What jobs have you been employed at?
- Thread starter i_am_Lois
- Start date
Irwin
Well-known Member
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
One of my first jobs was working as a maintenance man at a townhome complex. I learned how to do all sorts of things there, from electrical work to carpentry to plumbing, roofing, concrete work... I even learned how to plow snow! The guy I worked for built furniture, so I also learned a bit of that... nothing fancy, but it gave me basic skills. I'm able to do most repairs on our house thanks in part to the experience I got at that job. That was when I was in my late teens... probably 19.
JimBob1952
Senior Member
Those are great skills to have. I worked in construction and as a bricklayer's helper but never learned anything useful. Mixing mortar never comes up in my day to day life.
OneEyedDiva
SF VIP
- Location
- New Jersey
Wait a minute....you worked for the pizza place but had to brown bag lunch?!! Couldn't they at least have thrown in their restaurant lunch items as part of your deal?
Michael Z
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern Wisconsin
Here are my jobs, other than my last of 29 yrs as a community college math instructor:
- Highschool math & science instructor in private Christian school
- Graduate teaching assistant in mathematics
- House painter
- Tutor for dyslexic students
- Handyman
- Plastic wrap factory laborer
- Construction laborer
- University food service
- Pots and Pans Washing Specialist
- Nightly Floor Maintenance
- Grass Length Maintenance
- Car Wash Engineer
- French Fryer
- Bovine Feeding & Manure Procurement @ $1/hr
Based on the last item on your list, I guess the saying: "don't take any sh*t!" didn't apply to you in that job
What's with the $1.00/hr. though
Michael Z
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern Wisconsin
$50/wk for about 50 hours/wk working on a farm!
Feelslikefar
Senior Member
- Location
- Nashville, TN
My job list consisted of whatever 'they' wanted me to do for first 21 years.
They knew best, I guess. They assigned me to 'fix' things so I really didn't mind.
Continued with that type of work for the next 24 years.
Machines and equipment was way easier to understand than people for me.
Still that way.
They knew best, I guess. They assigned me to 'fix' things so I really didn't mind.
Continued with that type of work for the next 24 years.
Machines and equipment was way easier to understand than people for me.
Still that way.
Kathleen’s Place
Senior Member
- Location
- Wisconsin
. Thanks for the needed laugh
dseag2
Dallas, TX
- Location
- Dallas, TX
Do you really want to read through this long thread? Well, I can say that I only applied for my very first job.
As a teenager, I mowed lawns and washed and waxed cars in the neighborhood. My parents always taught me that I needed to earn my own money.
When it was time to get serious, I applied at Sears and got a job in the Men's Clothing department. I was the only part-timer on commission and made lots of money because I was willing to work nights and weekends. I sold suits and accessories. A well-dressed gentleman occasionally watched me work with my customers, and one day he came in and offered me a job. His store sold fine men's clothing in the same mall. I worked for him until he closed the store.
Our best customer owned a tour company, and he always spent $$$thousands for clothing. He was in the store the night we closed and offered me a job. I took it, and I hand wrote reservations to Disney and Epcot for his company for a while, then a sales position opened up. I took that as well. I was calling on hotels and travel agencies.
One of my travel agent friends told me a cruise line was looking for a local sales rep. I asked 12 of my best accounts to write letters of recommendation and I Fedex'd them to the cruise line. They hired me. I started in 1985 and stayed there until 2000.
I was bored and felt I wasn't going anywhere, and one of my former co-workers contacted me to ask if I would be interested in moving to her cruise line. I worked there for almost 20 years, until I retired in 2020 due to Covid. I've felt very fortunately to never have to actively look for a job, but I've worked hard.
As a teenager, I mowed lawns and washed and waxed cars in the neighborhood. My parents always taught me that I needed to earn my own money.
When it was time to get serious, I applied at Sears and got a job in the Men's Clothing department. I was the only part-timer on commission and made lots of money because I was willing to work nights and weekends. I sold suits and accessories. A well-dressed gentleman occasionally watched me work with my customers, and one day he came in and offered me a job. His store sold fine men's clothing in the same mall. I worked for him until he closed the store.
Our best customer owned a tour company, and he always spent $$$thousands for clothing. He was in the store the night we closed and offered me a job. I took it, and I hand wrote reservations to Disney and Epcot for his company for a while, then a sales position opened up. I took that as well. I was calling on hotels and travel agencies.
One of my travel agent friends told me a cruise line was looking for a local sales rep. I asked 12 of my best accounts to write letters of recommendation and I Fedex'd them to the cruise line. They hired me. I started in 1985 and stayed there until 2000.
