What was the most enjoyable job you ever had? Why was it enjoyable to you?

DebraMae

DebraMae

Well-known Member
Location
Oklahoma
Mine was as editor and photographer for an employee magazine. I loved it because every day was different and I got to go to so many places and see such interesting things. They owned a grocery store, a department store, a car dealership. A day might include writing an article on new freezers at the grocery store and then attending a fashion show at a major hotel. If I had my life to live over I would stay right there. It is a happy memory!
 

Being a mother. Hands down. #2 was owning a retail business with husband. Because they were so enjoyable. Actually running a business w/husband was dealing with another kid! Love my kids!
 

When I was a kid, I lived in a small mountain town in Colorado. I think I was around 11-12 years old and a rancher that owned a large cattle ranch in the mountains needed some kids to go up on an open range area, up around 10,000 feet and chop down Skunk Cabbage. Which looks like cabbage, but when you cut it or kick it, it smells like a skunk.

Apparently, some of his cattle would eat the stuff and it made them sick, so he wanted us to walk around the mountain area all day long and using a hoe, chop it off at the ground. We could just leave it on the ground, and it would freeze that night and his cattle would not eat it the next time he let them graze in that area.

The rancher picked us up in the early morning at the local school, it was in the summer around late July or August. It was very cool in the mornings up at that altitude, so we wore jackets but by 10am it was sunny and warming. He provided us a nice lunch and soft drinks. He picked up right before it got dark and dropped us back at the school. He paid us $5 an hour, which was big money for kids our age at the time.

We got to walk around in high mountain on clear blue-sky day and smell the wildflowers and crystal-clear air. Nothing was 'work' about it, but we got paid to do it! The best job I ever had...
 
Being a stay at home Mom! No doubt. My son still talks about it a lot. He's the father of 2 young boys and his wife puts them in day care even though she only works part time. Finally day care has gotten so expensive.... They are paying $2000 a month and she's not earning anywhere near that.So beginning shortly she is going to be a stay at home Mom. Son says they will be money ahead...for once. We will volunteer to take them whenever she is overwhelmed. So I think well be seeing them a lot!😄😄
 
Freelance editing I guess. I got to work at home and be my own boss. My clients (university professors) valued my work and treated me with respect. I liked the work itself, because editing was like doing a big word puzzle. And I learned a lot about various fields of research.

Before that, my favorite job was delivering junk mail in Ottawa. It was casual day labor. Walking all day; every day was in a different neighborhood. Saw some interesting houses, got to hear birds singing, etc. My boss and coworkers were mostly men. A rough bunch, but they were nice to me.
 
My stint with the DOJ, as we circulated, from typing out summon details, printing & readying summonses,
desk work related to forensics. We had a holding cell on the police side, for people who had outstanding
summonses. It always created a bit of excitement.

After that, working for a top-notch Antiques businessman who dealt in fine European antiques (and smaller
Asian antiques). I was a Jill-of-all-trades .. secretary, errand girl, silver polisher, etc. It was varied and enjoyable.
 
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After three pretty unpleasant years in the engine rooms of an aircraft carrier, heat rash, etc, I was offered two years duty in Spain, two years that included many trips to Gibraltar, Seville, a free flight to Norway and rail/driving through much of Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, and Morocco. When I was discharged I drove the length of Spain through France, Italy, Greece to Istanbul and down the coast of Turkey where I shipped my car from a US air base back to New York. There is more, but all in all not a bad deal. (-8
 
Working at a Police Dept as a Dispatcher. I worked around mostly men..no drama. They were a great group of guys. That's one job I miss. This was many years ago. I had to attend the Police Academy for training. My goal was to be a Police Officer... but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
 
A pencil drafter in a Telecommunications engineering dept.

It blew my mind that I could get paid to draw...something I had been doing at home for years. Also, my coworkers were like minded.

Later, they replaced pencil drawing on paper with drawing on a computer. Fun in it's own way but robbing artists of their creative input.
 
Working with the NY State Police for 10 years! Everyday was something different; forensics, old unsolved crimes to read through, gun reports, traffic, scheduling escorts throughout the Troop for oversized moves (windmill blades, heavy equipment, houses to be moved),monthly reports for calls for service, speaking with judges and DAs for arrests made, you name it!
And the family of law enforcement.....they take care of their own and anyone who serves. I was treated with respect, and learned so much about so many avenues of the law.
 
