jobs you used to have

mishapville · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 46 Location: Providence, RI

I'll start at the beginning:

*Counter person - I Can't Believe it's Yogurt! $4/hr. in high school - woo-hoo!
*cook - Pizza Hut
*sales clerk - airport gift shop
*sales clerk - department store
*skiwear/bridal model (long story)
*freelance musician (piano + violin)
*violin teacher
*barista - various coffee shops
*waitstaff - lame ass country club
*a number of hellish temp jobs including one with a panic button for suicidal callers
*production artist - print
*web production person
*project manager
*now: I work with online journal stuff part time while I go to library school. It's quite nice.

robotgirl · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 47

I've had a lot of jobs!

Cashier at McDonalds: Blah! I only lasted 3 months.

Video store clerk: This was a great job at a mom-and-pop video store. I sat around and ate candy and watched movies all day.

Checker: This was interesting, to say the least. It was at an upscale grocery store. Lots of good stories.

Server/Fry gal: I worked at an on-campus diner-type place my freshman year of college. There would be three or four students on one shift, and we'd usually trade off doing different jobs like serving, assembling burgers, doing deli sandwiches. No one ever wanted to do fries because it was hot and greasy, but I figured out that if I did fries I didn't have to deal with any assholes. I perfected the art of french fries that year.

Quality Control at a frozen-pea processing plant: Worked from 7pm to 5 am 6 days a week, counting peas. wow. I got really tan and really skinny that summer because I slept outside every day and I never ate because I wasn't hungry in the middle of the night.

Front-desk person at dorm: Enough said. Cooshy job.

Barista/Milk shake lady: Another on-campus job, this one at a place with espresso and milkshakes. It was usually pretty slow, so I played pool and watched tv a lot. I worked here for a couple years.

Work-study in an education dept. at an art museum: great job, got me where I am today I suppose. I worked there for 2 years.

Production assistant at campus NPR-affilate: another awesome job. perhaps my most favorite job ever. I worked during All Things Considered.

Marketing assistant at an art museum: my first real-world job!

Education coordinator at same museum: after layoffs I got shifted to this position. I registered school tours, coordinated teacher workshops, and registered students for the art school. Lot of phone, lot of data entry. it sucked.

Communications Assistant/Editor at PBS affiliate: My current job! I am in charge of the member magazine and what ever else they throw at me.

In college I usually worked two, maybe three jobs. That's why there's so many.

jean · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 3:25 pm Post subject:

becca_13 · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 206

high school:
hallmark clerk - loved the job, and loved my co-workers at hallmark #1 & #2 (we had two stores in the mall)

college:
eckerds clerk - suck job, crap uniform, fun serving folks buying enemas in bulk.

scraper offer of food on conveyer belt in school cafeteria - misery. quit after one night (which i have never done). but i met my future husband that night when i returned to the dorms, defeated and stinky.

hallmark clerk (store #3) - manager never there, accused me of stealing (i had to buy bags for the store because she let them run out and she never "noticed" the receipt in my drawer, took the money out of my check without even asking me), hated it.

telemarketer - took inbound calls, so don't hate me. was there for a year, far longer than virtually everyone because everyone hated it. it sucked but at least you could read between call and work practically any hour of the day.

freelance production assistant: did work mostly for free to hang out on film and video sets. for someone as shy as i was it was painful but exciting.

post college:
movie theater employee: tore tickets, cleaned, worked concessions in a ritzy tiny town in new york. rude, rich customers but saw free movies and i could eat popcorn and drink soda for free which helped because my other job......

film production company intern: ....was unpaid. but i still worked. stressful and sucky boss but i loved it. i felt so fab working in nyc. couldn't afford it though so i moved home for a year.

suncoast video employee: for a while it was awsome. i played nightmare before x-mas on the store tvs all day long because we were all fans. really loved it. then they hired a new manager who sexually harrased me. quit to go back to....

hallmark #1: they were bought out and were dying to have me back. i gladly went back. loved loved loved it. became assistant manager and i worked super hard but was happy. they gave me oodles of goodbye gifts when i moved to georgia to live with my future hubby (he of cafeteria hell night).

hallmark #4: walked into a hallmark and got a job right away. fab hallmark in a "rainbow" section of town, so we had the most fab customers. wanted me to help open another store but i got my first "big girl" job.

video producer/editor: my own personal hell right now. corporate videos for companies. blech. ass boss. no pay. probably being phased out next month after 5 years of suckiness here. i was looking for another job, but now i have the added pressure of a deadline. maybe i will go back to hallmark....

