The array of jobs a person has in a lifetime is both formative and reflective of a life path. My wife has only done one kind of job ... ever! She has always worked in a dental office, since the age of 16. She has worked at her current position for over 35 years. It pays well, it has been recession proof and she likes the patients she works with. The downside is that she has become so tired of cleaning teeth that she could spit!
I'm from the other end of the spectrum, the person who has moved from position to position freely thoughout his life, having worked at 45 different places in a variety of fields. For the past 20 years, I've had my own company and have done software application development for various corporations in the San Francisco Bay Area, but even that has had a wide range of variability.
For your entertainment, I list below the jobs I can remember:
I think that is fewer than 30, but give me allowance for age, LOL. Also, if it didn't hit the list, it is probably so boring I just can't remember it!
Nursery field worker
Souvenir Shop Assistant
Grocery Bagger
Door-to-door Bible Salesman
Feed Mill Worker
Cab Driver
McCall's Pattern Company factory worker
Meat Packing plant hamburger mixer
Playground supervisor
Jr. High Science Teacher
Substitute Teacher system wide
High School Chemistry Teacher
State Mental Hospital Teacher
Menninger's Institute Child Care Counselor
Emotionally Disturbed Children Counselor in San Francisco
Pine Tree Nursery Foreman
Construction Worker
Oil Rig worker
Railroad Gandy Dancer
Milkman
Rock Quarry Worker
Adult Computer Educator
Computer Technical Support
Type shop programmer
Customer Support for Graphics / Typography system in Silicon Valley
Manager of that Customer Support
Started my own software development company
I'm late with this entry, but I need to get around to the other members of the Loose Blogger Consortium - with clickable links on the right - to see what they came up with last Friday. Since we all write on the same topic totally independently, you never know what any member will bring out. I think I'll go see right now ...
Wow - I am now inspired to reply in kind - LOL
ReplyDeleteWorld's Fare Mexcican
Jack in the BoxMcDonalds
McDonalds
Sears - Bedding and Bath Dept
Sears stockroom
Courier in SF
Head Courier in SF
Distribution in Ct (Head courier - they changed title to justify the move)
Dist Ops in LA
RadioShack trainee
RadioShack store mgr
RadioShack computer sales
RadioShack Computer Center Mgr
RadioShack Computer training & Support
RadioShack Computer training & Support in Honolulu
RadioShack training & Support back in CA
Ins Agency programmer
Independent contractor
RadioShack phone support - TX
Full-time caregiver to Huntington's Disease patient
Wow - nowhere near your variety - LOLLOL but fortunate;y I never sold Bibles though I did a stint selling subscript5ions to TV Guide when I was 12
@shackman
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me I left out Fuller Brush salesman, LOL!!!
@shackman
ReplyDeleteJust remembered another construction job and working as a floor change payoff person at Harrah's in Tahoe. I'm getting closer to the true count.
Wow! Talk about variety!
ReplyDelete@Delirious
DeleteThat might mean that I'm a dilettante, lol. The variety had served me well in my own business, because I can relate to everyone from the boss all the way through the organization and I find it invaluable.
That was some list.
ReplyDeleteI bet you didn't have to deal with changing wet pants, while substitute teaching, like I did! Now I know who to blame for that missing sheet in my dress pattern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Incredible! What a life. You and Shackman have just given me an inferiority complex.
ReplyDeleteYes, Ramana, but what of Lady Foss? To steadfastly do the same thing, day in, day out, for as long as she has, is no mean feat. And where I am now, with that famous hindsight of yours, I find her choice vaguely enviable. Having thought about this feeling on and off today I know what it is that she has and I crave this minute: Security. To know where you are.
DeleteSo, Ramana, hats off to all of you - each in their own way.
In the meantime I shall keep digging (myself out of a hole),
U
Please forgive me for laughing out loud: You selling the bible door to door, Old Foss? As anecdotes go it's too good to be true. How hard up were you and what your sins to be reduced to such a fate? Still, you look the trustworthy sort so I am sure you will have made the odd sale. Be glad though you never knocked at Grannymar's door. She does give the likes of you short shrift. Not before kindling false hope by letting you give her the full spiel, and then leaving you out in the rain. Yes, such cruelty. Made quite an impression on me. But then, as I say, there is a wolf in many a sheep's clothing. Hers clearly unleashed at the sight (and sound) of cold callers.
ReplyDeleteWhich neatly, and purely by way of association, brings us to the play "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. Can't remember the plot now but the title sure is memorable. For more reasons than one.
Anyway, judging by your list and Shackman's, the term 'portfolio career' so charmingly apt. Mind you, how one condenses that into a resume of two A4 pages max is anyone's guess. No wonder, you started your own business.
U
Gotta tell ya Fossil, you sound like the "jack of all trades" my grandma used to me about. She also told me to be careful of those guys.
ReplyDeleteblessings ~ maxi
@Grannymar
ReplyDeleteI did not and could not do that. I have definite limits in my abilities! LOL
@Rummuser
ReplyDeleteYeah, that will be the day! LOL I've noticed how incredibly insecure you are.
@Ursula
ReplyDeleteThe Bible sales were the worst! So, why did I do it? Because it was the only way that a college kid could make $275 to $350 per week in the summer back in 1968. Turns out I was pretty good at it.
It wasn't worth it!
@Ursula
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing the Lady F and her amazing contributions, for he steadfast endurance is what allowed the launching of a business which is never an instant success. Well, almost never and definitely not in my case.
@Maxi
ReplyDeleteJack of all trades sometimes, jackass being traded at others. It has been an interesting journey.