odd jobs
to all the jobs i've loved before
This morning I am taking a cue from friend of the newsletter Craig Calcattera’s Cup of Coffee where he listed some odd jobs he had that don’t go on his resume (this all stems from republicans going after Kamala Harris for not putting her McDonald’s experience on her resume). This gave me the idea to talk about some odd jobs I’ve held in my life.
Sports Information Office, St. John’s University (1986).
I worked under the late Katha Quinn, who was the Sports Information Director for SJU. This was when the Redmen (as they were known then) were a hot team, and I have some incredible memories of calling Chris Mullin to wake him up for class, dragging cable across the basketball court for the camera guys, putting together the media guide, working in the Chyron truck. It was a consuming, exhausting job and I had to resign from it when it was interfering with my studies. I always wonder what would have happened with my life if I stayed working for Katha.
Night Manager, Home Famous Chicken and Ribs (1986?)
The owner was a friend of the family. The head chef’s last name was Salmon and we called him Salmonella. The guy who worked the deep fryer was a raging alcoholic. We were attached to the video store where my sister Lisa worked and lot of move/chicken trading went on. I had to fire my fiance’s 17 year old brother because he kept not showing up. I was putting myself through school during the day, working there at night, and doing my homework in the back of the store while chugging Jolt soda and eating handfuls of No-doz.
MAAD (1981?)
I was young, I was broke, I wasn’t in college, so I had to work if I wanted to keep my parents off my back. I found an ad that said something to the effect of “make money by doing something good for your community” and that sounded aces to me, so I called them. They hired me over the phone, no interview, no background check, no application. I should have known. When I got to the site, they were stuffed into the damp, hot basement of a clothing store. There were about ten makeshift cubicles and each had a phone, a phone book (remember those?) and several articles taped to the cubicle wall about drunk driving deaths. My job was to cold call people out of the phone book and get them to donate money to MAAD by upsetting them first. I was to read them the articles taped on my wall. I was to sound sand and angry. My ultimate goal - besides the money - was to make them cry because they’d be more likely to give then. My first call, they hung up. Which is just as well because I was nervous about doing this. My second call I got someone but they yelled at me when I started reading one of the articles, saying I was manipulating them. Which, yes. The supervisor then yelled at me and told me I had to MAKE. THEM. CRY. I walked out before my lunch break, never to return or support MAAD ever again.
New York Yankees (intern 1987)
This was a great job/internship. Basically I drove to Yankee Stadium five days a week, seven if they were home. I worked as an editorial assistant for the magazine the Yankees went out, I worked in the archive room - a haphazard collection of memorabilia - digging up artifacts for the magazine, I spent game time in the press box making sure everyone had what they needed. I watched games from the GM’s office, once with Mickey Mantle. I ate lunch behind home plate. I lived a George Costanza dream before there was a George Costanza. Great experience besides the driving to the Bronx every day.
Record World, Roosevelt Field, Long Island (1983-1986)
It was through an act of fate that I got this job I always wanted, and that fate led me to meeting my first husband - the father of my kids - at this job. I did it all here. I was named head cashier three weeks after starting, then they put me in charge of the imports. I did stock and inventory, I roamed the sales floor helping middle aged women figure out what their kids like, I put up a Dead Kennedys display one November and almost got fired, I made incredible friends and discovered worlds of new music. We got our bonuses in gift certificates according to our worth to the store (really bad practice but I always ended up with a LOT of records). I still have dozens of the records I got from working there. Fantastic job.
I’d say conservatively I’ve had maybe about three dozen jobs in my life. Some of them lasted years, some mere days. Did I learn valuable lessons from each of them? No. Did I have enough money when I was young to buy pot and beer? Did I have enough money to go to concerts? Yes and yes. Was I able to pay the difference what my student loans didn’t cover? Yes. I made friends at each of those jobs. I picked up various skills. And I have stories about each of those jobs that I have been sworn to secrecy about. I’m kind of glad my working days are over, but I do miss the camaraderie at some of my smaller jobs.
What were some of the jobs you held in your youth? What was the longest/shortest you stayed at a job? I find it so fascinating to see what people have done.
[yes, this was a filler newsletter. working on a good essay for next week in addition to week in joy/conspicuous consumption]
After college I worked a ton of temp jobs in order to save enough money to move from my parents house in the Chicago area to my girlfriend’s in Charlotte. The agency asked about my skill set and I told them just give me the highest paying jobs you have that nobody else wants. I did a lot of different things but the most memorable was probably the six glorious weeks I spent working in the quality control department of a maxipad factory.
I got hired for a summer job with US PIRG (Public Interest Research Group?) in 1993 in Washington, DC. They hired a lot of college students. I went to orientation, which was somewhere near Capitol Hill. They gave us an hour or two of training on how to canvass people, then sent us out to collect signatures on a petition. I remember that the petition was for something I didn't agree with. I realized pretty quickly that I'd be spending my summer outside in 90+ degree heat and humidity trying to get tourists to listen to me and sign whatever I had. I didn't go back after that one day. I got a job in the Georgetown University hospital GI department instead, doing filing and answering the phone. It was dull but it was also indoors in the AC. I think that GI dept job was only on my resume long enough for me to get hired in the IT department the following summer.