Polesmoker69 · Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Ontario, Canada

Babysitter - babysat spoiled little kids, or poopy babies!
Hot Dog Vender - cooked hot dogs and sausages one summer, the smell of them cooking still makes me sick to my stomach.
Painted Scaffolding and Braces - one summer, its was insane, these things were taller then me, i had paint all over me and had to clean myself off with gas, which would make me stink forever!
Waitress - work one 4 hours shift there and never came back, it was bad. i still cant understand how tomatoe soup can taste bad!!
Cashier - at a movie&dvd&porn rental, tanning salon, selling cds, movies, dvds, porn and sex toys - just quit there after 1 year and 4 months!!
Cashier - at tim hortons - i start tomorrow - wish me luck!
_________________
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oldskoolgeek · Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 79 Location: northern virginia

Popcorn shoveler, coffee maker, film projectionist - My very first job working at a huge movie theater chain. Even though I only made crappy minimum wage (which was $4.15 at the time) it was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. I worked there for 2 years.

Office slave - at a govn't contracting place. The pay was great, but it was boring as hell. Wasted a lot of time fooling around on the internet. I worked there for 3 summers during college.

Glorified office slave - working in the admissions office of a high profile private school. Pay was through the roof, but I had to put up with lots of bs from socialite parents and my bosses. I worked there for nearly two years when my job was eliminated.

Receptionist - at a furniture store. The floor designers were the cattiest people ever and the woman who had the job before me actually commited suicide she was so miserable. Who knew the world of retail furniture would be so insane? I worked there 1 week before I quit to save my mental health.

Library aide, library assistant -- current job that I love, working part time at a local public library, part time at a local university library. Yay!

jean · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 11:33 am Post subject:

researchasaurus · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278 Location: Celery City, MI

I have quite the employment history...

1st job ever: Detasseling corn, age 14. I cried after the 2nd day because my partner on the detasseling rig would puke at the end of every row. My mom let me quit. But my sister did it next year, stuck it out for the full six weeks and got a free pass to Cedar Point (amusement park).

In High School:
TJ Maxx! (you get the max for the minimum). I was the layaway girl. Unfortunately I got wrapped up in a well-established shoplifting ring and was fired. Had to pay the juvenile court system something like $500, which was all the money I had saved... Big growing up lesson.

Sears. Job: credit card solicitor. I stood around the entry to the rest of the mall, asked people to sign up for cards, and when they did I gave them a set of plastic spoons! Also got fired, for writing a really mean note about one of the managers that was found by somebody else.

And some other crappy jobs here and there, until...

College:
My dad's office. All around office lackey. I worked there off and on throughout college, and had other jobs on the side.

Meijer Thrifty Acres. It's a big supermarket in Michigan. I was a bagger for a while, then a cashier, and when they finally made me into a service desk clerk with a $10,000 drawer I was responsible for every day I had to quit.

Telemarketer. For a cemetary! In one week of working there I got $7 in commissions, which the longtime employees told me was very rare. $1 each for plot sales, and $5 for a crypt sale! We called people trying to solicit meetings with our sales people, and if the sales people were successful, we got the commissions. I quit after that first week though. It was so trashy.

Transcriptionist for a private detective agency. It was so spooky and weird. The office was half-underground, way out by the airport, and they only wanted me to work at night when nobody else was around. I got through typing up this huge investigation about some people who burned down their dog-grooming business for the insurance money, then I quit.

(still in college but starting to get my act together)

Student radio operator at the campus NPR station. This job rocked. Although it was before the days of CD burning, I could still raid their excellent music library and tape stuff. I also was almost always alone there and I got a ton of homework and reading done. Stayed there until I finally graduated.

Records management intern at the city hall. Another cool job, messing around with old stuff. It helped me figure out that I wanted to work in archives, and here I am! Left that at graduation too.

International Detour:
English teacher in Japan. You all know how this goes. Did it for two years.

