Free For All Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Inspired by the recent threads about childhood memories and injuries, I thought it might be interesting to talk about the various jobs (good and bad) we held in our youth. My best job was one I held for several years, all through high school. I was the projectionist at the local movie theatre, back when they used two projectors to run the movie and you would have to change back and forth as each reel would run out. Ever notice those little spots that flash (about 7-8 seconds apart) in the upper right hand corner of some older films? Those are "cue marks", signals to the projectionist to start the changeover procedure. Of course you can probably imagine when something would go wrong and the screen would go blank, and the people would boo and yell. Now they splice all the reels onto one big one so there is little left for the projectionist to do. It was a great job, though- I was mostly left to myself, which was cool. That job payed for my first new trombone and first car (1969 Ford Galaxie). There were many other jobs to talk about, but I'll start with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 First job was at a Woolworth's. They paid in cash, so the $100-$150 a week I made seemed like quite a lot of money! Two minor memories that come to mind: This was around the time that the Rubik's Cube was popular, and believe it or not, through trial and error, and not through those "Solve Rubik's Cube" books or by rearranging the stickers, I learned to solve that thing. In fact, I was rather proud of myself because it wasn't a matter of mindlessly following someone's directions, I had a system and knew that if I kept doing what I was doing, eventually the corner pieces would align and then it was a fairly simple thing to get the rest in place. Anywhoo ... one Friday night (the only night we were open late) I was working the cash register and had a Rubik's Cube and the manager got pissed at me for playing with it, and eventually we made a bet-if I could solve it by 7 pm, he'd do my job: clean up the lunch counter, including dumping the grease traps from the grill, and sweep the store. And of course, I won. And to his credit, he made good on the bet. The other stockboy in this little store was the son of a high level Woolworth's exec, and he acted like he owned the store-did what he wanted to do, and the manager could hardly do anything. Real spoiled a-hole. Well, he started going out with the girl who worked the lunch counter (she was in my high school, he went to school in the next town over). And, well you know how young love can be. One day, the two of them disappeared together, and the regional manager was in the store, so the two managers came to me and asked if I knew where he was. I said I thought he was in the stock room. We went back there, there's no one in the stock room, but there's a light on in the stock room for the lunch counter. We walk in, and uh, how shall I put this? She was "on her knees". As an innoncent sixteen year old, I'd never before witnessed such a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 First job for me was working in dad's drug store. He was a fanatic about keeping things clean. No feather dusters allowed!!!! I had to remove each bottle and jar from the shelves and dust with a soft cloth, this was done almost daily, whether it needed it or not. I normally went home with him, but every once in a while if feeling nice, he would call my mother and say "come pick the statue up". I never seemed to move fast enough for him. He paid me something like $10-$15 per day in cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Immediately after graduating from high-school, I got a summer job working in a liquor store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 BTW, while my job at the Five and Dime wasn't actually during the Pleistocene period, we did have the old fashioned cash registers, had to consult the plastic chart we got from the bank to figure out sales tax, and for those rare credit card transactions, we had to compare the card number to the latest booklet of stolen credit cards to make sure it was OK. Its kind of interesting to have worked in such a throwback store, just before the time Woolworth's really fell on hard times-the tiny store that still had just about everything the big box retailers have now, just a lot fewer selections. But we had a toy department, pet department, houseplants, clothing, hardware, sewing and knitting stuff, the whole shebang. And the lunch counter was a definite throwback to a time rapidly disappearing. Wasn't your Walmart snack counter, but took an entire wall of the store and had a full breakfast and lunch menu. Great burgers and fries, that's for sure ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Immediately after graduating from high-school, I got a summer job working in a liquor store. Was free Ripple included in your benefits package? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 No, but very generous employee discounts were. The night manager (a goofy cat named Leon who had a thing for V.O. & Fresca ) INSISTED that I not leave out of there empty-handed on Saturday nights. And who was I to argue with the boss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonym Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 During college I took a job at the local multiplex cinema as a popcorn popper. Initially, the job was supposed to be part time only say for 4 hours on an afternoon a few days a week. The hourly rate was shocking. During the interview the guy asked if I wanted to stay 'til 6pm, I said OK but I couldn't do that every day. He said fine. The reason for this was the guy who I had taken the job from had been 'promoted' and he was now selling the stuff downstairs rather than making it. I started the process: Coconut oil, sugar and corn. More coconut oil, sugar and corn. Bagging each one up 'til the stockroom was full. The manager came in and said "can you stay 'til midnight?". I peered through the smoke and thought hang on, I've got oil running down through my armpits into the waistband of my jeans, I stink and I'm ready for my supper. "You can bugger off", I told him and walked out. As I passed through the lobby and past the vendors I noticed the spotty youth who's job I'd taken being instantly 'demoted' as the manager gesticulated to him telling him to get back upstairs. Ah... good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsgtrane Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 By far the worse summer job I've ever had was selling vacuums door-to-door while in college. Did not enjoy having doors slammed in my face (not that I blame them it retrospect). One time managed to rip all the skin off the knuckles of one of my hands while demonstrating how the power nozzle would automatically shut off if something got