Who does what for a living?

[BJRSanDiego]

My best (most rewarding) job?

When I was managing a large group of engineers, I knew that I was doing well and doing the right things if I got zero feedback from my bosses. But if something went wrong or one of my employees did something wrong or if our software crashed, I got a bunch of calls from my remote bosses. So, I got zero positive reinforcement and lots of negativity. It paid pretty well but was stressful. In the earlier periods I wore a pager and hated to get a page starting with "911" and a phone number.

But after I retired, I had a part time job in my neighborhood feeding a friend's three horses and a dozen chickens when they were out of town. It was totally non-stress and was fun. I would bring the horses treats from my grove and they loved to see me and be hand fed. Sometimes they would start whinnying when they saw me from a few hundred feet away and would drool when they saw that I had brought them a treat. Their digestive systems were used to getting a wide variety of different foods (but in limited quantities) so their favorite treat was a half a navel orange. Apples and carrots were also high on their favorite list. They got the treats before they got their regular feed. The chickens enjoyed seeing me and were always very curious and attentive. My pay? Free eggs. Lots of them.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I did a bunch of odd little jobs when the kids were very small. When our daughter (youngest) was almost 3, we started our chimney cleaning business. My entrepreneurial spirit, my idea from the start. Rick and I flyered neighborhoods, hundreds of flyers during August of 1983, and the business boomed. We charged less than everyone else but he stayed in the same neighborhoods each day. I did the scheduling.

Graduated from college at the age of 38, taught English and history to 8th graders for a few years. Didn't love teaching at all. I loved being a student.

Got a great job in tech support and actually taught computer classes for Realtors at the MLS for the greater Denver area for several years. Health problems caused me to become depressed and extremely tired, a lack of iron in a person's blood can lead to some pretty severe depression. I quit that job and shouldn't have, but the long drive was wearing on me. It was 45 minutes from home on a good traffic day. Add in 9 hours of being at work + the driving time to get there and back, and I was gone from home 11 hours a day. Every third weekend or so, I was tied to a cell phone for work as well. We had to take turns with that duty. I was exhausted and couldn't do anything else. I had three kids who were teens and didn't really need me much, but I couldn't give much, but their various school and band activities on Saturdays were exhausting, plus church on Sundays and being in charge of the education programs was also taxing.

I also couldn't help Rick with our business, he was trying to manage that, he was spending his evenings returning calls and scheduling people for the next day, plus he was a Denver firefighter (40 years).

Rick was trying to manage the business, take care of things around home while I was at work. Finally, he told me to please stop working and help with our business again, and I did that as soon as it became apparent that our son was going to start cleaning chimneys as well.

Our chimney cleaning business blossomed into a big business idea for our son, and he is doing very well at that. He has a fireplace store and is more knowledgeable than anyone at fireplaces and chimneys. Its helped him with his store.

 

[artringwald]

High school: Delivered newspapers for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Now the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is delivered by guys in cars that zip through the neighborhood at 5 AM so it's there waiting for me when I'm up at 7 AM. I love reading the paper because it doesn't flash, jump around, or blast video ads while I'm trying something. It also has lots of comics all in the same place.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

Now the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is delivered by guys in cars that zip through the neighborhood at 5 AM so it's there waiting for me when I'm up at 7 AM. I love reading the paper because it doesn't flash, jump around, or blast video ads while I'm trying something. It also has lots of comics all in the same place.

I zipped through the neighborhood at 5 AM on my bike!

 

[easyrider]

I zipped through the neighborhood at 5 AM on my bike!

I remember my paper routes as a 8th grader. I had 2 routes of which 1 was daily local and the other a Sunday only Times. Sundays only Times papers were really heavy and those customers actually tipped really well. Some of the Times customers overlapped with my daily delivery. One of the overlap customers told me that I should wean out the non-tippers by telling them if they wanted the paper at the door I expected to be tipped. I did this and by the next month was making way more while those that didn't want to tip switched to the afternoon paper meaning I was making more for providing a better service while doing less work. I think this advice was my first clue regarding business. Provide a better service and charge accordingly.

Bill

 

[DawnM]

I am a school counselor, before that I was a high school teacher. My husband is an accountant. Boring but stable.

 

[Passepartout]

I zipped through the neighborhood at 5 AM on my bike!

I was delivering newspapers, both morning and evening until evening folded, starting about age 12 I had 2 streets and about 125 customers. When I started, I collected $,35 a week, daily and Sunday. My, how times change! I had the same route until I was in college, along with bagging groceries at Safeway, and stuffing comics and ads into the Sunday editions starting about 2a.m. I didn't have a lot of time to get in mischief- but I managed. I worked Summers clearing brush and making new ski runs at the local ski hill to earn a season lift pass.

There is always something to do if you get up early to do it and have some motivation. Nice bikes, motorcycles, cars were mine.

Jim

 

[easyrider]

I was delivering newspapers, both morning and evening until evening folded, starting about age 12 I had 2 streets and about 125 customers. When I started, I collected $,35 a week, daily and Sunday. My, how times change! I had the same route until I was in college, along with bagging groceries at Safeway, and stuffing comics and ads into the Sunday editions starting about 2a.m. I didn't have a lot of time to get in mischief- but I managed. I worked Summers clearing brush and making new ski runs at the local ski hill to earn a season lift pass.

