Comments on: Odd Jobs

By: Michele L.

Michele L. — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:13:01 +0000

My very first job I worked at an amusement park in my town. I was working the duck pond. That is the one where little rubber duckies float around a pond and people pluck them from the water. Depending on which number you pick you win a prize. I had so much fun! Well, when they found out that I was giving away to many prizes I got moved to the restaurant. My job ended at the end of the summer when I went back to school.

My worst job was when I worked at an architectural firm for 18 years. The guys were so arrogant and know-it-alls! A lot of them were moody so you never knew if they were joking with you or serious. I just did my work and basically kept to myself. I worked in the architectural dept. The girls in the secretarial area on the first floor were a bunch of crows! All they did was gossip all day! I never made friends with them. So the few women in my dept. I hung around with on lunch hours. I was so glad when I was laid off from there!

Also, the management expected the employees to work hard with zero defects on the drawings, 40 hours a week plus at least 10 hours overtime everyweek if not more. I pulled so many overnighters there that a part of my life is absolutely missing. Not only did we have to work so many hours but we were paid measly wages. They had great insurance and if it wasn’t for that I would have left a long time ago. My life was never so happy and carefree since the day I was laid off from there.

By: Carol R

Carol R — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:42:56 +0000

Julie - I still work for Kmart. I’ve been with the company for 24 yrs now. It started out as a part time job but I kept getting promoted so I decided to stay.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:33:42 +0000

Hey, I started at K-Mart too! Since my father was a K-Mart store manager, I had that pencil sharpening job at his store. I liked it when I turned 16 and went to work at the OTHER K-Mart in Juniors :-)

By: Paula R.

Paula R. — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:32:55 +0000

Wow…I feel like I missed out…I never really worked as a teen…not even babysitting (at least none that I got paid for)…it wasn’t until college that I started working…I played basketball and softball all through high school, so I didn’t really have time to work…but once I hit college, I realized that there was no way to survive without earning some money…I worked three jobs…I managed the women’s bball team, supervised at a snack bar and worked in the library…it was tough, but obviously doable…since I survived…I kind of wished that I had the chance to work while I was growing up…it is like a rite of passage or something…I never did th fast food thing either…what I realize though is that my ideal job is the only one I can’t afford to have and that is to be a professional student…if I could get paid to go to school, I would be a billionaire by now…it was great reading about all the odd jobs here…I couldn’t imagine working in a print shop Chicki or a manufacturing shop, Julie.

Did I ever tell you guys how much I appreciate the time you all take to share with all of us? Well, I do…sometimes just coming to this site relaxes me…thanks…

By: Julie Leto

Julie Leto — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:54:49 +0000

Happy birthday, Katie! My, oh, my…what a nice hunk you have there.

It’s so wild how many different jobs we have listed! I got through another 75 pages today on my edit…let me just say, right here now for the record…that any reader who doesn’t think writers work hard to make sure everything in a book is consistent and makes sense is so, so wrong. I caught one place today where my hero’s name was wrong. Another where a character changed names midway through. Another where a whole decade was lost and yet another where the day lasted, oh, about forty-eight hours. Yes, I know…I wrote it all originally…

I can only hope the copy editor will catch anything I miss!!

By: Cherylann

Cherylann — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:33:33 +0000

I worked at Burger King & K-mart then a plastic surgeons office, then apt. rental office then I worked at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for 17 years until this past June I was kicked to the curb due to outsourcing I collected un-employment for a month and now I am working at another insurance company

By: Cherylann

Cherylann — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:31:00 +0000

Happy belayed b-day Katie

By: Ardie

Ardie — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:29:34 +0000

My first job(s) was a combo. I got up at 4 am to deliver donuts to a variety of rural locations. What a lol In the afternoon, I worked in the hardware department at Sears. What a fun job. Lots of cute guys!!!

When I started college, I said “good bye” to hardware and “hello” to banking. It was suppose to be a temporary job, that turned into 16 years. After many mergers, my job ended up moving out of state and decided that the Medical profession might be fun. I started out as a provider relations specialist that contracted and credentialed physicians into different provider networks.

Now, I have found the most rewarding job every. I work as a nursing assistant for a group of Radiation Oncologists who treat cancer patients and I couldn’t be happier.

By: ev

ev — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:46:47 +0000

Besides the usual babysitting jobs, I grew up on a farm. So I started young. As for “real” jobs have tended bar and worked the 19th hole at our local country club (when I was 16, during the summer- bartender, short order cook and waitress- I was the only one there during the week.)

I have done retail in many different areas, the best being Walden’s/Borders. And I am there again.

I have done catering, worked at a gas station (during the first oil crisis), worked at a radio station (FREE Concert Tix!!), driven an oil truck and made deliveries, worked at a family owned ice cream parlor in MA.

Helped build a Nuclear Power Plant.
Spent 10 years working at the Dept of Social Services, where I carried a caseload of over 200 clients. As much as we all complained, I liked the job- for the most part my clients were needy people. Every now and then I had one that needed an attitude judgement. They got it.

Now I am signed up to take a Civil Service exam for Legal Assistant. The reason I got a degree in the first place. finally.

i still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

By: katie

katie — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:31:16 +0000

Thanks Janelle for the hunk and for all of the wishes…