clogged in there. Obviously didn't work real well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danasgoodstuff Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 My first 'real' job was driving taxi cab in Saskatoon. Lots of great stories from that, but my favorite concerns my late brother, Ian, who also drove for Fast Freddie breifly. On his first day on the job he'd made sure he had a good new map on the dash. He knew where pretty much everything in S'toon was, but wasn't that great with names and numbers (dsylexic). So he gets his first , maybe second, fare of the night. Worker guy just getting off a construction job, no doubt heading to the bar. Guy gets in front (they did that in Saskatoon, no pansy barriers for us), looks around, looks down at this boots and realising that the're muddy, thoughtfully looks around for sonmething to wipe them off with so he won't get the cab muddy. Naturally he grabs Ian's new map, wipes his boots with it and throws it out the window! Being a newbie, Ian doesn't say a thing. Driving drunks around the great white north when you're 18 is assertiveness boot camp. I'll have to put more 'bout why I love Toon Towen in the Street Where You Live thread. Meter's running...Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 My first job wasn't very interesting. I was a bag-boy/shopping cart wrangler at the neighborhood Grand Union. My boss was a Tyrannical Pipsqueak named Allen. I was only 16 and a bit of a goofball (I'm sure that comes as a huge suprise). When I worked the counter where people redeemed their empty bottles, I would talk in a Monty Python voice, telling them to "bring forth the sacrifice." The bums who made their living picking through people's trash were not amused, to say the least. I quit one day when Allen asked me to shovel the contents of an overturned garbage truck. My favorite job was the summer after my freshman year of college. I worked for the 1990 census. My job was to call the people who had not filled their questionnaires out correctly and ask them the questions they skipped. The questions most often skipped were "Do you receive any meals with your rent?", "Do you receive any farming income?", and "Are you hispanic?" I have many amusing stories about the people I called, but the best was the time I called a guy at work and he answered the phone all out of breath. When I started my schpiel, he said, "This really isn't a good time." In the background, I heard a woman's voice saying, "Harold! I'm getting lonely!" I said, "Well, what did you pick the phone up for?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 I think my first job was at 15 when I worked part time at the local library in New Jersey. I had to put books back on the shelves and make sure the shelves looked arranged and so on. It was mind numbing...I used to live for the 20 minute breaks. I have never since experienced boredom to that extent. If you love books, don't work in a library! Do something else like own a bookshop or something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 First real job while in high school was tanning leather at a couple of ancient, now shuttered, firetrap leather tanneries up in Peabody & Salem, Mass. Used to work 2nd shift and tan 'raw' New Zealand sheepskins that came in on pallets. For 6-to-8 hours, a huge quantity of leather would rotate inside of dual wooden tanning-wheels (picture a giant wine cask that holds 10,000 gallons of fluid) constructed of 2" thick bands of Italian wood and lined with dozens of oversize wooden pegs to keep things from clumping up. At various intervals you'd pump in chromium, formic acid, wattle, dyes, etc.. Drain it......fill 'er full of cold water a few times & 'rinse' ....then send thousands of pounds worth of wet leather & water crashing down into the 20 foot-long, 3 ft deep 'carts'. Funny story for all of you pack rats out there. I saved one piece of tanned suede as a souvenir and had it stashed away in various boxes & drawers for close to 30 years. I can't begin to tell you the number of times over the years that I'd happen upon the stupid thing while cleaning out a box and think about tossing it in the trash. Never did though. About two months ago, I took my jacket in to get dry cleaned and they somehow managed to mangle the leather collar and even tear a small gash in it that couldn't be prepared. I searched the house, found that piece of leather and the nice Thai seamstress who works down there used it to make a replacement collar. Thirty dang years I schlep that silly piece of leather around...and then one day...bing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Great story, R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 I was in summer school after my freshman year at FSU, so it wasn't until sophmore year that I had to find a new job (didn't really want to go back to Woolworth's). That was when I got hired by the town's Parks and Rec department. Weekday mornings, I was assistant Tennis instructor, first for the wealthy wives and then their kids. Then in the evenings and weekends I was one of the Tennis Court monitors, taking reservations and checking people's court membership tags. A pretty good job, spent outdoors, playing tennis or working on the tan, no muss no fuss. Couple of things I didn't tell alot of people though: I got "involved" with one of the wealthy wife tennis students ... a real "Mrs. Robinson" kind of situation. Guess I looked good in tennis shorts back then! On a few occasions, non-town residents would try to use the courts. Most of the time I insisted they leave, but toward the end of the summer, on a couple of occasions, I got offered $20 to look the other way, and, well, I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 I spent one summer working on a turkey farm. These are stupid, dirty, hateful birds. A couple of examples of the stupidity - when it thunders they run to a shelter and pile on top of one another (dozens suffocate), then when it rains they look up to see what hit them on the head (dozens more drown). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 I got "involved" with one of the wealthy wife tennis students ... a real "Mrs. Robinson" kind of situation. Guess I looked good in tennis shorts back then! ...hey, this isn't "Dear Penthouse" ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Right out of high school (summer of '88), I worked at a cemetary in the small town I grew up in. Mostly landscape work, but I did learn how to dig a nice grave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted October 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Right out of high school (summer of '88), I worked at a cemetary in the small town I grew up in. Mostly landscape work, but I did learn how to dig a nice grave. You dig? B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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