BS: jobs

Subject: BS: jobs
From: nutty
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 11:20 AM

A recent thread reminder me of the time that I worked as a barmaid. It was one of many contrasting jobs I had during my working life and I wondered what life had been like for other Mudcatters since leaving school.

This is my list (not in order)

Barmaid - Waitress - Teacher - Telephonist - Assistant Chef -
Receptionist - Lecturer - Wife & Mother - Project Manager

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 11:35 AM

Since leaving school I've played music all the time and done the following jobs to support my habit: Matress stuffer (two weeks), camera salesperson at Wards, printing plant pressroom worker, substitute teacher, park district cleaning person, CD store salesperson, teach the odd guitar lesson now and then. Most of the jobs allow/ed some flexibility for me if I had the opportunity to play a gig somewhere. I have always been upfront about my wanting to do this. Another good thing to think of for this situation is leave home problems at home and job problems at work.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Firecat
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 11:41 AM

This is my list - in order

Student
Childminder
Supermarket Greeter
Telesales Operator

Add badgemaker and steward more or less all the way through. I am now jobhunting again.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Amos
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 12:21 PM

Soda jerk
Dishwasher and waiter
Day laborer
Houser painter
Deckhand
Engine-room snipe
Quartermaster's Mate
Boatswain
1st Mate
Chief Officer
Captain
Organizational Turn-Around exec/analyst
Executive
Writer - Business, Technical, Fiction, Poetry
Programmer
Pastoral Counselor/Minister
Student
Manager
Marine Salvage Consultant/Ops Officer
Commercial Diver
Hard-rock gold miner
Teacher/Trainer/Seminar speaker
Systems Requirements Engineer
Systems Analyst
Systems Engineer
Father
Husband
Cosmic Dogsbody
Boyfriend, lover, flirt, canapé server
Folksinger/Blues player/Songwriter
Metaphysical Catalyst and Intercessor
Confessor
Guide
Lost Soul
Wannabe
Rich man
Poor man
Beggarman
Thief
Chef and bottle-washer
Lothario
Camp-maker
Water-bearer
Carpenter
Timber-cutter and rail-splitter
Barn hand, manure spreader and shoveler

All these I have really been. I was wondering why my karma seemed to be running on three cylinders; p'raps I have used it all up!!! LOL




A

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 12:59 PM

as you might guess, the topic has been done what does a Mudcatter do

but it is always interesting to read more.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 01:13 PM

Babysitter, Dog groomer's assistant, cashier at K-Mart, kennel worker and dog groomer, graveyard-shift bread bagger at Vie de France bakery, terrarium maker, ice-cream truck lady, maid, day care center worker, plant waterer, photographic production assistant, wildlife rehabilitation worker, veterinary assistant, interpretive naturalist, zookeeper, high adventure gear salesperson, research assistant (herbicide research), co-owner of a property surveilance service (vacation homes), weaver (of cloth), mother, whitewater rafting trip salesperson, interior designer's assistant, illustrator, sales rep for a steering wheel manufacturer, and artist/craftsperson (painted textiles).

I think that's probably everything, although I may have forgotten one or two.

And I did have at least one paid music gig, maybe more than one. And I might have gotten paid for some of the sound tech work I did, but I'm not sure.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Padre
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 01:16 PM

In approximate chronological order:

Cemetery maintenance worker
Riverboat Deckhand
Laboratory Media Preparer
Machine Tool Operator (Dual-Head Horizontal Drill)
Folksinger - this has continued
Field Medical Technician
Laboratory Technician
Blood Bank Technician
Graduate Assistant
Preventive Medicine/Environmental Health Specialist
Interpretive Park Ranger
Budget Analyst
Program Management Analyst
Logistician/Industrial Materials Analyst
Base Closure Analyst
Asst. Division Director for Quality Assurance
Retired (very briefly)
Seminarian
Deacon
Priest/Archdeacon

Padre

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 01:53 PM

waiter
kitchen porter
electricians apprentice
police cadet
police Constable
officer in charge-childrens establishments
manager Social Services (residential)
retired!!!!!!!!!!!
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 02:01 PM

Burger Flipper
Farm Worker
Slaughterhouse Worker
Cantaloup Crate Nailer
Laboratory Assistant
Greenhouse Worker
Oyster Shucker
Sailing Yacht Flunky
Bellhop
Substitute Teacher
High School Teacher
Dog Catcher
Animal Control Manager
Office Receptionist
File Clerk
Weights & Measures Inspector
Songwriter
Folksinger
Recording Artist

I am still doing the last 4 items.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: SharonA
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 02:09 PM