There is always something to do if you get up early to do it and have some motivation. Nice bikes, motorcycles, cars were mine.

Jim

Times have changed. We don't get a physical newspaper anymore. I think there is a Sunday and Wednesday local newspaper if a person was inclined to have them. I read our local paper on my fire tablet.

Bill

 

[x3 skier]

I zipped through the neighborhood at 5 AM on my bike!

I occasionally helped a friend and his dad deliver the afternoon paper. Learned how to ”box” the paper so we could throw the paper onto the porches. I rode on one side of the tailgate of the ‘53 Chevy Station Wagon and my friend on the other. He was a lefty and I’m a righty. Delivered the whole route in under an hour.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I remember my paper routes as a 8th grader. I had 2 routes of which 1 was daily local and the other a Sunday only Times. Sundays only Times papers were really heavy and those customers actually tipped really well. Some of the Times customers overlapped with my daily delivery. One of the overlap customers told me that I should wean out the non-tippers by telling them if they wanted the paper at the door I expected to be tipped. I did this and by the next month was making way more while those that didn't want to tip switched to the afternoon paper meaning I was making more for providing a better service while doing less work. I think this advice was my first clue regarding business. Provide a better service and charge accordingly.

Bill

I wish that I had learned this. I had some fussy customers. I should have opened the discussion about tipping versus asking for favors. Most of my customers were cheap skates. I got very few tips and they only amounted to a small percentage of my earnings. Some would move w/o paying and I'd have to track them down. Some required me to come back multiple times to get paid. I don't recall the amount that was charged, but IIRC is was about a buck for 2 weeks.

My Dad, who - - unfortunately - - had good "street savey," but didn't have marketing experience, gave me advice on how to treat the A-holes: When it was raining and I had a bunch of wet papers, THEY got the 5 pound wet logs. (It didn't matter if it rained or snowed, I HAD to deliver the papers even if I ended up getting sopping wet). Also, the customers that wanted their papers before 6 am during M-F (because they got up early) got their paper slammed against their doors on Saturday and Sunday. I thought that if I had to change my route in an inefficient way to accommodate their schedule, then they needed to be reminded of their demand on the weekend when they may want to sleep in.

Like some others have reported on this thread, I too worked for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune (newspaper). I was "on the road" at 5 am and peddling down dark unlit intercity streets without a bike light to pick up my papers, about a block from the railroad tracks (sketchy neighborhood). My "take" was only a few pennies per newspaper per day and if I had a deadbeat I ate it. I earned less than the minimum wage but appreciated the $. After all - - I was under the age of 16, which I think is where the minimum wage applies. I grew up close in the neighborhood to where the George Floyd protest burned down the 3rd Precinct police station and a whole bunch of my favorite stores were burned to the ground. A Walmart Drug was burned down a block from the hom which I grew up in. Neighbors lost their job when they didn't rebuild. So sad. But my time in South Minneapolis in an intercity area was part of my education in "situational awareness". I've applied those "street smarts" in a number of dicey situations later in life.

 

[artringwald]

 

[PcflEZFlng]

@BJRSanDiego I also had to be out there, rain or snow - which was most of the time. And deal with deadbeats. And they were also the ones that got the wet papers.

 

[Snazzylass]

Wow! Love the stories of the early jobs the best! And, the paper routes...what does this say about how kids are raised today? And, I'm guessing kids on farms worked even harder.

My uncles, who weren't much older than me, had paper routes. I remember the worn bags and books of tickets vividly. Both of my brothers carried papers and won lots of awards, and the loot & tips at Christmas time!

My older brother is quite the introvert. I swear he'd have me "sub" his route about every 4 weeks just to collect and get the deadbeats caught up. It made me crazy to see those stubs in the book and people still getting their papers.

I got quite a reputation in the family at the time for collecting. The skill has served me well over the years. It was a powerful lesson early to see the injustice.

 

[rapmarks]

So many paperboys. It is making me remember a bad incident. The local paper came twice a week, my nieces were visiting and I was waiting for the schedule for Fiesta Days so we could go to activities.
no paper so I call in. Then I get the call from paper girls mother, she delivered the paper. I did not get it. They accuse me of lying. I call newspaper back, they accuse me of lying because paper girl said she delivered all the papers. Never got that newspaper and cancelled.
got the newspaper in Florida for many years, but funny thing is whenever it was missing, the newspaper lady claimed someone walked th3 neighborhood at four am and stole newspapers .