I was bored and felt I wasn't going anywhere, and one of my former co-workers contacted me to ask if I would be interested in moving to her cruise line. I worked there for almost 20 years, until I retired in 2020 due to Covid. I've felt very fortunately to never have to actively look for a job, but I've worked hard.
carouselsilver
Member
- Location
- Eastern PA
My jobs from my teens until retirement:
Volunteering, activist work
Tele-marketing (soliciting subscriptions for the local newspaper.
Fast food restaurant.
Waitress
Clothing factory (presser)
Various temp positions
Personnel Administration
Occupational Therapist.
Sales.
Volunteering, activist work
Tele-marketing (soliciting subscriptions for the local newspaper.
Fast food restaurant.
Waitress
Clothing factory (presser)
Various temp positions
Personnel Administration
Occupational Therapist.
Sales.
This could be a fun walk down memory lane. I have never had a job that I hated. I do not like hanging drywall but I have liked most jobs just fine even as I was looking for another.
1. I grew up on a dairy so that is many jobs.
2. First paid job was at 12 as a carpenters helper for the neighbor.
3. Relief milker at a Jersey dairy.
4 Loading and hauling bailed hay from the field to stack.
5 gas station attendant
6 furniture repair shop
7 Harrow bed operator.
8 Farm hand where I kissed the farmers daughter in the hay barn. Her mom walked in and said we better not let her dad catch us.
9 At sixteen I drove hay, and grain trucks
10 While in electronics training in Portland, Oregon. I worked as a construction laborer
11 Got married at 18 and became a lone ranch hand 60 miles from town. Wife and new baby paradise in nature.
12 Metal building builder.
13 ranch hand on a registered Herford ranch. We raised prize bulls.
14 Heavy equipment operator
15 Mill operator for diatomaceous earth packaging plant.
16 Weighmaster
18 Crane operator. It was cool, on tracks 300 feet long and 80 feet wide with a seven yard bucket.
19 forklift operator
20 Loader operator and how about that I was 20.
21 New construction pick up man. Finished all the little things the contractors missed before people moved in.
22 Operations supervisor for Greyhound
23 Cab driver two weeks, not as exciting as it sounded
24 started a fence building business
25 manager and qualified employee to startup larger fence company
26 Started designing and building my own custom homes to sell. Built 16 homes doing most of the work myself.
that looked a lot like growing up on the farm. You learn to do dozens of jobs that some people make their specialty.
27 Missionary in Papua New Guinea, Guatemala and several prisons
28 Ranch hand at the ponderosa Ranch Home of Bonanza in Lake Tahoe Nevada. I drove hay wagon loaded with people the the hay ride breakfast each morning and during our journey up the mountain overlooking the beautiful alpine lake I would save my passengers by shooting a stage robber who held us up. Left him laying in the dirt as I drove away three times each morning. Then filled in anywhere I was needed in busy places or relief for lunch. I mopped floors, tended bar, scooped Ice cream, flipped Hoss burgers, hooked up kids on the climbing wall and anything else that needed done. Kind of like most jobs I have had, I wore many hats and often the supervisor.
29 I quit building homes in the crash of 2008. Then became Super Handyman. I do anything and everything in and around a home or office and managed several rental properties for out of town owners.
30 Retirement. Boarding house manager, small job handyman for friends, Gardener Yes I made money as a gardener this year. Have a small pottery shop that may see my face this winter.
31 Over the years I have created and marketed a couple of games so I may start that up again but yesterday I made some walking sticks from giant sunflower stalks that look really cool so I may have a new project.
It was nice to look back over a very full journey, Thanks for allowing the space to write.
1. I grew up on a dairy so that is many jobs.
2. First paid job was at 12 as a carpenters helper for the neighbor.
3. Relief milker at a Jersey dairy.
4 Loading and hauling bailed hay from the field to stack.
5 gas station attendant
6 furniture repair shop
7 Harrow bed operator.
8 Farm hand where I kissed the farmers daughter in the hay barn. Her mom walked in and said we better not let her dad catch us.
9 At sixteen I drove hay, and grain trucks
10 While in electronics training in Portland, Oregon. I worked as a construction laborer
11 Got married at 18 and became a lone ranch hand 60 miles from town. Wife and new baby paradise in nature.
12 Metal building builder.
13 ranch hand on a registered Herford ranch. We raised prize bulls.