Babysitter
Cashier at discount dept. store
Camp counselor
Lifeguard
Server of hamburgers in little cardboard boxes
Donuts-and-coffee waitress
Cashier at pharmacy
Paste-up artist (back in the pre-desktop-publishing days)
Typesetter
Photostat camera operator
Stripper (of printing negatives, not clothing!)
Printing-plate burner
Printing bindery worker
Graphic designer
Illustrator
Digital-photo archivist
Performing singer/songwriter/guitarist

...and I've been a    friend and a cat-caregiver, too, but I thought we were talking about jobs for which one is paid.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Pauline L
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 02:57 PM

Scientist (many times)
Teacher/tutor (violin, science, English, ESL)
Unemployed

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: SharonA
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 03:02 PM

Oops -- I'm posting from a library today, and the library's filters filtered out a word from my previous post. I was trying to type the word:

g i r l f r i e n d

...but for whatever reason, "g i r l" is considered by the library to be an obscenity, right up there with f**k and sh*t. Go figure!

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Don Firth (wife's computer, mine's in the sh
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 05:11 PM

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

It’s a slow day here in the swamp, my wife is out of town at a poetry festival, I’m between articles, I feel like writing something unrelated to what I’ve been doing and just letting it flow out, and you did ask. This is long, and some may find it boring (especially one person who delights in telling me what a lousy, boring writer I am, but screw him!). Anyway, here it is. Skip or read at your pleasure.

Since I graduated from high school. While going to the University of Washington and the Cornish School of the Arts, I worked during the summers:

One summer I worked as a grunt in a custom picture framer’s shop, washing glass, sanding frames, some mounting of pictures. Met lots of interesting people (local artists, gallery operators, art dealers), and the boss-man was something of a genius-philosopher. By drawing an analogy between picture frames and song accompaniments, he taught me a lot about what to do and what not to do in working out guitar arrangements.   

Sold advertising space for a small neighborhood newspaper. Lousy job, but a good learning experience. I had to learn to handle rejection just to survive. But I did make enough money to buy my first good guitar, a Martin 00-18.

Summer job at Boeing. Draftsman trainee. Good deal, in a way. The “Lazy B“ didn’t guarantee a job, but with government contracts pending and plans for a commercial jet (the 707) in the works, they anticipated a need for lots of draftspersons in the near future, so they offered an opportunity to “learn a trade” and paid us for it, in hopes that if they got the contracts, they would have a pool of local people who were already trained.

Short-term job as a clerk in a music store (The Folklore Center in Seattle).

This took me up to around 1959, and that’s when I was asked to do a series of programs on folk music on the local educational television channel (now, the local PBS affiliate). My qualifications were that I had been singing and playing the guitar for about seven years, I had sung a lot at parties and “hoots,” and at places like retirement homes, a “Friends of the Library” banquet, and such, I had taken Dr. David Fowler’s “Popular Ballads” course at the U. of W., and had developed a reputation as something of an authority on the history of the songs I sang (“I know he was a folk singer because he spent ten minutes introducing a three minute song!”). This TV credit made getting singing jobs fairly easy. For the next six years, I did several more TV appearances, a batch of college concerts, folk festivals, and during that time, I sang almost every week in one coffeehouse or another if I wasn’t singing somewhere else. Also, in 1962, I sang every Sunday at the multi-performer concerts at the United Nations Pavilion at the Seattle World’s Fair. All this time, I was teaching folk and classic guitar, both private lessons and classes.

When, in the mid to late Sixties, the “Great Folk Scare” began to fade, to be replaced by the “British Invasion.” The coffeehouses started closing, and engagements for folk singers got a bit scarce. I learned that Boeing was hiring production illustrators (very similar to drafting), so I went to work there. Interesting job, but not really my cup of tea, so I took an evening class at a broadcasting school.

When I got laid off from Boeing along with about 65,000 other people (Boeing had failed to get several government contracts, including the government’s decision not to build an SST, into which Boeing had already put a lot of its own money in designing a prototype), I stepped right into a job as a radio announcer.

I worked in broadcasting for eight years (several different stations! Volatile industry, fluid job market!). Two “easy listening” stations (elevator music), for the AAA as a drive-time traffic reporter over KIRO in Seattle, for two classical music stations, a short stint as a rock jock (OY!), and got promoted to news director and anchor man for the half-hour morning and noon newscasts at one of the easy listening stations. I also wrote lots of commercial copy and produced lots of commercials (God forgive me!). I loved broadcasting, but the jobs were really insecure. Station managers and program directors are very nervous and indecisive people, and they’re constantly tinkering with formats and on-the-air personalities. An old time radio announcer told me, “Whenever you land a job at a new radio station, the first thing you should do is update your r¨¦sum¨¦. And keep your bags packed!”   

