GTKY: Odd Jobs

phishgirl29 · December 2013

I was just thinking about some old jobs I used to have (before I started my career) and I was wondering if you ladies worked in interesting places in the past.

For example; I've worked in an amusement park selling tickets, Abercrombie, Guess, and as a gift wrapper in a high end boutique.

Care to share your odd jobs??

Achae · December 2013

Florist (I made a lot of bows, ugh) making fruit trays (probably the most fun job ever!), selling leather goods

WasNotWas · December 2013

I worked at Hollywood Video (throwback!) and I was a scorekeeper for basketball games and wrestling matches at Disney. I worked at Tropical Smoothie for a couple of months but just stopped showing up when they wouldn't work around my basketball schedule

HeartLikeMine3 · December 2013

Before I graduated I was a shot girl, super classy

it paid awesome! We would usually go to 3-4 bars and just hand out free shots. We got paid 50$ a bar and plus kept all the tips. I usually made 250-300$ a night in less than 5 hours.
I also worked a yoga studio for a long time.

phishgirl29 · December 2013

I forgot about my countless hours of babysitting, nannying, and camp counselor/group leader. I also taught preschool for 2 years. I hear you on working forever @violet1183!!

ColieAnn31 · December 2013

I worked at an ADT call center for about a year. I started out making emergency dispatch calls and then moved to inbound calls for technical support. Emergency dispatch was sooo much better than inbound customer support and you always got to talk to some pretty interesting people. I've also worked at Dairy Queen and a little burger joint in my town.

HeartLikeMine3 · December 2013

I was also a lifeguard all summers of high school and taught swim lessons.

phishgirl29 · December 2013

Well shit, I was a lifeguard/swim teacher too @HeartLikeMine3. I think there was a time in my life I would do most anything for $$$$.

Within legal limits of course

KellenHi21 · December 2013

Summer school sports teacher, swim teacher, worked at a kayak shop, and was an intern

Eta- and lifeguard

WasNotWas · December 2013

O wait, I also worked as a server for the TPC Sawgrass tournament! Met a lot of famous golfers

[Deleted User] · December 2013

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Greywolf12 · December 2013

I drove a 200 ton dump truck in a coal mine for three summers when I was in college.
To fully grasp this you have to know that I am 5'1" and was 100lbs and the only female on my crew. That job made me excited to go back to college every fall!

Lizzybizzy80 · December 2013

I worked at a Blockbuster Video (my boy won't know what this is, sad), was a nanny and a cater/waiter and occasional bartender. I got to see sooo many weddings I had a pretty firm idea of what I wanted and didn't want.

kacelle · December 2013

I've worked as: a costumed tour guide at a history museum, a library clerk, a community assistant at an apartment complex, a university history "supplemental instructor," a hostess in box suites at a football stadium, and a PR director at a local nonprofit. Only the last one was post-grad.

bel194 · December 2013

My dad is a mechanic and owns his own shop so I "worked there" since I was about 12 (child labor laws anyone???). I did their office work like filing, billing, etc. and the occasional oil change and car wash. I briefly worked at mcdonalds and then Kmart. Now I work in a nursing home and I absolutely love my job

steph_pegasus · December 2013

Probably the oddest one was the summer I worked on a bloodstock Thoroughbred farm in Florida. It was a lot of fun then.

megandchase · December 2013

I started modeling at 13 and did that until I was 17. My parents moved to Cali from TX when I was 16 I
Lived there for a year hated HS there so my parents let me move back to TX my senior year and live with my older sister. When I moved back I stopped modeling and worked at a dry cleaners with my girlfriends. I thought that was way more fun than modeling. (Dumb!) In college I was very briefly a hostess at a local bar & grill and chilis then I nannied for the same family for 5 years.

FunkyPhoenix · December 2013

I started working at my neighborhood pool at 14, checking memberships and testing the water, etc. I then worked at Sonic, Body Shop (the clothing store), a dry cleaner and was a receptionist at a car dealership. Plus baby sitting jobs here and there. Oh and a brief stint at a daycare when I was in high school. Never again. That was awful.

LiLi23 · December 2013

When I was in HS I worked at one of those stands in the middle of the mall selling these potpourri scented fake pies during the holiday season. It was awful. I still can't stand that smell to this day and that was about 15 years ago!

I've also worked at an allstar cheerleading gym one summer, making cash. That was actually awesome. I would work a couple of half hour private tumbling sessions and took home all that money. @CL8badB that was actually in Staten Island! I forget the name of the road it was on, but it was just over the Outer Bridge. (That's where you're from right? I hope I'm remembering that right!) During that same summer and the previous summer I worked for a cheerleading company traveling in NJ and PA doing summer camps. My favorite was at Pine Forest/Trails End. Ohhh I so missed those days.

Cricket81 · December 2013

I was a camp counselor for years. I worked for a temp agency that had me do lots of odd things. One time I was hired to type rejection letters for job applicants. A medical records favility hired me to shred records for days on end. Another place had me completely reorganize their filing system and then come back 2 weeks later to put it back the way it was because they didn't like the new system (all their ideas, I just did what they told me.) My favorite temp job was as a receptionist in a start up that did everything online. Everyone wore shorts and tshirts and I could just sit at the front desk and read while waiting for the phone to ring. I also worked one summer at a copy place which has been super valuable in my career as a teacher. I can unjam any machine!

Eta: I also worked for a general contractor in high school doing home repairs and building additions. Loved it!

LiLi23 · December 2013

@CL8badB That could be it! lol I never really knew the names of the streets, I just knew where to turn. That road does sound familiar though. I remember once I passed where I needed to turn and it took me forever to find my way back bc I didn't know any of the street names. Pre-GPS days, too. Haha!

musicalsilver · December 2013

I spent many years working for a small local restaurant. Bussing tables, making sandwiches and then ultimately worked my way up to serving. I did that from when I could first work through undergrad summers.

The coolest job I had was the summer I spent working R&D for a flavor development company. I was in charge of supervising reactions to create "novel" natural flavors. It was natural because we just kind of threw things together and cooked it for a while and didn't intend for anything much to happen (which sounds pretty artificial to me, but the guidelines in the US are pretty flexible). It was *weird*. We ultimately had to taste the things I made, and that goes against all the science I've ever done. I did like being able to/practically being required to eat and drink in lab. Plus there was a ton of downtime. And cool taste-testing panels. I miss that job. I wish I had a better palate so I could actually do that for a living!

RIngReady · December 2013

Well add me to the list of camp counselors. I worked for the YMCA every summer during college. Then I was a showgirl for Disney on Ice and then life got real and I needed a career.

BLT20051 · December 2013

My first job was a paper route at 10. Then at 13 I started working in the corn fields every summer. I worked for a research farm so I actually would crawl around and inject corn stalks with different diseases and we would note how it affected them. I know there's a lot of monsanto hate but they paid me well! Then I started at McDonalds at 15 and worked there until I went to Iraq at 18. Not many options in a tiny corn field town.