I need a normal post to go with the depressing one I wrote yesterday.
YAB wrote a post about summer jobs. I'd say he did it today but there's all that crazy time-travel back-dating going on.... so we'll just say "recently". In it, he points out that everyone should spend at least one summer of their young life doing manual labor.
I completely agree.
My father (and his father before him) owns a construction company. And for many summers, I was dragged out of my nice cool air-conditioned bedroom to help him install windows, doors, rooms, etc.
He always said to me, "When you grow up, go to college and get a good job in an air-conditioned office." Well, I did. And nearly every day, I stop and think about how lucky I am to not be working in the 1,000 degree heat outside.
But like I said. Everyone should work at some jobs where you are underpaid and overworked. You never know what you can accomplish until you do it.
It's like people who push themselves to the limits. People in the military who train themselves to sleep 2 or 3 hours a night. Navy Seals who can swim for miles in ice cold water. Chris Condon, who learned to move around with ease despite those giant tumors on his upper body that he calls his shoulders. You get the idea.
My other bad job was a supermarket when I was 16. You work long hours. People are always yelling at you. And you get paid almost nothing.
So let's have it. Who has had worse summer jobs? Why did you do them? How have they impacted your life?
Discuss!
Friday, August 04, 2006
Ode to bad jobs
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3 comments:
For like four summers I worked at Public Works in my town. I was a trashman--it was terrible. Work started at 6:00am. Since it was so hot in the summer, the trash was like a dog with no nose. (How did it smell?) People would leave their cans outside when it rained, so they would fill with water and weigh 400 pounds. After the rain, the moisture in the trash plus people's habit of not using trashbags would attract maggots by the thousands...I truly believe that some of those cans, if given the chance, could walk to the truck by themselves. Add to that being outside in the heat, on the street, with no shade, for 6 to 7 hours of the day. I'm not saying it was the worst by any means, but it wasn't pleasant.
On the plus side, it paid well, and I was able to afford college. I also worked there the summer after I dropped out, and it was one of the factors that convinced me to go back.
Being a waitress sucks. I can still remember one particular incident with one particular customer and I shudder. I truly believe everyone should be a waitress/waiter at least once in their lives. I always tip them well because I know how much it sucks and how much that tip can mean.
back in my day we slept 3 minutes a week underneath a burlap bag chock full of skeeters. then we crawled up hill both ways to a rusty nail factory in 4 feet of snow, before they invented shoes, and had to lick the bathroom tiles clean whilest and at the same time carrying 60 pounds sacks of animal manure- and we liked it!
Actually, the one back-breaking, tipless thankless job I miss is landscaping - hated it like hell at the time but I miss being outdoors and playing in the dirt now.
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