I was pretty much a stay at home mom most of life with a part time job here and there, but after my husband died I wasn't eligible for widows benefits til I was 62 and I was 53 when he died. I went through a lot if savings before I found a job. Found a job and a boyfriend at the same time as he was the one that got me in. The pay at ES&S was awesome! $250 a day plus a $35 food allowance since it involved travel. On the days we were traveling we would be paid $100. Some days we only worked a couple hours and we still got the full amount. Of course on election days we worked about 16 hrs! Basically what we did was go to different counties all over the US and do preventive maintenance on the various types of voting machines. We also trained the election workers on how to use the machines during an election and were there to fix any problems that would arise during an election. They paid for our hotel also. One time we worked 5 weeks in different cities in PA. And that month I made $10,000. We got overtime too. I went to Utah, PA., Wyoming, Idaho, Virginia, a few places in CA. Like San Francisco, etc. we got to do a lot of sight seeing and eat all our meals out! The work wasn't too difficult. I got in at the end of all this easy money....ES&S was starting to have troubles I think, they were raking in the dough though. They charged a county $1,500 per day for me to do my job. And there was always a few of us and sometimes we'd be in a place for awhile. It was a great job while it lasted!! But it's also where I think I damaged my back....some of those voting machines weighed 70lbs and they were supposed to hire people to do the lifting but sometimes they didn't show so we did it. My first back spasm happened after working there. My live in boyfriend at the time was my immediate boss, so he made more than me so he always paid for all my meals and that meant I could keep the $35 per diem.
It was! Some days we just got paid for driving to the next county and working just a couple hours. Also, I wouldn't trust those voting machines that I worked on, lol. before every election we had to calibrate and test every single voting machine to make sure it was working the way it should. We also had to train the older poll workers on the machines and some wanted nothing to do with them.
In 1978 I was divorced and spent most of two years driving a taxi in my home town. Most of the time I drove the night shift, but there were times I worked days. On one of these day shifts, I was sent to an address in the south end of town to pick up an elderly lady. As I drove her to her destination, we had a friendly chat. She seemed like a nice older woman. When we arrived, she asked if I minded if she paid me in change. I said not at all, and she counted out the correct amount. She apologized for the change and tipped me an extra half dollar. As I looked at the change, I noted it was all silver. Dimes, quarters and half dollars, all made before 1964. I paid her fare out of my own pocket and kept the silver. On my return to the station, I asked the dispatcher if he would give me any calls from that address, since there was two of us driving the day shift. The dispatcher, I'll call him Dean, asked if I had something hot lined up. I didn't want to tell him about the silver, so I just said, "yeah, maybe". Well, I was sent to this ladies address several more times, always getting paid in silver change. Turns out, her husband had died recently, and he saved all his change for a long time . That was what she was using. My dispatcher was the meddlesome sort. It seemed to bug him that I was divorced and free of any sort of attachment or relationships. In short, he made it his purpose to "hook me up" with someone. So, one busy day Dean confused the address of the old woman with a similar sounding address of another woman who just called for a ride. I stopped at this woman's house and a fairly good looking woman about my age got in the cab. "You must be Ike the dispatcher told me about. I don't know what you want with me, but here I am". I must have gone into shock for a few minutes. As my mind slowly began to function again, I stuttered my way through an explanation to her, about how my dispatcher liked to meddle in my love life and he confused her with another address. She said she understood, and when I got back to the station, I had a not too pleasant talk with Dean. There's no more taxi service in my town. We have buses now. Not as much fun.
Lol, Ike...so you liked the silver better than the woman! You should have worked out a way to get both!
I had other women in mind then, and I resented Dean's intruding into my affairs. But, those days driving a taxi were among my best times.
Sorry, I should have probably started a new thread for my post, since it had nothing to do with Crissy's post. I posted it before my coffee kicked in.
That's alright, Ike. I do the same, get on here first thing in the morning with my coffee. Later I see all the mistakes I've made.
Actually my best job ever was being a wife and raising two wonderful children and it was the job I was best at. But that's boring, lol. I've been promoted now to best Grandmother ever!
Ike, your story about the lady, who paid you in coins, should have been titled "When Your Fare Has Turned To Silver"!