# Jobs I have had along the way

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 24, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746 "2011-06-24T18:49:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/41 "2011-06-25T09:44:11Z")

</div>

I was a Krispy Kreme Doughnut boy. I walked around the neighborhood with a big cardboard box and sold doughnuts door to door. I shit you not.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/42 "2011-06-25T12:48:17Z")

</div>

> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> One of these jobs is not like the others…
> 
> Since when is “programmer” in the same general category as “paper route” or “checkout chick”?

I merely meant that it was a “job along the way” sort of thing for some people. I happened to work in that capacity for almost 20 years. Although my job title got changed several times I was still basically doing programming. Others in my company used programming as a stepping stone to more exalted work. It’s the latter type that I was thinking of whan I added it to the OP list.

No offense intended.

=============

For what it’s worth, I hope you folks aren’t going to hold me to a “follow-up poll” as I suggested in the OP. Y’all have added way too many jobs to the basic list in the OP that a follow-up would need to be several polls of varying sub-categories. I’d be happy to see others tackle that task, but I think I’ve done what I could with this thread.

This response has been great and it makes me see how sheltered and limited my “work life” has been. There are several jobs I have seen mentioned so far that I actually had myself, but most of them are things I never even considered I could do.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/43 "2011-06-25T13:34:50Z")

</div>

> [@jjimm](#):
>
> The winner: roofer.
> 
> “Roofer?” we said. “That’s not weird.”
> 
> He added two words and won the competition.
> 
> “…at Belsen.”

I know I should get this, but I don’t. Could you spoiler what is the connection?

Could it be like furnace cleaner at Auschwitz?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/44 "2011-06-25T14:09:11Z")

</div>

Babysitting really should have been in that poll. tsk tsk.

Essentially all my jobs have been “odd” in the sense that they weren’t what I’ve ultimately trained for (heck, I’m not yet ultimately trained, just beginning the path…)

As a kid: babysitter, dog walker, snow shoveler, house sitter.

Later, in addition to those checked above:  
Concession stand/party manager at Photon (motto: “We’re not Lazer Tag. Okay, fuck it, we’re A laser tag, but our set up is way cooler.”) and a teen dance club  
Sub in a couple if BDSM shows  
Office Manager for an alt medicine clinic  
Personal Assistant/Slave (not the sexual kind; the overworked, this-job-has-no-boundaries kind)  
Administrator of a small vocational college (this is usually a degreed position, but I fell into it because of the Office Administrator and Slave positions.)  
Massage therapist  
Nanny

I’m sure there are others I can’t think of at the moment

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/45 "2011-06-25T14:20:02Z")

</div>

> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Babysitting really should have been in that poll. tsk tsk.

Absolutely! And the “route sales” should have been more generic so that “door-to-door sales” might have been included.

Delivery jobs might have been there, as well. I delivered blue prints one summer but had managed to push that out of my mind. That same summer I also helped to stock a new department store; that job only lasted a few weeks so it’s okay I forgot it.

Rough guess: y’all have added at least 50 more jobs to my puny list. Would anybody accept the task of sorting the ones already named into some group classifications so that some follow-up polls could be managed?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/46 "2011-06-25T14:23:27Z")

</div>

> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> No offense intended.

Oh, none taken. But according to 5 minutes of googling the average salary here for an Analyst/Programmer is $95k at the moment, so I dunno about “less than desirable for a profession.”

(although, I personally don’t currently desire to be a programmer any more, but that’s more of an individual decision)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/47 "2011-06-25T15:01:56Z")

</div>

Forgot to mention that I worked as a dishwasher/busboy at the student union in college to help pay for meals. The first meaningful job I had was during college summers, when I worked as part of a survey crew: I really enjoyed that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/48 "2011-06-25T15:45:46Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Forgot to mention that I worked as a dishwasher/busboy at the student union in college to help pay for meals. The first meaningful job I had was during college summers, when I worked as part of a survey crew: I really enjoyed that.

Amazing! I did a college summer as part of a team of surveyors and other overseer types on an Interstate Highway project. I had forgotten that cushy job until your post!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/49 "2011-06-25T15:46:05Z")

</div>

- Receptionist
- Data entry
- Census taker
- Hostess at McDonald’s (yes, they had those back in the day, at least in my town)
- Housecleaner
- File clerk (ugh, the worst)
- Bakery clerk
- Stringer reporter

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/50 "2011-06-25T17:47:02Z")

</div>

Paper round, fast food, retail, telesales (briefly).

Computer programmer/operator seems like a regular job to me, not something many people do on the side while at high school or college. Radio announcer… Do you have a different definition of that term than me? I mean, working in radio at all tends to be a career (or at least part of a wider media career), not a side-job, and not low-status.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/51 "2011-06-25T19:14:48Z")

</div>

> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Amazing! I did a college summer as part of a team of surveyors and other overseer types on an Interstate Highway project. I had forgotten that cushy job until your post!

Yours may have been cushy, but I spent the entire first summer swinging a machete to clear topo survey lines, while learning how to be a chainman. It wasn’t until year two that they let me anywhere near a transit or level.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/52 "2011-06-25T19:21:29Z")

</div>

Of the ones listed:  
Lawn / landscape care

pumped gas (back when service stations not only pumped your gas for you, they also washed the windows, checked the oil, changed out the fan belt, fixed flat tires, etc. etc.

