I've received so many gifts and good wishes on my retirement from my blogger friends - it's time to give back!
As I look back on my career in education I have many, many, memories - enough to fill a book (which I just may do!). But before going into education I did have some other 'memorable' jobs.
My first, besides babysitting, was during my senior year in high school. I worked at BB Rider Frigidaire in Clifton, NJ. after school and Saturday mornings. BB Rider was an authorized Frigidaire repair and most of the time I spent there was filing work orders. This was where I learned to hate filing! But, on Saturday mornings I got to answer the phone and take service calls. That was the fun part. A refrigerator that was not running was a priority, but a dishwasher was not - try to explain that to the lady who did not know what to do with all the dirty dishes in her sink! After High School I worked temp jobs during college vacations. That meant I would get a call in the morning telling me where I would be working that day, or that week. The most memorable temp. job that I had was at Maxwell House Coffee in Hoboken NJ - I filled in there for a couple of weeks and rode the train in from Clifton. You could smell the coffee from blocks away and we had free coffee and donuts all day long. This was where I was working when I heard the news that JFK had been assassinated.
After I married, I moved to Washington D.C. with my sailor husband, and got a civil service job at the Pentagon - the five sided puzzle palace on the Potomac was indeed a puzzle to me and I often got lost in its hallways. It was also the cushiest job I ever had. I worked for an Admiral who traveled a lot, and while he was away I knit - I made afghans for everyone! My most important job there was to get him and his golfing buddies a good tee time at the Army/Navy Country Club. The next 13 years were spent at home raising my kids - and yes, that is the most challenging and most rewarding job in the world. I went back to work when my youngest son was in 2nd grade - in the same school that my children attended, so I wasn't far away from them. Well, if you read my blog, you know the rest - I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching my own grandchildren when they started school. And after, let's see, starting from my first job - that would be.....48 years? I am officially retired.
So....now that I've made you read my life story - here is the contest! Leave me a comment telling me something about your work career, whether it be in or out of the home - something memorable, something funny, something disastrous - whatever. The contest will run for two weeks, and on July 14 I'll choose a winner.
The prize represents my two passions - reading and knitting and my wish to share these passions with you! It is a $25 gift certificate to Knitpicks, or a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com - your choice.
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15 comments:
I was gainfully employed at the Lincoln Park Nursing Home in 1969 when I was 15, from there I went to Woolworth's in Willowbrook Mall, to Vincent's Jewelers in Willowbrook and then to Llanfair House Nursing home in Wayne NJ. I was 18 by then and hurt my back badly--lifting a bed complete with patient over a one inch lip to get her out of the elevator that was stuck between floors. I then was a receptionist for ITT Grinnell, an Inventory Specialist for Plato Products, a Expediter for Middletown Leather ----I took the Civil Service Postal Exam scoring the highest in that group--was called for a job starting on my wedding day, I turned the job down-, then Kids came along, I worked at their school as a sub everything but teacher, and I worked in a bookstore. Since 1999 I have been a Retired Stay At Home Mom and now do some professional paid for knitting, for individuals and companies and design work.
Sincere congratulations on your retirement!
Jane,
What great memories!
I have worked at the same place for 37 years. 34 of those years for the same guy. When I started working for him, he was an obnoxious punk and an associate. Amazingly, when he retired in 2007, he was an obnoxious partner . . . just kidding. Over the years we became good friends. Just last week, I spent some quality time with his wife and daughter. In fact, my daughters were in his daughter's wedding. How cool is that!
Anyway, when we adopted Sarah in 1986, his wife was in China with his two oldest kids and some of their classmates. It was summertime. They were gone for four weeks. During that four week time, Dave and I started our home study AND a week before she was to come home, we also received our beautiful little girl.
On the way home from the airport, Elin said something to Irv about something she wanted to ask me about (or, probably more likely, wanted me to do) and he stopped her with "Mary Lynn doesn't work for me anymore." According to both of them (and their kids) and before he could explain, she went from zero to furious in 30 seconds flat (assuming that he had fired me) and lit into him about what a total A$$ he could be and she just couldn't believe . . . ya da ya da ya da . . ."
He always said that he could never fire me . . . his family would choose me over him. He really has mellowed and is a great friend (now). He encourage me when Dave and I were taking in the kids, cheered me on when I went back to school and was instrumental in making sure that I had a continuing position after he retired.
Plus, the two of us used to frighten everyone off . . . we were indeed the dynamic duo.
One of the most fun things I have done in my life was being an extra in some movies and TV shows.
It is amazing seeing everything from the other side. Being an extra is what "hurry up and wait is all about". You can wait around all day to do a two minute scene and then do it a dozen times until it is how it is wanted.
AND you get paid even if you end up on the cutting room floor. LOL
Well, Jane, my first job, at 14, was at Little Jack's Bakery. If I described the back room there, you might get a strong idea of why I'm not really partial to sweets/bakery goods. The best part there was that all the bakers drank all night while they baked and oftentimes I would come in on Saturday morning to find the writings on the cakes spelled wrong or with a word left out, so I would re-ice them - what fun!
After that I cashiered in a grocery store while I got a degree in computer programming. I was a little ahead of the times and believe it or not, couldn't find a job, so I started waitressing and bartending. I finally did get a job with a nursing agency because the owners thought they might want to computerize their staffing system (I left there in 1997 after getting my nursing degree and they still weren't computerized, so you see how far that went, LOL).
I had a good time at the nursing agency - I had great coworkers and we always had fun. We employed over 1000 nurses and sent many on daily assignments to the area hospitals. Keep in mind this was before cell phones were popular and every child was not tethered to mom wirelessly! There were about 6 of us working the office, all women, and talk revolved a lot around boyfriends, husbands, kids, so I knew everyone's family, at least by name. One day a young girl called asking, "Is my mother there?". Thinking I could connect her to one of my coworkers with no problem if I knew her name, I asked, "And who's calling?". Her answer really didn't help at all: "Her daughter"! It turned out her mom was one of our nurses, so she wasn't even in my office anyway, LOL.
