Seller of silverware in a department store
Kitchen store salesperson
Restaurant hostess
Hospital messenger
Data entry clerk
Editor of insurance reports (plane crashes, mostly)
Graveyard shift phone answerer in a law office
Video store clerk
Legal secretary for a pretty good lawyer
Medical transcriber
Legal secretary again, for a really bad lawyer
Secretary for a couple of accountants
Secretary for a couple of other accountants
Back to data entry clerk
Production manager/copy editor for a tiny publisher
Copy editor for a weekly trade paper
And countless office temp jobs in between all those.
Which averages out to about .85 jobs a year over my whole working life. So I have a short attention span
I guess that once common phraseology has passed from the general vernacular. It means I worked as a free lance auto mechanic, without an established shop. Have tools, will travel, so to speak. Not how I’d get my automotive work done today, although I’ll say I always did a good job.
After reading some of these lists, I’m feeling a bit inferior. OK, here goes.
1)Factory worker
2)Fund raiser for an environmental protection organization (4 days)
3)Usher/concession stand worker in a movie theater
4)Telemarketer (2 months. It was a fly-by-night outfit and it flew one night)
5)Data entry clerk
6)Market research survey technician
7)Packer, then order checker in a music store warehouse
8)Exotic dancer (part time. I still had my day job)
9)Telephone psychic (three weeks, then God let me know in no uncertain terms that He wanted me to be Catholic)
10)Tuxedo rental associate (I dressed men for a living. It was fun, but didn’t pay much)
11)Convenience store clerk (1 day)
12)Craps dealer. (I also know blackjack, but I hate dealing it)
I forgot one: Typist for a court stenographer. That one was short lived. The guy mumbled. He’d give me a tape of him repeating everything that transpired in the court room and I’d have to type it out. He mumbled so badly that I’d have to try to ignore him and pick out what the people were saying directly.
Oh yeah, I’m thirty. I’ve been working for about 15yrs. So thats about 2 career changes/year. But then again, many of them overlapped and since my actual career is “Jack of all trades” (Master of 2 or 3)I’ve been pretty stable.
Now there’s a good idea. I mean, how many times does one’s car break down at the mechanics shop? House calls; I love it.
One of my ‘jobs’ that didn’t make my list is what you’d call a ‘shade tree’ recording studio. We’d bring our small four track and other equiptment to the bands local. It didn’t make the list because it falls into the category of ‘things you decided to do but never got around to it.’
