Member Blogs

Hello :)  My name is Laura (obviously, huh?!).  I work full-time for a major pipeline company, in the Safety Department doing compliance control at one of our Regional offices.  I work 40 hours a week, unless I have more work to do, in which I am allowed to work all of the overtime I need to.  I absolutely love my job....but, I didn't always love working.  I have been working full-time since I was 17 years old.  I quit High School after my Sophomore Year.  I received my GED as soon as I turned 17 (that's how old you had to be to take the test), and I immediately started working office jobs through staffing agencies.  On average, I would make $8 and hour for the general office positions I was working.  After a year of doing this, I was offered a position through a staffing agency, at the ExxonMobil Refinery, working in the mailroom.  They offered me $9 and hour, and the job did not have an "end date".  I was ecstatic.  I worked in the mailroom for 2 years, where I ended up meeting almost every single person in the building (over 500 employees), and I learned a lot about the entire site (the departments inside the main office building, the units outside in the plant, etc.).  I was good friends with the Operations First Line Supervisor's Administrative Assistant.  Whenever she gave her two week notice, I was offered her position.  So, for the next 2 years, I learned even more about the site operations, safety processes, etc.  I learned how to manage the alarm system (which was used to alert operations of toxic releases, fires, etc.).  While in the position, I married my first husband, and had my son.  Since we had a family now, one of us needed to have better insurance for the family.  So, I took a position at a Hazardous Waste broker in Houston (about 50 min. from our house).  The pay was the best I had ever been offered (they offered me $13.50 an hour), and the benefits were great for my whole family.  I worked at the waste broker for 2 years, and then my husband decided he wanted me to be a stay-at-home mom.  So, I put in my notice, and stayed home....for 1 whole month.  We started having marital problems, big ones, and I decided that I was unhappy and wanted out of the marriage.  But I knew that I needed a stable job first.  So, I was offered a position at a company that made tank heads in Channelview (which was about 30 minutes from our house).  My marriage ended after 5 rough years.  I had to move my son and I back in with my parents because I couldn't afford the mortgage, utilities, daycare, car payment, etc. on $30,000 a year salary (no overtime available because I was salary), and I went into a depression for a few months.  My entire world was turned upside down in what seemed like seconds.  Worse than that, my son's world was turned upside down.  He was 4 years old when we divorced, and he has had a very rough time with it all.  I worked in Channelview for 2 years, and then I took a position with a valve supply company in Houston (50 min. from my parent's house).  It was much better money, better benefits, etc.  It was a good move for me career wise....so I thought.  All of the promises that were made to me in the interview, and when I was hired on, were never met.  I worked at the company for 3 years, never received a raise (not even a cost of living), my cost for health insurance went up every year, I was written up for having to take off for a week to have surgery done to remove a clogged hemhorroid (definitely not something I volunteered for), etc.  The way the employees were treated was ridiculous.  I looked for a new job, for over a year.  But nobody wanted to pay the wage that I was receiving (which was $17 an hour).  FINALLY, I received a phone call from a staffing agency.  Enterprise Products, in Baytown, was interested in me because of my experience at the valve company and the safety experience that I had from ExxonMobil.  I did a phone interview, and was hired right then.  He didn't even want to do an interview in person.  He said the job was mine.  He offered me $17.50 an hour, and the position is temp to hire.  So, if I get hired on with this company, it will be an amazing opportunity.