14 Heavy equipment operator
15 Mill operator for diatomaceous earth packaging plant.
16 Weighmaster
18 Crane operator. It was cool, on tracks 300 feet long and 80 feet wide with a seven yard bucket.
19 forklift operator
20 Loader operator and how about that I was 20.
21 New construction pick up man. Finished all the little things the contractors missed before people moved in.
22 Operations supervisor for Greyhound
23 Cab driver two weeks, not as exciting as it sounded
24 started a fence building business
25 manager and qualified employee to startup larger fence company
26 Started designing and building my own custom homes to sell. Built 16 homes doing most of the work myself.
that looked a lot like growing up on the farm. You learn to do dozens of jobs that some people make their specialty.
27 Missionary in Papua New Guinea, Guatemala and several prisons
28 Ranch hand at the ponderosa Ranch Home of Bonanza in Lake Tahoe Nevada. I drove hay wagon loaded with people the the hay ride breakfast each morning and during our journey up the mountain overlooking the beautiful alpine lake I would save my passengers by shooting a stage robber who held us up. Left him laying in the dirt as I drove away three times each morning. Then filled in anywhere I was needed in busy places or relief for lunch. I mopped floors, tended bar, scooped Ice cream, flipped Hoss burgers, hooked up kids on the climbing wall and anything else that needed done. Kind of like most jobs I have had, I wore many hats and often the supervisor.
29 I quit building homes in the crash of 2008. Then became Super Handyman. I do anything and everything in and around a home or office and managed several rental properties for out of town owners.
30 Retirement. Boarding house manager, small job handyman for friends, Gardener Yes I made money as a gardener this year. Have a small pottery shop that may see my face this winter.
31 Over the years I have created and marketed a couple of games so I may start that up again but yesterday I made some walking sticks from giant sunflower stalks that look really cool so I may have a new project.
It was nice to look back over a very full journey, Thanks for allowing the space to write.
Bretrick
Well-known Member
- Location
- Perth Western Australia
I started off working in a corner store. One of my duties was polishing fruit and vegetables for display in the window.
Then I started and completed an apprenticeship at the Mt Lyell Copper Mine in Queenstown Tasmania.
Became a Tradesman and remained in that position for 15 years.
I eventually had enough of working underground so I took a position at an RSL Club as a Barman for 8 years.
Left Tasmania and mover to Western Australia where I went back into heavy industry working as an overhead crane operator.
Loading 30 ton sea containers onto road trains.
Then moved onto my current position as an overhead crane operator loading 5 - 7 ton sheet metal onto Laser/Plasma cutting machines.
Then I started and completed an apprenticeship at the Mt Lyell Copper Mine in Queenstown Tasmania.
Became a Tradesman and remained in that position for 15 years.
I eventually had enough of working underground so I took a position at an RSL Club as a Barman for 8 years.
Left Tasmania and mover to Western Australia where I went back into heavy industry working as an overhead crane operator.
Loading 30 ton sea containers onto road trains.
Then moved onto my current position as an overhead crane operator loading 5 - 7 ton sheet metal onto Laser/Plasma cutting machines.
Lewkat
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Loved that Pots and Pans Washing Specialist. I'd have hired you after one of my dinner parties. lol.
Lewkat
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
By the by, how many Frenchmen did you fry?
Lewkat
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
I couldn't help myself there Michael Z. So here goes mine:
Baby sitter-no babies just fresh brats
Soda Jerk-Say what you will
Nurse's Aid-Did autoclaving. No aid.
Registered Nurse-Speaks for itself.
Police Officer-Not to my liking after all
Back to Nursing-Of course
Politician-After several terms of office, no dice.
Back to Nursing-Creature of habit.
Thankfully for all, I am now retired.
Baby sitter-no babies just fresh brats
Soda Jerk-Say what you will
Nurse's Aid-Did autoclaving. No aid.
Registered Nurse-Speaks for itself.
Police Officer-Not to my liking after all
Back to Nursing-Of course
Politician-After several terms of office, no dice.
Back to Nursing-Creature of habit.
Thankfully for all, I am now retired.
Shero
Senior Member
- Location
- Transient in the Land of Oz
Travel writer (freelance)
Food critic (freelance)
Interpreter & Face Analyst (various corporations)
Food critic (freelance)
Interpreter & Face Analyst (various corporations)
FrancesAnn
New Member
- Location
- Southern New England
Kitchen Worker
Horse Barn Worker
Apparel Sales
Dispatcher for a telephone repair company
Mail Clerk
Officer Worker in higher education
Horse Barn Worker
Apparel Sales
Dispatcher for a telephone repair company
Mail Clerk
Officer Worker in higher education
Irwin
Well-known Member
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Funny how fate determines or alters our path in life. I've had things like that happen to me.
