A day at the office. Job #46. Today I got to catch up with a dear friend (Hi, Jen!) that I haven't talked to in a couple weeks. Normally, we talk at least once a week, so this was quite a while for us. Anyway, both of us marveled at how busy our jobs are, how much work there is to do, and are still optimistic about the future at our respective places of work. Then I ran across a video about how Sasha Obama has a summer job at some restaurant clearing tables and basically having a crap job like most other fifteen-year-olds. Good for her, I thought.
Then I stumbled upon this article about LA City Council members and their first seven jobs. And thought, what were my first seven jobs? Well here they are:
1. Working in a store on a public farm. IN A GRAIN SILO. I was a cashier. And by cashier, I mean people gave me their money, and I figured up tax with a little calculator, then figured out their change by hand. And credit cards were still the slips with carbon copies. I saw a cow get artificially inseminated that summer, and swore I would never. Ever.
2. Stable hand on a horse farm. They specialized in Peruvian Pasos. Beautiful horses. It was mostly picking up horse poop and pushing a wheelbarrow from one place to another, but I did get to work with the horses a little bit.
3. Delivering phone books. I feel for people who still do this job. It's even more pointless than it was in 1991.
4.Waitress at an inn. Room and board was included, and it was in the Rocky Mountains. That was a great summer, but I'll never forget getting my ass chewed out because I forgot to heat up the syrup on my first day.
5. Trail Guide through Rocky Mountain National Park. On horses. Some amazing stories from that summer.
6. Gymnastics coach. I gotta say, dealing with kids aged 2-12 on a daily basis, I learned a TON about how to deal with people.
7. Waitress at an inn. Apparently, I hadn't had enough the first time. I moved across the country, and this was a great option. That was one crazy summer in the Smoky Mountains.
So what does it all mean? Do your first seven jobs say anything about you? I say it's doubtful. But I do think that it definitely stays with you for a long time. I dealt with the public in almost every single one of those jobs. I worked with small children and animals, two of the most temperamental creatures on the planet. I learned how to solve problems. I learned independence. I don't remember earning a bunch of money in any of those jobs, but I have memories to go with all of them.
It was many jobs after number seven before I had any real responsibility past heating up the syrup (unless you want to count keeping children from diving head first off a balance beam and keeping horses from killing themselves or you), but I still learned something from every single one, and I continue to learn every single day in the job I have now. And I guess that's what really matters, and why I love my job.
What were your first seven jobs?
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