 

[jimf41]

I feel so boring.
I always planned to go to college, so took one year of typing and shorthand so I could get a summer job. took the train into the Chicago loop for seven summers doing secretarial jobs and earned enough to pay for college and buy my first car.
when I bought the car, the dealer invited me to test drive it, but I had to take my drivers Ed class first, they came to my house, picked me up,taught me to drive in seven days,and I was ready to go.
I taught high school English, I also was an history double major, and when some of the teachers decided to take masters classes at the university, i joined them. Got the first masters as a high school reading specialist and switched jobs,
meantime I met my future husband, finished the masters , graduated Friday night, married Sunday afternoon, off to boundary water canoe area and around Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, into new apartment, and. started teaching a college prep reading class and English.
eventually, had babies ,took maternity leave, and never went back to that wonderful job. Tried a junior college and junior high, but went back to high school again.
got another job a few years later, now I taught English and remedial reading, mostly to special Ed, ESL, , and uninterested kids. Continued to take classes, got the equivalent of two or three more masters. Worked harder than I ever had At that school for 18 more years.
retired at 55 , my husband had 35 years in and wanted us to retire together, Took me a long time to let go of my teaching materials. For a long time, I would have gone back in a heartbeat.
it was an exhausting job, as I realized when I subbed six weeks for someone. The amount of prep and grading papers is unbelievable. Would no longer have the energy to do it.

Teaching children is the toughest and most honorable profession in the world IMO. Hardly boring. I wish I could have done it.

 

[mentalbreak]

Love the paper route stories as well. It makes me sad that kids today don’t have the opportunity. My kids really only had service opportunities at that age - no jobs. But I’m not sure I would have allowed them to do it if it was an option. On my way to the office I drive by the corner where Johnny Gosch’s wagon was found over 40 years ago after he disappeared delivering papers. My brother-in-laws had an adjacent route until 5 or so years before the disappearance.

 

[dlpearson]

Paperboy here, too. Rode my Schwinn 10-speed bike (it was puke brown) with a metal basket over each side of the back wheel, loaded up with papers (Sundays were the worst!! each paper was so big/heavy!) Great experience, but a royal pain to get a substitute when we went on family vacation each summer......after doing my neighborhood for a couple of years, I got the primo route adjacent to my neighborhood that included an indoor apartment building. That was awesome!

"I want my two dollars", (from Better of Dead. Great clip/quote/movie! I remember frantically "going collecting" to get cash the day before my "bill" for papers was due each month to my supervisor. Long after I was grown, when newspapers started a direct-pay process for customers (i.e., no need for the delivery person to have to knock doors for payment), I thought "how easy!"

 

[artringwald]

My first job was subbing for my friends paper route when he was on vacation. Unfortunately, I had to do the collecting too. I also did babysitting and dog sitting. My first W-2 job was washing dishes and cleaning at a summer camp in 1965. My paycheck for the whole summer was $65. At least my parents didn't have to feed me when I was gone.

 

[fer829]

Beginning & summer jobs while in college for Architectural Engineering (early 60’s):
Office boy for a general building construction company,
Laborer on the construction of a new high school,
Architectural design/drafting for industrial buildings,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a result of ROTC (including 1 year in Viet Nam),
Structural design/drafting for industrial buildings,
Graduate school for Master of Engineering,
Professor teaching Civil Engineering & Construction for 39 years,
Found that my students had such a great business course requirement that I got an MBA,
Held various summer jobs for:
Consulting engineering firm,
Estimator for a concrete construction company,
Field supervisor for concrete construction company,
Also served on the public library board for 9 years during several new/addition/remodeling of library buildings,
Retired from teaching in 2008—but with the bad economy, taught part time for 2 more years,
Finally told the department chair to “call me only in case of an emergency,”
Two weeks into the next semester I got the call to take over for another part timer who had a job change and couldn’t continue,
The next semester I left out the comment “call me in case of an emergency,”
If it wasn’t for teaching, I’d be a “jack of all trades—and master of none” but they gave me a great background for teaching which I loved.
Now fully retired except for being president of my seniors community HOA.

I’ve enjoyed reading about the wide variety of folks on TUG.
In my case, it’s interesting that I was so shy in high school that the label for my picture in the yearbook was “I profess not talking” and yet my career ended up talking and “professing” to students and people for so many years!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

My first job was subbing for my friends paper route when he was on vacation. Unfortunately, I had to do the collecting too. I also did babysitting and dog sitting. My first W-2 job was washing dishes and cleaning at a summer camp in 1965. My paycheck for the whole summer was $65. At least my parents didn't have to feed me when I was gone.

When I was washing dishes in the summers during high school and part of college, I worked 48 hours a week. I recall that I got $1.25 an hour for the first 40 hours and time and a half for the next 8 (at about $1.87 an hour). Occasionally I had to work a double shift (after my first 48) or 56 hours and the last 8 hours were at a whopping $2.50 an hour. I loved the overtime. But I got home at around 12:30 am and had to leave the house by about 5:15 the next morning. After the lunch hour, things sometimes got slow in the kitchen and I learned to lightly sleep standing up. ha ha.

I don't recall getting a W-2 for the paper route. Maybe I got one. Dunno.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

My first real job was working at an auto detailer outside Orlando, then worked for a few years doing computer tech support for Gateway (the original company) and then Dell. I then worked for a few years for SprintPCS then Sprint Local Telephone, both doing tech support. For the last 20 years, I have been driving a semi in the SE USA for Heartland Express. As a "side hustle", I am licensed in Florida, NC, and VA (other states by request) in Health Insurance with AARP United Healthcare (Medicare).

TS