1985 by Bowling for Soup

In August 2009, I started working at OpsTechnology in San Francisco and it was, to date, the best job I have ever had.  I loved everything about it, from the location (Union Square), to the environment (start-up, no cubicles, and amazingly, absolutely no pressure to work late), to my co-workers.  What really made the job so great though was my boss Melissa K.  In fact, what put me over the top during the interview process was when she told me she enjoyed coming to work so much that she practically skipped to work.  I later found out she didn't mean this in the slightest, but it meant a lot to me.  I did honestly come to work smiling every day, as I walked past Macy's, stopped by the flower vendor each Monday to purchase a bouquet for myself, and settled in for a week of interesting, challenging work.

One day, Melissa told us that her friend Steve M from Chicago had sent her another mystery mix CD.  Steve would put together mixes, but he wouldn't label them or tell her the track or artist names.  It was up to her to figure out (or not).  Apparently it was something fun she offered to her employees to do.  As you can imagine, this was totally up my alley and I jumped at the chance to play Name that Tune!  It was easy enough to do while working because I would just put my headphones on and listen to the CD.  If I knew the song, it was easy enough to write it down and continue working.  If I didn't, I had to take a second to figure it out.  I couldn't use Shazam because, well, I had a Blackberry at the time and also because I couldn't go interrupting other people's work.  I had to google lyrics and I was really good at it.  It was also fun because I was introduced to some new songs, such as 1985.  It always reminds me of working at Ops, in that office on Geary St, and how contented I was that year.  2009, that is.