at all? What happens Monday when we don’t return to school?
Throughout high school I had a job at a local grocery store. Bagging groceries may not sound like much of a job, but it was amazing! My best friends were made during these years. Hilarity, heartbreak and violence all played a role during that time. During my senior year I received a promotion that required me to move to another store location. By this time most of my close friends had quit or been fired. Even though we weren’t working together anymore we all still hung out frequently so moving to another store was no big deal.
It was at this store that life truly changed or evolved into something much greater than I ever could have expected. The journey truly began at this store and set this crazy ride I call life into motion.
Corey Mitchell was bagging groceries for me. Yep, my promotion had me interacting with customers, slinging groceries down a conveyor belt and accepting cash, check or card for payment. I was living the high life now, I was a cashier! I really liked Corey. He was a young kid probably 16 years old and reminded me of me. Often I would talk with the baggers even though it was somewhat forbidden. Management doesn’t like it when cashiers interact with the baggers. Corey and I were having a normal discussion while we worked and then someone caught my eye. This girl walks by and immediately draws my attention. She’s got long brown hair, glasses and looks to be in a hurry. She was wearing a maroon collared shirt, blue jeans and intently staring at the ground as she walked. I knew by the color and style of the shirt that she too was a bagger. Was she new, I had never seen her before. What was her name, how old is she, does she like Batman? Immediately there was this need to know everything about this girl. Without taking my eyes off her I asked Corey, “who’s that?” Corey replied, “Jennifer Mitchell, why?” I turned my attention to Corey and asked with an awkward tone, “your sister?” Corey chuckled a bit and informed me that they were not related but had attended school together.
There’s moments in life when you just know something is different, that your whole life is going to change either positively or negatively. This was one of those moments. It was like a first date, you know that feeling you get in your gut. That noxious feeling that overwhelms you, or is that just me? Anyway, I had that feeling the first time I laid eyes on Jennifer. The next thing I said to Corey was, “I’m going to marry her.” It seemed like a crazy thing to say, by the look on Corey’s face he agreed. I knew at that moment that she was the one, I had to be with her. She was going to change everything in my life and it was going to be the best thing that’s ever happened.
Fast forward about a year, Jennifer and I are dating. It was pretty clear to us both that we would eventually marry and have kids. Those discussions were had pretty early in our relationship. I was going to a local community college trying to fulfill my dream of becoming an architect. Trying may be an exaggeration of the truth, I was struggling and discovered early on that architecture probably wasn’t for me. Architecture required quite a bit of math and a skill set that I frankly didn’t possess. The need to find a job outside of the grocery market was growing inside of me. I didn’t see myself as a cashier for the rest of my life. Not that there’s anything wrong with that profession at all, it just wasn’t what I dreamed of doing. In high school I had taken a computer aided design course (CAD). I really enjoyed that class! Computers were the new buzz word and great jobs were to be had in that field. So there it is, that’s what I wanted to do.
Eventually I quit attending the community college. I was bored and knew that this wasn’t a path forward or a way out of the cashier life. I had seen a commercial for a technical school that specializes in CAD. They had all kinds of classes for dorks like me and I knew that I would fit in there. So on one of my days off I went to the tech school and took a tour. Man I was hooked from the moment I walked in the door. They had computer labs, a virtual reality lab, everyone was either reading or pounding away on the keyboard. This was heaven!
For a guy with no direction, surrounding yourself with like minded people seemed like a logical thing to do. I signed up for a two year program that would score me an associates degree in something computer related and the job placement program sounded pretty great also.
So it begins. It’s 1996. I’m in school. Surrounded by my kind of people. Dating my future wife. Working toward the dream job. Life was perfect, until it wasn’t….