Graduate school:
Rare Book Collection assistant. Another job that rocked.

The real world:
Local History Librarian for two years in Kansas.

Librarian/Archivist in Chicago. That's what I'm doing now!

In between all of these, there were little retail things to make some extra cash, a lot of babysitting, and contract research work. I will have earned my retirement, for sure.

Snufkin · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 2:35 pm Post subject:

I should actually be doing some real work ('cause that's where I am), but I love reading all your lists. I'll add some of my highlights:

theater construction crew - My first experience with a hot glue gun!
truffle maker -Another crafty job! Not to mention looking forward to coming into work when you have PMS.
au pair/babysitter
bartender/dishwasher
barista
waitress
receptionist
public access tv lackey
ESL teacher
Peace Corps Volunteer
Library Assistant
Librarian
Archivist/Project Manager

But I'm still in the process of trying to figure out my current job, so I need to get back to that!

glassprincess · Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 50

A laundry list (I get bored easily I suppose):

Bakery Clerk - responsible for all things sugary, decorating walk-in cake orders, and closing at a mom and pop's bakery.

Retail Cashier - ringing it all up at a card store, drug store, and major retail chain.

Pee On - was hired at a greasy burger joint and lasted 2 weeks after I had become unglued from the constant advances of the female assistant manager. Not to mention scrubbing the break-room floor for the millionth time.

Assembler - worked in a factory that bid and won a lot of government jobs that involved component parts for war-ware. I actually LOVED this job until I found out what we were making.

Veterinary Assistant, Groomer's Assistant, and Kennel - bit and sh** on too many times to count, and still thought it was the most rewarding job.

Switchboard Operator - at a VERY busy payroll processing company. I had to quite after I kept thinking the phone was ringing during the middle of the night.

Independent Consultant - worked in direct sales selling candles, made lots of $$$, and burnt myself out (pun intended).

Assistant Sales Secretary - should read head secretary's slave at a major aggregate company... enough said.

Nursing Unit Coordinator - glorified secretary for a managed healthcare company. Unit was transferred to Arizona and I was engaged so made the decision not to go.

Sales Coordinator - still a secretary at a laser machinery company. Left after I was unable to pull myself together when a colleague committed suicide.

Office Manager - still a secretary, and responsible for 2 subordinates at a interior window treatment manufacturer. Left after I married my DH - he worked there too (still does).

Office Manager / Project Coordinator - glorified secretary responsible for project management for a brokerage firm. I LOVED this job and left it to move with my DH transfer within the company mentioned above.

Executive Administrative Assistant - I'm still typing so I'd say this was the over glorified secretarial position to the VP of Sales at a major 1st tier automotive supplier. I left after I was told I had to ask to leave my desk even to pee.

Training Coordinator - they sure do come up with a lot of names for secretary. This wasn't so bad - worked for a great tight knit team in the HR dept of a major automotive company. I started feeling uneasy when they were trying to "type" me. What they didn't realize is they were all circles trying to force a triangle to be a square.

Quality Assurance Coordinator - the most $$$ I've made in my life, doing new and interesting projects on a regular basis. I never felt like I was a secretary. It was the first time I was ever fired. I come to find out when battling them for unemployment benefits that my HR file said hired as temporary... huh? News to me - I eventually won my case as some anon co-workers spoke on my behalf.

Independent Contractor - a little different thing for me here. I was an enrollment specialist in the direct sales of health insurance and did a lot of traveling for this HMO. I could accept or decline assignments, which provided a lot of freedom. I made a lot of money, and eventually became a lot of bored so I left.

HR Secretary - worked for a foster care / adoption non-profit and lost it after being micro-managed to death.

Instructor - taught hot glass beadmaking and jewelry making at a small bead store owned by my former boss at the hmo. Left after becoming pregnant (currently) and decided to be a SAHM.

The worst part of this list is that I've had twenty jobs within a total of 15 years.... would you hire me? HA!

***edited to fix errors.

comadre · Joined: 20 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: "The OC"

Snack bar worker at a Flea Market bikers, cholos, truckers, bargain shoppers ...

T-shirt shop at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

Ugly Cruise Wear Clothing Store and I had to WEAR the store items. Embarrassing. but it was the 80's, I dyed my hair black and wore studded bracelets w/ the gauze dresses.