I know it does not sound glamorous or anything like that but working as a CNA in the country run nursing home. I loved the residents I cared for. I had a group of 9 that I took care of every day. Even looked forward to going to work and especially after a week-end off. They needed me and that was a time in my life when I needed to be needed. They helped me as much as I helped them.
 
Heel pillow cutter/inflator for Nike. The job was so-so, but I got major discounts in merch. Outfitted sisters kids with shirts, shoes and coats.

But could donate children's shoes which cost me $2 each pair and buy 5 pair every week. Then gave them to Adventist Services as they were boots on the ground type
 
When I was going to college I worked as a liquor clerk at a Walgreens. That might sound trite now but back then it was a huge deal. In the city I live in grocery stores couldn't sell hard liquor so Walgreens was the place that people went to get their booze. There were some days that our customer count was higher than the pharmacy. I got to know all the customers very well. The older women would hit on me, the underage girls would offer to do things if I rang them up (never fell to that temptation) and the old men who came in to fill their carts with 12 packs of Black Label or Old Style beer when it was on sale would BS with me about sports. It really was fun to meet so many different types of people, especially since I am an introvert. It didn't occur to me at the time that the man who bought a 750ml bottle of Early Times bourbon every night or the old lady who bought her 1.75 L bottle of Royal Embassy vodka every other morning might have an issue. To me they were just loyal customers and friendly aquatones.

Looking back the really odd thing is that there would be times during the day or night when I was working with at least 7 other people at the Walgreens store, not including the 2 or three who would be in the pharmacy. I can't remember the last time I walked into a CVS or Walgreens and saw more than 2 or 3 people working there.
 
When we re-located to where we are..
There was an ad in the local newspaper...to become a
tour guide..in a historic Capital..dressed as a colonial.
There was a six weeks training course, covering architecture and much more other history..
Lectures given by state archivest
getting to tour the historic homes.
It was quite educational.

With tour busses coming into town..
Dressed as such..many people wanted to get a picture with us.

It WAS THE funnest job I ever had.(Paid...with tips, too)
 
My best job was being a charge nurse at a psychiatric hospital. I had no idea what was going to happen when I went to work. There was no such thing as a dull day.
Example: I got a call from a Mecedes dealership salesman. One of my patients was there. She was there wearing ONLY a winter coat, which was open and buying a car. Now, if you think that was weird, the salesman, despite having an almost naked woman in front of him, thinks the hospital is her financial agent, and wants me to send over a check.
 
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I really enjoyed being a veterinary technician and assistant. Firstly, I really love animals. It was also very interesting work. I saw such a variety of ailments and surgeries and learned so much. No 2 days were ever the same. I also enjoyed the people I worked with.
 
Fighting forest fires for the Forest Service in Montana. Unfortunately, there was a lot of dull grunt work between fires that was mostly what the job entailed. But when fires did come, it was exciting. Most of the work was done far away from homes, and in such areas it was a controversial practice. The Forest Service was obsessed with putting out fires no matter where they were, and at one time it seemed like a good idea. But like many of things mankind does with good intentions, they are often not helpful. Fire was a natural part of the forest long before man was on the scene and was constantly cleaning out the underbrush, replenishing the soil, and supporting diverse biosystems that led to mighty old growth forests. Without natural fires, burnable fuels build up that lead to much more devistating fires over the years. I was never sure if I was doing the right thing, but it was exciting work.
 
The most enjoyable job I ever had was actually a volunteer stint between paying jobs. It was at a hospital and I absolutely loved going in as often as I possibly could. I did all kinds of tasks and was often found in the medical records department or admissions... but my favorite was taking the hospitality cart around... it made patients so happy.
 
Most enjoyable was field mechanic repairing heavy equipment that had failed for whatever reason. No direct supervision & never knowing what might need repaired. No manuals to cover the kind of failures that happened. It was figure it out & fix it because there were no tow trucks or ramp deck trailers to access remote locations. No way to load & haul away equipment like a D-9 caterpillar high track dozer.
 
Producing advertising sheets for a chain of small grocery stores to submit to their local newspapers for their weekly ads.

This was in the pre-computer days so cut-and-paste meant exactly that......I cut pictures from "image books" and had typewriters that typed different sizes of large print. Then I pasted it all up on sheets, made printing plates and ran copies on a printing press.

It was like being a kid again and I had a sense of accomplishment to see what I had produced.
 

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