Michael Z
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern Wisconsin
Forgot to list my very first job. I picked cucumbers at the neighbors farm for a 50% share when I was about 10 yrs old. On a good day, I might make $8, which at the time for me, was a LOT of money!
ElCastor
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern CA
* Paperboy -- Shopping News.
* Weekends in my dad's store, opening boxes, dumping trash, etc.
* Summer in college, sheet metal factory grinding welds.
* 5 Years Navy officer.
* Asst Manager Margin Department stock brokerage firm -- until we were sold and rumors abounded that the buyer was associated with a certain Sicilian organization. It became obvious we were being turned into a Boiler Room. A former employee and VP in a nearby bank offered me a job. I tore a page off my desk calendar, wrote I Quit, signed it, tossed it on the Personnel Manager's desk, and walked out.
* Went to work for the bank, initially in a securities related job, where I met my wife to be, developed an interest in computers, built servers, installed networks, traveled as far as Puerto Rico and Bermuda in support of remote networks and software, and did some programming. After about 25 years retired from that same bank.
* Weekends in my dad's store, opening boxes, dumping trash, etc.
* Summer in college, sheet metal factory grinding welds.
* 5 Years Navy officer.
* Asst Manager Margin Department stock brokerage firm -- until we were sold and rumors abounded that the buyer was associated with a certain Sicilian organization. It became obvious we were being turned into a Boiler Room. A former employee and VP in a nearby bank offered me a job. I tore a page off my desk calendar, wrote I Quit, signed it, tossed it on the Personnel Manager's desk, and walked out.
* Went to work for the bank, initially in a securities related job, where I met my wife to be, developed an interest in computers, built servers, installed networks, traveled as far as Puerto Rico and Bermuda in support of remote networks and software, and did some programming. After about 25 years retired from that same bank.
Geezer Garage
Senior Member
- Location
- Steamboat Springs CO
Started working for my dad at age 10 in the summer, until the age of 16. Carpentry work, then moved into excavating work.
Gas station attendant
Tree nursery
Four years in the Navy. No ship time, lots of time in the air, some teaching technical classes, some getting shot at.
Mechanic for Wisconsin Bell.
Mechanic for small airline.
Mechanic for trash Co.
Equipment maintenance foreman for the city of Steamboat Springs.
General contracting business owner for 10 years. Sold it and moved on to
Excavating and commercial snow removal business 11 years. Sold it and moved on to
HVAC business for 11 years. Sold it, and theoretically retired, but still had several rental properties that I had to maintain, in the process of selling those off now. Will probably start up a little side business from my shop at home doing machining, and metal fabrication work for just a few clients. Will try to limit it to no more than a week a month. Mike
Gas station attendant
Tree nursery
Four years in the Navy. No ship time, lots of time in the air, some teaching technical classes, some getting shot at.
Mechanic for Wisconsin Bell.
Mechanic for small airline.
Mechanic for trash Co.
Equipment maintenance foreman for the city of Steamboat Springs.
General contracting business owner for 10 years. Sold it and moved on to
Excavating and commercial snow removal business 11 years. Sold it and moved on to
HVAC business for 11 years. Sold it, and theoretically retired, but still had several rental properties that I had to maintain, in the process of selling those off now. Will probably start up a little side business from my shop at home doing machining, and metal fabrication work for just a few clients. Will try to limit it to no more than a week a month. Mike
Aunt Bea
SF VIP
- Location
- Near Mount Pilot
In 1974 I started work as an entry-level clerk in a local bank.
Over the years, I was absorbed into larger financial institutions as a result of mergers.
In 2005, at the age of 51, a big fish spit me out and here I am.
Looking back, being fired was one of the luckiest moments of my life.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” - Attributed to Seneca
Over the years, I was absorbed into larger financial institutions as a result of mergers.
In 2005, at the age of 51, a big fish spit me out and here I am.
Looking back, being fired was one of the luckiest moments of my life.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” - Attributed to Seneca
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Lewkat
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
OOPS, how could I forget to mention my 3 years as an Air Force Nurse?
Rah-Rah
Member
- Location
- Northeast Maryland
I have not had very many jobs in my life because I spent my entire married life as a housewife/stay at home mom. Prior to that I had babysitting jobs, worked as a sales clerk in a clothing store, worked as a cashier in a grocery store, and a waitress in a restaurant.