First job in a city?

It took me several weeks to realize that the one and only time “first job in a city” came out of my mouth I was wrong. Dead wrong. Yes, I now walk the seemingly empty streets of Philadelphia three days a week to perform my duties sitting in an office chair while staring at a computer screen all day. But this isn’t my “first job in a city.” I LIVED in a city for the first half of my life. Although, I never really considered it to be a city. Manhattan is THE city when you’re a kid from Brookyln.

When you grow up in a city or to be more specific, a borough within the largest city in the U.S., you become desensitized to the fact that you’re living in a city, walking in a city and breathing city air. I guess the same goes for working in a city because my first job was at the karate studio I attended on Avenue N in Mill Basin.

Getting your working papers at 14 years old was like a 16-year-old getting his or her provisional driver’s license. It was a sacred thing. I had to fill out a one-page form, sign the bottom and get at least one parent’s signature too, and possibly an employer’s information? Don’t shoot the messenger. We’re talking about something that happened almost 20 years ago – yikes. Anyway, I do remember taking it down to the main office of my high school. It was that moment when my one-page completed form, free from food or drink stains, was exchanged for a post-card size document granting Kristina M. Scala permission to work part-time and earn the minimum wage of $5.50 per hour. It was one of the greatest moments of my teenage years. I had some freedom to earn my own money and, of course, spend it.

I think I spent most of my hard-earned dollars on junk food. I don’t regret it. Sorry, mom.

It wasn’t the best job I ever had, but it wasn’t the worst either. It was my first job. The job I’ll always remember as my first job. And it was definitely my first job in a city.

Needless to say, I was off by about 19 years.

In a way, there is some truth behind what I said – this Philly gig is my first big girl job in a city *INSERT SHOULDER SHRUG*.