Oppressed Domestic Live-In lived in a dungeon and served breakfast to old staunchy republican couple.

Graphic Artist's Asst fun except that my brother was my boss

waitress, cocktails and food. Too many places to count.

Teacher k-university. you name it, i taught it.
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sewing stars · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 112 Location: Little Rhody

office assistant i liked my boss a lot, it was my college workstudy job.

shelver/book info helper at the oldest bookstore in l.a., Vromans. it was okay but the pay sucked.

supervisor at the new Vromans Museum Collection store. pay still sucked, and i had more responsibilies.

printable invitation designer with a very small company. so small i also packaged, shipped, and supervised other workers. my two bosses sucked, though. i quit after 9 months.

factory worker packed up boxes of valves. people were nice, job itself was super boring.

cashier/retail at local art store. pay okay, but first time getting benefits, like health and vacation days. i liked some of the people i worked with.

secretary, painting at the college i graduated from. i like it a lot. lots of benefits, no punching of time cards, nice people to work with.

my real job is making crafty things in my 'spare' time.
_________________
never forget how to fly...

nicegirl512 · Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 114 Location: Washington DC

In roughly chronological order...

*Babysitter. I was quite in demand in my teenage years, and got to where I could be picky and refuse to babysit an infant and an older child. I always felt bad when I did so, because the infant needed constant attention and the older child would get ignored. I enjoyed babysitting so much that I continued to do it through law school (for professors) and would still do it today if asked.

*Fundraiser, Texas Campaign for the Environment. This was a totally squirrely job that involved soliciting money door-to-door, and your pay was based on how much money you collected. I quit after two weeks. I never got paid---but they sent me a W2 at the end of the year.

*Craft from home. A friend and I disastrously tried to do some craft from home thing, making potholders, the kind where you make the item and send it in and they pay you for you piecework. This did not go anywhere.

*Telemarketer selling death and dismemberment insurance for one week. Quit when I got bronchitis from having a sore throat from talking all the time. The good part is that there might be a baby in Ohio named after me, I called and introduced myself and the woman said her husband was an insurance agent so she didn't any insurance, but she loved my name and was pregnant and if it was a girl would give her my name.

*Camelot Music & Video in the mall. I enjoyed this quite a bit, my co-workers were fun and I liked the retail atmosphere. I was surprised how quickly people became fungible, though; someone would ask me a question, I'd look up the answer and then have absolutely no idea who had asked me the question although I had just spoken to them 30 seconds before. Randomly ran into an ex-coworker a couple of years later while out to dinner at the same mall, but it wasn't the cute one I had a little crush on.

*Student worker in the English department. A lot of photocopying of dusty moldy books, occasional correction of quizzes (taken by my friends), mostly just studying. Pretty sweet gig.

*Temp. I have done this many times. Most interesting workplace was this guy who had an audio book rental place, it was a weird dynamic between the effete audio book guy, his coarse but manly tile-laying brother (who let audio book guy run his business from the tile store), and tile-laying brother's wife struggling to climb up the social ladder while tethered to a blue collar husband and longing for effete audio book guy. I need to write a short story about them and have tried several times, but never get it right.

*Nanny. For three months for one of my profs in college. I loved this, I lived in, watched the baby in the morning, had an internship at the public radio station in the afternoon, got to cook dinner every night (I love to cook) and they did the dishes. I am sad about this job now because for some reason the mom, who was a wonderful friend and role model, hates me now and hasn't spoken to me in 6 years.

*Public radio station membership coordinator, with a smattering of arts reporting. I loved the arts reporting, the membership stuff was tedious and boring, but I would have persevered in this job if it weren't for my horrible psycho evil bitch of a boss. I was so unhappy I was finally driven to go to law school just to have a reason to quit.

*Research assistant. Enjoyed doing work for professors.

*Data entry at a now belly-up internet drugstore. Boring, did it my first summer in law school, my boss was the son of the owner, he was in a PhD program at Columbia and was completely scared of people, his hands shook every time he had to talk to me. He quit Columbia to stay with the company. Interestingly, a girl I went to college with later worked at that company, I found out at a cocktail party (when she happened to be dating a guy I went to law school with).

