“In fifty years, he never worked a day. To him, nine to five was odds on a horse.”
Today was my day to work at the Boston Marathon. The day started when my alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 5:5o. I gulped one cup of coffee, read a bit of the paper then left the cape at 6:30 for Boston. I got home a short while ago.
The day seemed longer than it was. I guess it was the work: setting up tables, breaking down tables, opening boxes, arranging food, standing around to hand out the food then finally hauling trash. I am not used to work. I am far more used to writing checks to pay people who do the work. I think that’s the best system of all.
My first job was as a substitute papergirl for a friend. I delivered a weekly from my hometown. I’d fold the papers, put them in the canvas holder then ride my bike from house to house. The papers got tossed on the lawn. Once a month I had to collect. My favorite houses always gave me tips, a nickel or a dime. I had the job three or four months then my friend took it back.
Babysitting was my job for the next several years. It was easy, especially at night. All I ever did was watch television. The kids were usually in bed when I got there. Snacks were provided.
My first real job was at Woolworth’s. I did almost everything, including the pets. Woolworth’s sold hamsters, mice and parakeets. I also worked the register, filled shelves and did inventory, all for very minimum wage. I worked in Woolworth’s only one summer, right after high school.
For three summers I worked in the post office. My job was to sort mail. It was great money. I even enjoyed it. I was quick and accurate so I often got stuck with postcards. They were on what was called a two foot tray. I’m talking hundreds of postcards on that tray. My foreman always swore the cards had all been cancelled, but they never were, too thin for the machine. If I found one not cancelled, I threw it on the floor. It drove the foreman crazy. If I found some not addressed, I’d send them to friends. That drove them crazy wondering who people like Uncle Paul and Aunt Ethel were. I even sent a few of those postage due.
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April 19, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Until I interned at the Washington Post one summer I was always a life guard somewhere working for the same guy who had franchises up and down the east coast, even a few Holiday Inn pools. He had a thriving operation and I always admired Dusty for his drive and pursuit of happiness. He loved his Cadillac and made sure everyone knew he paid for it with cash. But the beaches were the best to guard at because older people always rented the umbrellas and chairs. That was like a waiter getting tips. A hundred bucks was a lot of money back then and I made at least that renting those umbrellas on the weekends. But my most fun job out of college was as a union organizer. I traveled the U.S. working for AFSCME. I really thought that would be my life long career but with hi tech careers changing life here, there wasn’t enough to organize and after George Meany died many of us were laid off. That was my most memorable of jobs and I was really good at it.
April 19, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Z&Me,
You had an assortment of jobs. I like the idea of a union organizer. I think I would have like doing that. It would certainly have beaten cleaning hamster cages.
Pool and umbrellas sound like the best jobs.
April 19, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I never did have a summer job. I left school before my 15th birthday and spent 50 years in the workforce. I am now enjoying my ‘summer’ and the last of the summer-wine. I will manage without a summer job!
April 19, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Bob,
After I became a teacher, I never worked summers, but when I became an administrator, I was back to working all summer.
I love that it is your summer and you are enjoying summer wine. Drink hearty, my friend!
April 19, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I never had summer jobs either. My first jobs were after-school/week-end jobs.
Now that I’m retired, I might consider a summer job but it would have to be something fun.
April 19, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Caryn,
I didn’t work summers during high school, but my father said I had to work to earn my spending money for college so I started right after high school. I never minded the post office. It was an east going job.
April 19, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I spent most of my summers from 16 onwards shaping surfboards and trying to avoid work as much as possible.I then went to university, which proved the point.Summer jobs were, for me, really “summer” jobs. We spent as much time on the beach as we did in the factory. Somehow they were wonderful days for me, as I was treated as an equal and not as a workaday subordinate 🙂
April 19, 2010 at 7:37 pm
sblake,
My summer job was from noon to nine so I had the mornings and the evenings to play, but I suspect you got to play more. Sounds ideal!
April 19, 2010 at 10:20 pm
From Nanci Griffith, “Love at the Five and Dime”:
Rita was sixteen years… hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
They’d waltz the aisles of the five and dime
[Chorus:]
They’d sing, “Dance a little closer to me… dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me… it’s closing time
And love’s on sale tonight at this five and dime
April 20, 2010 at 9:47 am
Fred,
I’m sure my Five and Dime days would have been memorable had Eddie ever dropped by to visit!
When I hear this song, I always think of the store where I grew up, the one with the wooden floors.
April 20, 2010 at 1:47 am
My first job was also to deliver newspapers 🙂 But here we always put them in the mailbox weather it is an appartment building, villa or summer house. I loved the job but hated the early mornings 🙂
My first real job was in a supermarket. I took care of the milk/chese departement and had to help with all heavy work where ever it was in the store. Loved that too, but didn´t earn especially much.
So I started working at Vovlo and got stuck there for over twenty years. Can´t say I loved it, but the pay check were ghreat 🙂
I used to ask friends to post postcards to friends of mine when they were out travelling in the world. I bought the cards from all over Sweden, but they were sent from other parts of the world. I always wrote questions on them that showed I knew the resievers well but signed them with names that I knew they wouldn´t know anyone to have 🙂 :-):-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.
April 20, 2010 at 9:49 am
Christer,
I love your duping your friends with those post cards. I figure my friends too were puzzled by the people who sent cards. It always made me laugh.
We have newspapers boxes which sit along side the road. I have two but they aren’t used anymore. The papers get thrown in the driveway-usually covered in plastic to keep them dry.
April 20, 2010 at 5:53 am
Summer jobs for me was mostly haying. Lots of hay needed baling and putting up and it was all manual at the time. Did find a job one fall during my freshman year at high school on a chicken farm, cleaning and grading eggs. It was ok, as most of the time I didn’t have to gather. But it was tough during the coldest part of the winter when the pipes froze and had to lug water to all the coops. Later on, I got a job at the Rexall store and worked there through school and one year after, when I joined the AF for 20. Working has always had a lot of good memories for me. Good people who knew the what’s and how’s of work.
MT C
April 20, 2010 at 9:53 am
Carl,
You’ve worked far harder than I’ve ever had to in any of my jobs. I raised chickens in Africa but thought them dirty with all the droppings everywhere. Good thing they tasted good. I haven’t heard the term Rexall for a long while. You reminded me of Pullo’s Rexall in the center of town. He always wore a white jacket behind the prescription counter.