When I was in high school I worked one summer at a carnival where the carnies used to hang out around my ticket booth trying to impress me and get me to go on the rides after the carnival closed. One of them tried to impress me by telling me he used to work in an abrasives plant. “Do you know what an abrasive is…?” he asked, leering at me and smiling through the wire. God save me. My friends younger sister ran away with the guy who ran the kiddie roller coaster ride. Her dad has to go get her.
A couple of summers I picked tomatoes, bending over all day in the hot sun; and another I cut apricots and put them on a tray to dry in the sun. I ended up with cuts all over my fingers. Thank you god I was not born an illegal immigrant fruit picker in this incarnation.
I also picked grapes in Sonoma county but after an hour the owner took me inside and said he was afraid to let me continue in the hot sun because I was white and not used to it, so he paid me my $20.00 and told me to go home. I thought I was fine.