Other:  
Part-time bartender at a not-so-nice dive

Nightclub bouncer

photo developer at a newspaper… pre-digital, in the days of b&w film. It was a small paper with no full-time photographers. The reporters had to take their own pictures and most of 'em couldn’t shoot for sh\*t. They’d bring in their rolls of underexposed, overexposed, out-of-focus, off-center, washed out, washed up film and then whine that it was the photo lab’s fault when their pictures looked like crap.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/53 "2011-06-25T19:29:04Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Yours may have been cushy, but I spent the entire first summer swinging a machete to clear topo survey lines, while learning how to be a chainman. It wasn’t until year two that they let me anywhere near a transit or level.

I may have exaggerated the “surveyor” aspect of that job, in that I was only on one team that went around placing right-of-way markers. On that one my task was to hold the plumb bob after two other guys had dug a 3’ deep hole with a posthole digger and set the marker in place.

Other tasks that made me describe it as cushy include:

1. working the Doodler’s Shack where it was incumbent on me to dry some sand over a kerosene heater for use in running “compaction tests.”

2. counting trucks that came to a privately owned lake/pond to fill up either a 3000- or 5000-gallon truck with water to spray on the road bed. I made a mark on an IBM card for each fillup and except for that movement whenever they came by, I slept! For the few weeks I was on that task I was getting on the order of four hours sleep out of an 8-hour day, with two 30-minute “tea breaks” when I was picked up at the site and driven to a cafe about four miles away and then back to the grind. There were people on that crew who were full-time Highway Department employees and they did less work than I did.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/54 "2011-06-25T19:44:51Z")

</div>

One I forgot to mention in my post:

For a while in high school I had a job where I would clean a dentist’s office after hours. Among other things this involved lubricating and cleaning the drills, so I got to operate them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/55 "2011-06-25T19:59:14Z")

</div>

> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> I may have exaggerated the “surveyor” aspect of that job, in that I was only on one team that went around placing right-of-way markers. On that one my task was to hold the plumb bob after two other guys had dug a 3’ deep hole with a posthole digger and set the marker in place.
> 
> Other tasks that made me describe it as cushy include:
> 
> 1. working the Doodler’s Shack where it was incumbent on me to dry some sand over a kerosene heater for use in running “compaction tests.”
> 
> 2. counting trucks that came to a privately owned lake/pond to fill up either a 3000- or 5000-gallon truck with water to spray on the road bed. I made a mark on an IBM card for each fillup and except for that movement whenever they came by, I slept! For the few weeks I was on that task I was getting on the order of four hours sleep out of an 8-hour day, with two 30-minute “tea breaks” when I was picked up at the site and driven to a cafe about four miles away and then back to the grind. There were people on that crew who were full-time Highway Department employees and they did less work than I did.

Heh: I cooked dirt in the soils lab trailer, did compaction testing and ran cross-section numbers for part of one summer. It was boring, but it beat standing on the road, running alongside belly dumps and trying to grab their tare tickets while they laughed at me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/56 "2011-06-25T20:09:11Z")

</div>

Did this for a year, many years ago,

> **[Window Ladder and Mast Manning Displays](http://www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local/winmst.htm)**
>
> This page is about Window Ladder and Mast Manning Displays.

> **[Portsmouth's Events Videos - 1995 - Window Ladder Display At Dockyard 500](http://www.portsmouthvideos.co.uk/events/1995_d500windowldr.htm)**
>
> Videos Of Portsmouth's Events - 1995 - Window Ladder Display At Dockyard 500\</

I would be one of those on the top row, they put the smallest up highest.I would also be one of those descending upside down, no hands.I suppose we would be the lightest to catch, only got dropped a couple of times.Even when they have climbed up into position, just sitting still and waiting for the movements to begin is physically demanding.

What you see on that video is the window ladder set up all in position, but the other part of the display was to put it up and take it down, and that was one heck of a feat in itself to do in 3 or 4 minutes, we used to have 2 window ladder displays and it was a race to see which team could get into place first, a lot of planning and rehearsal went into that part of the display, get it wrong and some real serious injuries could happen

I was too short to do the sword swinging drill, unless I stood on a taller than normal plinth, you’ll see the guys always stand on a plinth around 4 inches, I needed somewhat more so us shorties did not look right next to the others.BTW, it might look easy swinging swords, but 20 minutes and you know it.

I never did the mast climbing, can’t say I was sorry either, being a small person(smallest to the top), I would have been given one of the high yardarms

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/57 "2011-06-25T21:16:45Z")

</div>

From the list:

Paper route  
Checkout groceries (for one week)

Others:

Doorman (on Park Avenue, New York)  
Elevator Operator  
Mover  
Data checker  
Quality Control Inspector in a computer factory  
Grounds cleanup at a construction site

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/58 "2011-06-25T21:37:54Z")

</div>

Busboy  
Janitor (not at the same time!)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/59 "2011-06-25T21:40:12Z")

</div>

Other: Babysitting and lifeguard/swim lesson teacher

From the list: Checkout groceries

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746/60 "2011-06-26T01:44:58Z")

</div>

Sold “Praise The Lord”, balloons outside a Billy Graham speaking engagement.

Easier than shootin, fish in a barrel!

Also, sold roses on a street corner.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746.md?page=2)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-i-have-had-along-the-way/586746.md?page=4)