*Freelance work for an immigration lawyer. This is possibly my favorite job ever. I wrote briefs for immigrants trying to stay in the country. The work was interesting, the pay was beyond fabulous ($35-40/hr), and my boss had a sexy accent and spoiled me like a princess, sending me chocolates from France and telling me to take some friends out for a graduation dinner and send him the receipt.

*Law clerk, Texas Supreme Court. A boring job, but I worked 8:30 to 5:15, sweet hours. And I was working for the highest civil court in Texas, which has some cachet.

*Law clerk, D.C. District. Slightly boring, but really rewarding. I loved my judge and the cases were fascinating, for the most point. Got to write tons of opinions in a relatively undeveloped area of law, meaning they will be cited for years to come.

*Lawyer, big DC firm (current). Tedious work, but the pay can't be beat.

Needless to say, most of these jobs did *not* make it onto my resume.

RedRamona · Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 11 Location: Athens, GA

I haven't had thaaaat many jobs....

1. Snack Bar/Kitchen worker at a daycare center--age 13. Basically, I got paid minimum wage to do next to nothing because my mom thought I was a bad seed and didn't want me staying home by myself (since the daycare obviously doesn't watch teenagers). So she convinced the owner to pay me to do silly stuff like file papers and work the Coke machine. But I had money at an age when NONE of my friends had money, which was cool. And I got to use the pool.

2. Grocery Store Bagger/Cashier--age 16 to 19. Despised this job. My boss was this scrawny trashy divorcee that basically cornered old widowed men up against their carts and flirted with them, while exhibiting her jealousy on the young female staff. Like she would always schedule me to work late late on Friday nights, then schedule me for the early shifts on weekends AND teacher workdays because she knew I'd be sleep deprived. Called me a liar and chewed me out for calling in sick the one time I'd ever even called in sick (and literally one of the top sickest days of my life) to the point where my mom and I both went to HER boss and had her reprimanded and later sent to another store. Bitch.

3. Telemarketress-- outgoing calls. Age 18-20. So sue me. LOVED this job. Made my own schedule. Paid weekly. When sales were good (and I was good at it!), I sometimes made upwards of $30 an hour. Met a cute boy and then proceeded to burnout.

4. Food Service-- first at the pizza place where I met my husband, then at the Deli from Helli. Most fun I've ever had covered in naaaaasty things and working as hard as you can. There is an art to line cooking one who hasn't been there can never understand. And more often than not "girls" aren't doing the kitchen work, but I rocked at it.

5. Outreach for a children's health insurance program--VERY cool job. Basically traveled around a tri county area signing kids who were no longer eligible for Medicaid up for a low cost state grant funded program. Now that I think of it, we went to some sketchy areas and are lucky to be alive in some cases. Only lasted one summer though.

6. Current job--RN. Love it and hate it on any given day. Completely the most rewarding job I've ever had, could even imagine. Although I get covered in other naaaasty things sometimes, its way way better than food service.

Martita · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 30

Communications Intern at ESPN This was my first, and until I was 23 best paying (per hour) job. I answered viewer letters and phone calls (some guy name Randy always wanted to know when the rasslin was gonna be on) managed the slide library and helped with the launch of ESPN2. I picked the logo. I was in high school.

Temp I spent a few days at a bank, a few days at the headquareters of local jewel and many nights crying.

Office Assistant I was the student work in my college's PR office. I made photocopies and answered phone and met my best friend changing the water bottle in the cooler.

Sandwich Artist You know where. It didn't suck because I worked with my oldest pal.

Framer I framed shit and got to use a big glass cutter. This was in the Georgetown Park Mall in DC and we were the cheapest store that didn't sell food. We used to get snotty looks from the girls from bebe.

Unpaid intern at an anti-war non-profit way better than my job the next summer as....

Technical writer at the bomb factory Okay, so they made gyroscopes for missile guidance systems, but it was still the man.

Seller of Folk Art Fun grad school job, and a great discount.

Fundraiser and party planner at a battered women's shelter/rape crisis center. Loved it.

Associate Director of Alumnae/i Relations at my alma mater. Glorified party planner and ass kisser. But there was good travel.

Director of PR and Marketing at my local Planned Parenthood. I love love love it.