In college, I worked weekends and summers cutting grass (among other things) at a golf course. During the week, I worked in one of the largest meteorology department in the world. It wasn’t particularly mentally challenging work, but you had to speak the language of meteorology or you wouldn’t have a clue what you were supposed to be doing 75% of the time.
My daughter, a student at a large University, works on her weekendds at an event hall that hosts parties, wedding receptions, and memorial services - stuff like that. Sometimes she does food service, but mostly she works (literally) until the middle of the night at mindless labor, tearing down the previous nights event and preparing for the first event the next day. It’s all moving chairs and tables around and setting them up with tablecloths and silverware.
During the week she works at a biology lab run by a Nobel Prize winner. He is a really cool guy, but one of those eggheaded intellectuals who drifts off into extremely obscure topics and assumes everyone knows what the hell he is talking about, when in reality only a couple dozen people in the world can fully understand him. I asked my daughter how she knows what he wants done, and she said she doesn’t most of the time, she just asks the post-docs and they tell her what to do.
[ul]
[li]Helped my brother replace a 50 gallon water heater.[/li][li]Re-aimed a DirecTV satellite dish.[/li][li]Configured a Windows 10 HP laptop.[/li][li]Edited an 8 camera concert video.[/li][/ul]
Specialization is a good idea for insects.
For the last two years of my college days, I was a hotel banquet server, and a pharmacy technician. I worked FT as a tech, because I could, and very few hours at the hotel because they weren’t very busy with all the students gone, and reversed it during the school year.
In college I was a pharmacy technician in the summers and a newspaper editor and writer during the school year (school newspaper, which was a paid job, though not much money).
When I was in college, I worked two part time retail jobs - one day I would be selling knives/kitchen cutlery/scissors at one store, the next I would be selling candy at Fanny Farmer. Very different customers.
One college summer I life-guarded during the weekdays, ran the switchboard at a nursing home two evenings a week, and did night audit at the Holiday Inn over the weekend. I had to stop and count to three before I answered a phone so I could remember which job I was currently working.
Every school-teacher I knew back in the old days. Besides teaching 3rd or 6th grade, I also worked as a Harley mechanic, poured concrete, or drove delivery for Coke. And I also led worship (not paid but basically a professional position) while also serving as a bouncer in a dive bar.
Drove a Dry-Cleaning van in the morning, and worked in a restaurant/nightclub in the evening.*
Got to meet Willie Nelson and have a beer with him because of the two. He was in town doing a show and I picked up his laundry in the morning, the other staff processed it and I dropped it off later.
That night, in the nightclub I was working, this little dude comes in and is standing around. This was in the years between Willy-as-huge-Celebrity days. And he could easily go unnoticed if he wanted to.
We’re standing next to each other listing to the band, and I look over and ask him if he is Willy. He says “yeah” and at first I didn’t believe him (I was pretty drunk at the time), but then noticed he was wearing the shirt we laundered for him earlier that day.
We had a nice chat and a couple beers. That was pretty cool.
*Still managed to waterski early, and ride dirt-bikes in between. Amazing how youth works.
Hey! Can you make me a Bloody Mary? :eek:
Better yet, have the waitress Jane mix me one – my name is Jeff, by the way.
Throughout college, I was teaching Tang Soo Do on weekday evenings – but that was voluntary and I considered it part of my obligation as a high-ranking student. During the days I worked at the campus health-food store and discussed homeopathy, nutritious foods, organic juices, reiki, and mystical energies with the patrons. On weekends and summer nights, I managed the concessions for the campus ampitheater, pushing popcorn, candy, Pepsi products, t-shirts, and sparkly keychains on the fans.
The concert security team actually didn’t want my help, even though I was small and nimble and quite able to take out any drunken gate-crashers that might want to challenge me. Instead, they wanted big guys (even if they were obese) who could stand around looking formidable so drunken fans wouldn’t even think of becoming unruly in thier proximity. Prevention, of course, was more prudent than a violent resolution of conflict.
In the military, I was running a Public Works department by day, and moonlighting at an electronics place doing wiring harnesses for very large control systems.
One summer I worked for a professor. Most days I was doing computer stuff in the air conditioned office. But every so often I had to go out in the field and be a farmer helping him cut his test plots.
