I have had six but two separate Careers. My hourly jobs were Theater Usher/Doorman,Super Market stock clerk/bagger. Clothes Washer@ a Washateria. Waxing machine operator at boxing container factory. Office cleaner/janitor.Freight Train unloader for Libby McNeil Libby. Assistant Shipping Receiving Clerk. I was required to join a union for the machine operator job. All the jobs were as a teen ager.
Three. The first two were simple and fun jobs---a soda fountain person at a drive in ($1.62/hr), and a waitress at a steakhouse ($0.73/hr + tips). 1968 Then I worked for a while at a company in Raleigh, NC, that won contracts through a bidding process. My duties were mostly sample data collection and analysis, and writing technical reports, for several different projects, usually 3, all at the same time. You had to keep a record of which project you worked on for every 15 minute period of the day. Tedious and distracting. Then there were "funny" hours, when one project was headed over budget, and the boss would "hint" that you might charge your time on it to another project that was under budget. That was probably illegal, so needless to say I took a lot of work home with me, so as not to have to do that. Very stressful. The hourly rate was great, but I hated it.
I had no real job until I graduated from Electronics school. Sure, repaired others' cars on the side, but nothing serious and on-going. Started at Motorola, Inc. as a colored T-V Phaser. We walked sideways facing the open backs of newly-built TVs moving along on a conveyor belt, watching the results of our adjustments on continuous mirror facing the TV screens. I was young and agile, yet 8 hours of that hurt my feet and legs like nothing I'd felt before. I quit the third day, forget the hourly rate, Co. asked why I was leaving. I told the guy I didn't study Calculus to be doing that work. My Dad was furious! Next job, and it was my best, was Lab Technician, Gasket Development Lab, Victor Mfg. & Gasket Co. Started hourly at $111 per week. My boss had me taken off the clock very soon. All jobs following that one were salaried. Except the government jobs, of course! Frank
Sold Saturday Evening Post, Paterson News Paper route,Littleton News Paper Route, Oakland Washeteria, Oakland market Box Boy Stacker, Oakland theater Doorman/Usher, Machine Operator Kieckhefer Box & Container, Freight Train Unloader Libby McNeil & Libby, Monterey, Apprentice Embalmer, San Francisco, Morgue Attendant & Driver.Napa.Licensed Embalmer/Funeral Director.Fresno, Sales & Sales Management, Insurance & Mutual Funds.
@Lon Tanner I always thought being an embalmer and funeral director would be an interesting job. It would give you the satisfied feeling of knowing you were the last person trusted to take care of them. I know your religious viewpoints are different from mine, but for me, it would be like giving them their last earthly honors before they met God. It's a very cool job.
@Bess Barber It may be that. Maybe it's just me, and maybe I should not even ask it.......but....have you ever had to ID a body of someone you knew in life in the Morgue? It was 52 years ago now, I can picture it in my mind like it was yesterday. Cannot forget it. Frank
Never had to ID anyone in the city Morgue but several in the Embalming Room of a Mortuary. In Addition--- I personally embalmed and prepared for burial several people that I knew well, including my father in law.
It was interesting and rewarding work . I made a good living but wanted my own business and lacked the money or financing to establish my own. The funeral business was responsible for the finalization of my religious beliefs and thinking.
Interesting job history @Lon Tanner. What was your mode of transportation throughout your paper deliveries? Did you have many encounters where you needed to ask someone to leave the theater? What moved you to start your a career as a mortician?
Quite a list... !! How long roughly would you say you held a job on average? I had a friend who was an Embalmer at our local cottage hospital , and one early morning here was a huge crash here, an Oil tanker drove into a car killing all the occupants, and he got the call to say to expect the deceased to be brought in... as the paramedics unloaded them , my friend uncovered their faces, and he can't remember another thing from the following 24 hours.. 2 of the deceased was his own daughter and grandson.. !!! I'll never forget that day !!
I used my bike for the paper routes. Never had to ask anyone to leave the theater. I became a Mortician because of initial interest when in Junior High School. The security and permanence of the career interested me I went to college after military service to take the necessary courses to pass state examinations for licensing.
The paper route jobs were from school grades 5 to 10. Theater job and grocery job grades 11 & 12. All other jobs were during college. Mortician Career was from 1958 to1978. Sales & Sales Management 1979 to 1999
U.S. Navy, two weeks after high school graduation in May 1968. After that, worked for a few months at an amusement park (Knott's Berry Farm) in their stagecoach area. Was able to wear jeans (Levi's), pointed cowboy boots, snap Western shirt and cowboy hat. First time I'd ever wore the boots, hat and shirt, but sure liked it. Then, went to work for a CNC machinery company on drill presses and metal bending machine for awhile. Then, on to (OJT) for two highly rated ambulance companies. Was a ride-along until I finished emergency medical classes, of which I done very fast. After a few years of running around with lights and siren on, got tired of the EMS thing and got hired into Shipping/Receiving (OJT again) for a motorhome shades manufacturing company. Worked in manufacturing for a number of years as a warehouseman, shipping/receiving, stockroom clerk, inventory control and purchasing assistant. Most of that was for electronics manufacturing. In-between jobs (laid-off, quit, company closure) I done some traveling to Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas. Worked a short time at a stockyards (sale days) in Oklahoma. Also, worked part-time as a Horseback Trail Guide at a Regional Park. Then, after I married my wife, and we moved to Colorado, I worked as a Materials Coordinator (Purchasing/Inventory Management) for a Senior Healthcare Company in Denver. That lasted 4 1/2 years. One other job (computer company), last 4 years. That's it!
@Frank Sanoica No, I haven't and am not sure I would be able to. I'm so sorry if I said anything that was insensitive. I didn't think about the tragedy you have faced in your own family.
I had various paper rounds in my early teens so I am safe to say they were my first jobs. After I left school I joined a photographic studio as their junior. That is where I learnt my fascination for cameras and what they could do. After that I decided to sell photographic equipment. This I did for two years during which I trained myself in printing and processing snaps. My next job was also photographic of nature. I was also training myself at nite in preparation for a career in photography when my uninsured camera was stolen and my world crumbled.The next half decade I drifted between sales and promotions positions in department stores. Mostly public address announcing. I had always fancied writing so when I was offered a position as a cadet print journalist I snapped it up. Journalism was to occupy the majority of my working life. I worked in print.. papers and magazines.. sports reporting mostly.