What jobs have you had?

After high school, I got my first ever job as a collar pointer and hood turner in a coat factory. That lasted three whole weeks. I did alright with the poplin and cotton coats until the wool can out. Unfortunately, the fibers generated by cutting the wool pattern pieces with a huge bandsaw triggered a dormant wool allergy and caused breathing problems.

In college, I worked food service and for the Dean’s office. Also while in college, I learned what a nasty place a nursing home can be. Islso worked in the town library and Historical Museum — it’s amazing what winds up in there. Civil War uniforms, founding daughter’s doll collection, commemorative plates and weird artifacts found around town and brought back by travelers were all arranged in a little tiny room

I worked for a major corporation and got fired for telling off my supervisor. He was fired after a few more complaints from other female workers. This was in the ‘70s when sexism was rampant. To be honest, I did not fit in with the corporate environment. I wanted to talk theater and music, they were all sales and profits.

My next and best job was as a cook for a daycare center. According to some of the parents, the toddlers wouldn’t eat breakfast at home because what I made them was better than eating at home. I even had a few reports of picky eaters gaining weight due to my cooking.

The Director fired me because I asked for a raise. Of the 50 kids I was cooking for, 20 were pulled by their parents because the quality of the food declined and kids refused to eat. I went in to pick up my things, including my cookbook and wound up calling the Health Department on my replacement because he was cooking for MY kids with a cigarette in his mouth. That was in 1972

My next job was two years later working on a military base at the post exchange on the register and unloading trucks. That lasted 2 years until I took the Civil Service exam for a Federal job, also on base, working the phone for base and housing maintenance.

Concurrently with that job, I did a part-time job with K-Mart in the automotive department. Since this was pre-digital age, we had books to look up the replacement parts for the major brands. Yet somehow, men would wander all over the store to find a guy to help them find spark plugs and wiper blades, rather than accept that I could look in the same books they could use.

I spent the next few years being a stay-at-home mom until my marriage went to crap. Then in 1983, I started working at a chain store as a cashier and department lead. In 1984, I got a job working for the university in campus libraries, processing book orders and later working as a student supervisor. I retired from campus in 2011.

A couple of years later, I worked part-time for the state revenue service between January and June, processing tax returns. I did that for a couple of years. But now, I just have an almost full-time volunteer position at a local maker space. I find it way more satisfying than any paid position.

If I need extra income, I can teach classes in the things I know how to do with equipment already in the space. I usually only charge aa bit more than the cost of supplies per student, except for kids’ classes. Those are usually only $10 per child up to age 15. 16 year-olds are eligible for membership if a parent is also a member so I generally just charge them the cost of supplies or $25.