Years ago when I first started blogging, back when there was maybe only tens of thousands instead of tens of millions of blogs on the interweb, there was this thing that went around called the Friday Five. Now I guess there are lots of different Friday 5’s so I guess no one can really lay claim to it anymore. Which is why I’m horking it as my own with no guilt whatsoever.
Since I’ve been thinking a lot about JOBS and EMPLOYMENT lately, I will introduce this week’s Friday Five with a vocation theme. Please leave your answers in the comments section.
- When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
- What was your first job?
- Did you ever have a job where you had to wear a uniform? What was that like?
- What was your most unusual, unconventional or extraordinary job?
- What is one job that you hope to NEVER have to do again as long as you live?
My responses after the jump.
- I don’t remember ever having a specific dream that I clung to for years the way that Rory Gilmore always wanted to be a journalist. I seem to remember going through an assortment of typical little-girl-in-the-70s job hopes: teacher, stewardess, mommy.
- The summer after high school graduation I went to work in an office of a country club. I worked evenings doing data input. I took the tickets that the members signed during the day for greens fees or pool snacks and entered them into their accounts. It was actually pretty boring. The best part about it was that all the regular office staff left just a few hours after I arrived and I had the place to myself.
- I worked at a fast food place in my hometown where we had to wear polyester pants and zip-front tunics. It was AWFUL and you couldn’t get that fried oil smell out of them. I lasted maybe a month I think.
- I was once assistant to a dyslexic artist.
- Easy - waiting tables. I waited tables for YEARS in college. (Keep in mind I was 30 when I got my degree.) It’s been 10+ years and I STILL HAVE DREAMS THAT I’M IN THE WEEDS.
Responses to “The Friday Five”
April 25th, 2008 at 11:51 am
1) I’ve always, always, always wanted to be a librarian. It was a long wait — I was 43 when I finally got my degree.
2) A summer job at the Thayer Dining Hall at Dartmouth College when I was 17.
3) The Dartmouth college job — I had to wear a blue uniform dress, white nurse shoes and something that looked like a sailor cap. I guess the management wanted us to look dorky so the college boys wouldn’t notice us.
4) Working at the FM-radio station in Alaska was fun and unusual, but I really loved writing personality features for the newspaper in Kansas.
5) Working as a CNA in a nursing home. So very sad.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
1. Pharmacist, like my mom.
2. Babysitting, I guess, technically, but with taxes withheld, at the Hallmark store at Oak Court Mall, which was brand new then.
3. No, no uniforms.
4. Unusual job - writing obituaries. Did it as an internship while I was in college - it was really a great paying job for the time - $10 and that was 16-17 years ago.
5. I hope I never have to do sales again. As a teenager, I worked for like a few days selling subscriptions to USA Today by phone and I was horrible at it. HORRIBLE.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
1. I wanted to be a go-go dancer. Seriously. I was raised in the 70’s when it was fashionable to wear white patent-leather boots & I thought it was the coolest thing to dance on a chair. Working in Finance, where I’ve spent most of my career, never crossed my mind because I am a math idiot.
2. Clerk/Cashier for Ballew Bridal, when it first opened as a discount clothing/bridal store in Parkway Village. Mr. Ballew was just beginning to get into the bridal clothing business.
3. I’ve never had to wear a uniform, per se, but did once work for a company that forbade open toed shoes & boots of any kind and women couldn’t wear pants.
4. I once worked as a mail sorter. We sorted mail by zip code for the post office & I thought I’d never get the smell of the cologne inserts from the Goldsmith’s bills out of my nasal cavities. Opening my mail still brings back bad memories…
5. See #4…
April 26th, 2008 at 2:15 am
1) I wanted to be an Olympic Gold medalist in show jumping, then retire to be a large animal veterinarian. Those dreams seemed more possible than my actual heart’s calling, which was to be a writer. But everyone told me it wasn’t possible to make a living as a writer, so I never seriously entertained that dream. Which is funny, since I ended up as a writer/artist working on video games.