Although I loved the work, I got fed up with the insecurity, and the crap you had to put up with from the ginks in the front office (managers, salesmen, bean-counters), so when one of the classical music stations I worked at (I really loved that job¨Dplaying music I like with my feet propped up and a cuppa coffee in my hand, and getting paid well to do it!) was bought by a couple of dingalings from Idaho who turned it into a canned religion station (double OY!), I quit and went to work for Ma Bell¨Das a telephone operator. I look upon that as a ) going from broadcasting to narrowcasting; and b ) a really dumb move. The money and the bennies were pretty good, but it was like chaining myself to an oar. I lasted for eight years before the divestiture and deregulation came along, and I got laid off with a batch of other people (interesting to note that those who got laid off were at top pay or about ready to retire!).

This takes me up to 1985. While working at the foam company, I used some of my ill-gotten gains to buy a computer (KayPro II, loaded with WordStar), and was using it to fulfill a long-standing ambition:   writing, specifically science fiction. When the job at Ma Bell folded, I answered an ad for an outfit that said the wanted a word processor. Now, just about anybody can use Microsoft Word or Wordpad or Corel Wordperfect, but back then, I had what was looked upon as a specialized skill: I was a “Word Processor” (!). It was an accounting firm that had a contract with the Bonneville Power Administration to conduct inspections of residences that had been weatherized as part of the BPA’s energy conservation program. They wanted people who had their own computers and who could work at home, taking stacks of inspectors’ reports and condensing them into readable six-page reports. I was officially an “Administrative Assistant/Technical Writer.” A few years later, they moved the whole operation into an office downtown, and hired a whole bunch more people (lots of hinky office politics involved, but that’s a whole nother story). Anyway, when the contract between the BPA and the accounting firm came due, BPA decided the whole operation had become too expensive, so they didn’t renew.

While I was out looking for another job, I fell and broke a leg. Since I already used crutches (polio, age 2), I wound up having to use a wheelchair. My wife and I talked it over and we decided “To hell with it! Retire and spend your time writing!” So that’s what I’m doing now. Got a few things published and I’m working on a book:   sort of a memoir or collection of reminiscences about the folk music scene here in the Pacific Northwest. Lots of really good stuff was going on here during the Fifties and Sixties (and still is), but most of the rest of the country wasn’t aware of it. Needs to be told! When I finish that, I have notes for a couple of science fiction novels and a mystery or two I’d like to take a crack at.   

During all this time, I’ve kept up the music. I performed off and on at the Northwest Folklife Festivals, at the Moss Bay Sail and Chantey festivals, did occasional concerts, and currently I am performing with a group called “Miscellany.” There are four of us, including my wife Barbara and me. Mostly right now we provide songs and incidental music for poetry readings by local poet Jana Harris. Most of Jana’s poetry deals with material she picked up from the diaries and journals of early Pacific Northwest settlers. Between Jana’s reading (Jana does most of the reading, but we all read; I do the “guy poems”), the slides of old photos projected on the screen behind Jana, the interspersed songs, and the background music, there is a sort of Ken Burns flavor about the presentations (like his PBS Civil War series). There’s been some talk of a CD and/or a DVD and/or show on our local PBS affiliate, but nothing definite yet.

It’s way past lunchtime here and I suddenly realized I’m hungry. I think I’ve got some pastrami out in the fridge. Sandwich time.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 05:13 PM

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 05:25 PM

Bon appetit Don!...Oh and I certainly don't find your writing boring.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 05:49 PM

Thanks, Mike.

I wonder what happened to my apostrophes, quotation marks, and HTML codes. They all went peculiar.....

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: wildlone
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 06:41 PM

Work

Leather worker
Weaver
Butchers assistant
Window cleaner
Hospital porter
Nurse
Fitters mate
Baker
Coalman
Paint sprayer
Capstan lathe operator
CNC setter/operator/programer
Printer/press engineer
Brewery worker
Line leader in an Ice cream factory
QC in a car componant works
I have also worked in the electronics industry
At the moment I am working for an Agency

Hobbies
I have been re-enacting since 1969
Music
Books
Bikes

dave

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 06:58 PM

Joe fixed 'em. Thanks, Joe!

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 07:11 PM

For the last four years I've been a self-employed artist.

I have vague memories of having had a "regular job" doing something for about 25 years before that, but I can't remember what it was. It must have had something to do with being an asshole, because I can remember a few people calling me that.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 07:20 PM

I had one day's work in 1961 putting crap cider in stone jugs to sell to tourists. I worked with computers for two months in c1972.I did two nights as a barman around then as well. I think that is the sum total of my real jobs, other than that I have been a musician.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Scoville
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 08:35 PM

1. candy & gift shop cashier
2. stable-mucker and assistant riding instructor at a camp (I rode Western, the horses were trained English, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been). I also had to drive a 15-passenger van on a 12-hour round trip to pick up campers (Atlanta, Georgia, at rush hour . . . ).
3. kitchen help (did it all--ran the serving line, helped the cooks, polished the stainless-steel elevator, you name it)
4. kennel assitant
5. veterinary technician
6. file clerk in a library historical archive

and I've been paid in the past for playing music and helping to teach square-dances, and been paid for various handmade craft items. I've done reenacting (Civil War and Texas Republic) off and on for 13 years. I'm always researching something (ha! I now get paid to do it, too, thanks to the archive job).