I went to nursing school while I worked at the agency, and so have been a nurse for the past 13 years. I have only worked in the intensive care unit and there's always a lot going on there, whether it's keeping somebody alive or helping them die (legally, not the Kavorkian way!). The one that really stands out, though, is a younger guy, early 50s, who dropped dead at his work. The EMTs resuscitated him when they arrived and he came to us, had open heart surgery, then returned to surgery and was opened up again later that day for continued extensive bleeding. He was kept on a ventilator and on a gazillion IV medications - several to keep his blood pressure up, some others to keep his heart rate and rhythm normal, plus sedation, blood sugar control, antibiotics, basic IV fluids. I also gave him over 100 blood products that night, far more than I had ever given anybody before. He wound up making it and actually was pretty much ok - not too shabby for somebody dead a couple of times in one day!
So now you know MY life story, LOL.
Fun job? Selling tickets at the County Fair....most expensive job? At a gift shop where most of my paychecks went to buy something....most horrible job? When I was laid off from my first RN job and I worked at the County Home! Most frustrating job? Sitting home and thinking healing thoughts at my ankle...
Man where to start ...I was a Phlebotomist 10 years 2 years in High school I went to a Tech School. 3 years in a Hospital 5 years at a blood center . After thant I decided to take 2 years off Thats when I had my first Daughter Olivia who is now 3. I started working again when she was about 8 months old I worked at a YMCA for a few months the little after that I worked with the MRDD( Mental Retardation Adults) I did that about a year then started work at a Library as a Teen Librarian Assistant I did that for little over a year . I was pregnant with my second daughter while I worked there Anastasia she is 9 months old. I then worked for the YMCA in my area was there 8 months THEY let me go because I had to have Surgery the 4th of June and told me they could not keep my possition. SOO NOW I am a SAHM :) I will be a SAHM until the girls are grown enough to where I can work part time :).
Vanessalbrooks@gmail.com
( OhioGirlTalk's)
I was the manager for a ceramic shop for a few years til the shop moved out of town. Then I ran my own nail salon for a while and at the same time I worked at my bros donut shop. During all that I was taking care of a invalid man, giving him meds and boring stuff like home health aide stuff.
hugs to you Jane dear.
Patt
I havent had many jobs in my time. My first job and I would have to say my favorite was working in a bookstore. I loved it. Got to read any book I wanted and I could read on the job! What better job. I then worked at Wendy's for a bit till we could move here, then worked at a convenice store till I found current job.
4 jobs down the road I'm running a resturant. It has its good days and bad. But I guess its all been good since I will be going on 22 years there. Not much for change, I usually stick with it for a long hall. Probably be here for another 22 years!
I'm sort of unusual, in that I have never had a full-time (paid) job. My first part-time job was as a page in a library. I still think that is funny, to call the person who shelves books in a library a "page", like a page in a book or something. Then I've had three part-time babysitting jobs while I raised my five kids (which is my full-time job), and I have also delivered newspapers for the past 10 years or so. And one of my favorite part-time jobs is when I worked in my LYS for four hours a week for a couple of years. I started doing that to earn money to support my cross-stitch habit, never dreaming I would develop a yarn habit because of being in a yarn shop every week. Now how fun is that--I've worked with both books and yarn! Now I still deliver newspapers to support my yarn habit, and take care of the family.
Jane
Congratulations on your retirement.
I started work at 15 in the local bank. One of the funniest (now) memories is when I started how the accountant sent me to one of the other Banks close to us to get some cash changed. They swapped my bundle of notes for another after making me wait a bit first. Apparently it was something done to all the new bank clerks in the area.
I must say I sniggered when someone was sent to us for the same thing. And had a good laugh at the next newbie to our bank too.
I worked at that bank ( not same branches however) for nearly 26 years until I was pregnant with my first daughter. I have since been a SAHM.
Lynda
lyndat65 at tpg dot com dot au
Posting for Sandi who is fighting with Blogger!
Thank you for letting me in the back door so to speak. I have been working since age 5 when we had our farm. Progressed from there to Avon lady and all other home based sale jobs. Worked airport security at Portland Int'l Airport and when we moved I took our daughter out to sell Girl Scout cookies and was hired at Radio Shack for my sales skills. Loved that job. The rest of the many years DH wanted me to stay home. So, I knitted and tied people down to teach them. Now I take care of 3 grandkids and help DH in his small engine repair work.
I have tried my email address and the alternate email address, plus a dozen other things that I deleted before I got in trouble. About once a year they decide to fight me for a week or two.
Sandi in So Dak
I have mostly worked as a stay at home mom with a handicapped daughter who is an adult now and still at home. I have worked for pay at a fruit packing plant and at an institute of technology book store. I have also done in home daycare and spent my time sewing, quilting and crocheting. Crocheting was my favourite for a long time until I movead on to knitting and bead work. I now do a variety of creative stuff.
I love your prizes, but you make it tough because I love yarn and book, darn if I win I have to choose.
Right after high school I got a job at a local gas station... I worked the gas side and the ice cream side in the summers... from there I worked at the bakery in town... probally the worst 3 yrs of my life... the boss (along with some of her fav employees)was mean and degrading, when the $$ store was in the planning stage I e-mailed the owner and got a working interview... it worked and have been there ever since... one day though I will work/own a yarn/fiber shop... now wouldn't that be fun!!!
My wierdest job...painting fishing jigs by the piece and selling them in a local bait shop. I was 12 and actually made afair bit of money...
Stephanie
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