2) When I was in high school, I was a dining room hostess at Wendy’s in Germantown, back in the days when they still had a dining room hostess. I was the only white person working there who wasn’t a manager… therefore I got called “White Girl” a lot, as in “White girl, get your rear in gear!” However, this was never said in meanness… and I found a lot to respect in my coworkers, who were mostly very poor and working two jobs to feed their children, while I was working for a little extra cash to add to my allowance. It was an odd feeling to know that when the manager was unreasonable (for example, he often asked us to stay after hours without being on the clock, since underage workers weren’t legally allowed to work after 11) I could stand up for myself, and even quit if I wanted to, while my coworkers were trapped there by economic need.
3) I had to wear a uniform at Wendy’s, and also at Kroger’s where I worked as a sacker. I’m glad that Wendy’s gave us uniforms because the work was nasty, the clothes got soaked with grease stench, and I wouldn’t have wanted to ruin my own clothing. The Kroger’s “uniform” was just an apron. It was pretty necessary, because otherwise customers wouldn’t have been able to tell who the employees were to ask for help.
4) Hmm - let’s see. I feel like I’m forgetting something here. Working as a sacker was interesting, because back in the 80’s, most men were uncomfortable with the idea of a young lady carrying bags for them. Some would even ask for someone else to carry their bags. I perfected a bright smile with the words, “Please let me do this for you - I’m getting paid to do it, and I don’t mind a bit!” Probably the coolest thing I’ve done was build video game models for Guitar Hero - I’ve had kids ask me to autograph their game books for them.
5) Retail at Christmas. Never again. Unlike khyman I never really minded waiting tables… but it did give me an appreciation for the troubles of servers which makes me tip better.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
1. I wanted to be an advertising copywriter, just like my dad.
2. My first job was as a lifeguard for the pool at the National Cash Register Company’s employee’s park in my hometown. It was such a big pool that they needed 10 guards to open it … and I was the first girl they’d ever hired. It was summertime utopia!
3. Believe it or not, as a lifeguard, I had to wear a uniform swimsuit, one of those blue nylon Speedos with a “GUARD” stripe up the side.
4. As the managing editor of Health Magazine in the 80s, I got to fly to California every month to supervise the cover shoots, take the latest aerobics classes, etc. We stayed at the Beverly Wilshire, ate at Spago … and it was my job. Amazing.
5. When I was a lifeguard, one of my jobs was picking up cigarette butts from the grass area around the pool. You had to do it with your fingers, and it took about an hour. It was totally gross, and I’ve never smoked, not one time, because of it.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I’d like to chime in if I may.
1. An NBA or Major League Baseball player as a youngster, a basketball coach later on.
2. I had yards to cut as early as 13. But Burger King at 16 was my first real job. I worked there for one weekend. I was told to clock out and pickup trash from the parking lot on my way to my car both the first night and second night on the job. That didn’t sound right to me, working off the clock, so I ran it by my Dad. He agreed with me, I spoke up my third night and was told not to come back.
3. For my short stint at BK, but not since.
4. At a fairly late age, 28 I wondered what it would be like to be on the radio. I had a friend in the radio business. He arrainged an internship for me. I worked with two of the biggest names in local radio for free, each afternoon for a couple of hours in order to get my foot in the door. About 4 months later a paid weekend positon opened up hosting my own show. I was on the air each weekend for the next five years. I refer to my radio gig as “my hobby job”.
5. I’d pass on the fast food industry forever more.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:19 am
1. I had some of the same little girl dreams — actress, model, writer. Let me just say that computer programmer never made the list, and here I am still doing that 24 years after getting my degree!
2. I worked at JCPenney in Raleigh Springs Mall as a part-time employee and a member of the Teen Board representing my school, Raleigh-Egypt. The fashion shows made up for the ordinary job.
3. My current job requires me to wear a uniform every Monday, and any other day as decreed by management. I work at AutoZone’s corporate headquarters downtown, and on Mondays, we all dress like our employees in our stores. It is to show our support. It is better now that it is on Monday — it started out on Fridays, which meant you had to bring something to change into if you were going out after work!
4. While working at JCP, the Teen Board had to be live mannequins one Saturday! A woman and her daughter were trying to decide if I were a real person, and one of them was reaching to touch me, when I sneezed! I still crack up remembering the look on their faces!!!
5. I was never fond of babysitting. I don’t have kids of my own, so I really hope I don’t get roped into watching anyone else’s kids any time soon!