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 09:24 PM

Thanks for your ruminatin', Don Firth. I look forward to reading your book when it comes out. Do you have a timeline on it? And what will it be called?

One of my interests is diaries written from and about the Oregon Trail, and the time period following. Sometimes I think that I remember it!

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 11:14 PM

Thread drift.

No real time-line yet, Ebbie.   In the first draft, I've got about 100,000 words written so far, and I'm up to the early Sixties, with some stuff about more recent events. I'm also getting some pictures together. I'm probably going to have to do some cutting somewhere, but I want to finish the first draft before I get hung up on editing and rewriting.

As far as a title is concerned, it isn't finalized yet. I figure that since a lot of it is from my own (fortunately) fairly tenacious memory and gleanings from the memories of others who were there, such as Bob Nelson (Deckman), I figure it'll be pretty close to what was actually going on. I was thinking of "Close Enough for Folk Music."

Art Thieme has a CD out with a title that I really covet, but of course, it's already taken:   "The Older I Get, The Better I Was." God, that's so perfect!!

You really might might like to check out some of Jana Harris's writings. Our most recent presentations have been from Jana's The Dust of Everyday Life, an epic poem (Sasquatch Books, 1-800-775-0817, Seattle, 1997). I just looked up some information on her, and she's been a whole lot busier than I thought. She's published seven books of poetry, including Oh How Can I Keep on Singing? Voices of Pioneer Women. And I also just learned that she's written two novels, the second coming out shortly from St. Martin's Press. I did know that she teaches creative writing at the University of Washington.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Kaleea
Date: 30 Apr 05 - 11:35 PM

I don't think I could even remember all the work I've done since graduating from Music school. I'm too old & senile these days.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: jacqui.c
Date: 01 May 05 - 08:55 AM

Shopworker
Tester in a cigarette factory
Student
Housewife and mother
Domestic cleaner
Barmaid
Student
Cleaner in an old people's home
Insurance underwriter
Insurance claims negotiator
Kendall's keeper!

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Sooz
Date: 02 May 05 - 04:05 AM

All for money:
Supermarket shelf stacker and checkout operator
Cleaner in old peoples home
Cook in old peoples home
Care assistant
Hairnet packer
Effluent Chemist
Teacher
Education advisor
Occasional writer of articles etc
Folk singer

All for the job satisfaction (but no money):
Wife and mother
Folk Club Organiser
Folk Festival organiser
Village Hall secretary and publicity officer
Quiz master
Folk singer

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 10 May 05 - 01:25 PM

Freight Forwarder/Clerk
Soldier
Cook
Baker
Barman
Slaughterman
Factory Butcher
Fish Gutter
Labourer
Bailiff (House reposessions)
Van Driver
Drivers Mate (Long Distance HGV)
Process Operator (Edible Oils)
Rat Catcher (Pest Control Technician)

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 May 05 - 08:19 AM

Chairman of the Gobi Desert canoe club.
Virginity curer
Secretery of the Norfolk Broads mountain rescue team
Nymphomania treater
Beer tester
Money recycler
Garden ornament

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Mooh
Date: 11 May 05 - 09:23 AM

Paperboy, gardener, groundskeeper, construction, demolition, gas jockey, retail sales, janitor/custodian/verger, labour negotiator, forest ranger, carpenter, musician. The last and current job teaching private music lessons, instrument repairs, and performing, has been the best job yet. Should have started it years earlier.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From:
Date: 11 May 05 - 09:23 AM

Student
Waitress
Bar person
Bar Supervisor
Teacher
Customer Service agent
Credit Control Manager
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
Wife and Micca's keeper!

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Diva
Date: 12 May 05 - 07:33 AM

junior in an accountants
receptionist/ cashier in garage
student on TOPS course (remember them)
went back to do highers...dropped out
cashier/clerkess CO-OP
Examiner Slumberdown
became a mum
shop assistant Woolies
Shop assistant card shop
Hawick Host( a pioneer..one of the first six)
Assitant manager Shelter/part time student
Assistant Manager british heart Foundation/part time student
Full time Student Scottish Studies Glasgow Uni

Wonder what I'll do when I grow up?

Subject: RE: BS: jobs
From: Mooh
Date: 14 May 05 - 06:19 AM

Diva...Don't grow up, it's highly over-rated. Mooh.