Ms.Huxtable Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Sunshine's beer testing post got me thinking about all the wacky jobs I've had over the years. What are some of the jobs you've had, and what do you do now? Me: Bakery Assistant - Patisserie Ulyssis This was my first job. I loved eatting the chocolate and strawberries all day long. My boss blasted the music in the back, which I loved and when I earned enough to buy my first stereo, I quit. Cashier - Wendys You know, gotta do what you gotta do when in school. Trail Guide, Ranch Hand - J&H Riding Stable I worked here for a few years. Built muscles like you wouldn't believe, rode horses about 6 hours a day, slung bails of hay and sacks of grain, cleaned stalls, taught kids how to ride and absolutely loved the job. I made about $200.00 buck a day CASH in the summer and nothing in the winter. What a great job. Social Coordinator, Manifest Operator and Bar Staff - Markham Skydiving Pretty much anything that needed done, I was there to do. I hung out at the dropzone for about three years, did my fair share of jumps, had a hell of a time partying and then when the sport took 3 friends, I left and never looked back. Then about 4 or 5 office jobs (AR, AP, HR, Payroll, Accounting... Blah, balh blah, offices suck ass). Now I do Guest Services for a huge company that treat me like gold. I have a lot of responsibility, but I like it. Lots of perks too. Free parking, free suites whenever I want them, cheap gym memberships, a great boss....can't complain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Good Question! *Cashier at the Chesley Drug Store *Front Desk girl at Sauble Beach Resort Camp *Super 8 Motel in Owen Sound *Sales Assistant Windermere Manor In Austraila....resort work, Dive shop, Feed Factory weighing trucks in and out, and renovating an old house to make it a backpackers hostel. * Conference Coordinator Talisman Mtn. Ski Resort * Ski Instructor * Irrigation installor * Waitress * temporary beer bitch *** And hopefully within the month I'll be a certified REFLEXOLOGIST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooly Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 * cleaning up a collapsed hockey rink full of coca cola products-worst job ever, 6 month old coke sitting in the sun starts to stink, and its sticky when you get it sprayed in your hair n on your face. crap. * building a house for my dad- this was kinda fun, he was on crutches at the time so i had him over my shoulder tellin me what to do n what hot to do,, pointing with his crutch. *telemarketing- this just sucked but i needed dough, still do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gentlemonkey Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Telemarketing- Trying to unload Bulk Freezer beef on new canadians (usually the only ones who listened past the bulk beef realization)! hook, 8 ounces of free ground beef delivered to your door, sinker, seedy salesman arrives with a burger's worth of meat and tries to force a year's worth of beef on you. weird 2 months, not one sale. Gondola Operator at Sunshine Villafe- Standing, Watching, unloading skis and snowboarders- with magical 4 hour ski breaks.. or nap breaks, lived on the mountain. Garbage Boy- City of Ottawa Summer Student program had me pushing a garbage can on wheels (known as the bucket) wearing long pants, a reflective vest, steel toed boots, hard hat and a hateful frown in the summer heat. up and down the streets of my very own neighbourhood. Not a lucky stroke. Felt like community service. but worse. BLockbuster- yep. lots more but i'll leave it at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kung Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Funny we got the free beef call the other day. Then the follow up asking if we had or wanted a deep freeze full of beef. I had a weird job once where I had to hang out in a warehouse full of major league lights and sound and pass on the benefits of animal tranquilizers for human consumption. It was a brutal twelve hour shift with the worst 'music at work'. Strange dress code too oddly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarfmaster C Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 best job i ever had --- lab instructor in UVic geography dept. - got to teach surveying a couple times, gis (not so exciting), geomorphology, coastal geomorph -- - cool stuff worst job - technical asst. for the coast guard / fisheries and oceans - holy f*cking gov't employees. it's really something that our country holds it together with such slack ass morons in such positions of power. other worst jobs - crappy $8/hr no respect from the boss: health food store, patisserie (actually had my boss - a 50something lady hit on me repeatedly in front of my coworkers! blech!) not bad jobs: gas station attendant (no trouble eatin 'fun' brownies at work ) beer store (no trouble eatin 'fun' brownies at work ) delivered seeds around vancouver island to retailers -- free hotels, meals, planned my route to coincide with the Coombs Country Bluegrass Festival Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Longest Job...Blockbuster...6 years Most boring Job...Janitor/Security Kanata Town Centre Mall...Six months Shortest Job...Digging up dead trees...2 hours (I quit) Fun jobs...Didn`t have any... Best paying Job...Ma Bell... Can`t wait for Job...Waiting for the phone call! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\/\/illy Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Wow, I've had so many jobs I can't even remember them all. Here's a few: Public Library - The Dewey Decimal System is not as interesting as you may think. Paper Route - It was in an apartment building and therefore took me about 5 minutes to do. Baskin Robbins - I got fired for eating ice cream. I actually didn't do it but... D'uh! Driving Range / Mini-putt Attendant - I think I could drive a ball 400 yards in those days. Little Ceasars - Do not eat there. Enough said. (Actually, raiding the fridge behind the bar led to many an important night in the park behind my house.) Party Time Rentals - You get to go to lots of parties full of people too good for you and collect all the dirty shit when it's over. Got paid for being in the truck which paid off in gold if the party was out of town. There are many more but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenSeasJim Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 1. Bikini Inspector 2. Beaver Patrol 3. Muff Diver Thanks Bruce! Seriously though: 1. Working at a greenhouse when I was 16 was cool. I even had to deliver "shrubs" to Jane and Finch one time. 2. Beer store was fun. Lots of free beer (it's amazing how many cases can get broken). Pizza every weekend (thanks to the many customers who didn't realize how many empties they really had). 3. Baskin Robbins. I was hired after they fired Willy (who ate more ice cream then ever after they fired him). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phred Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Farm hand - Throwing bails of hay in the mow; picking corn; picking rocks; chasing and catching chickens - you know the usual... Carpet cleaner assistant - Moving furnature around the room. HATED THAT. Lasted two days. St. Huberts - Worked in the kitchen. Was there over 5 years. Mostly as the dish washer. Teacher's Assistant - Loved that. Did that four three years of university. Computer Science at Carleton - Maybe I TA'd some of you - Hope I gave ya a good grade. Computer guy - I worked for a few firms doing similar stuff. Now I am a dev manager at Oracle. Phred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaimoe Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Seat filler for the Gemini Awards. I got drunk and made a fool of myself in front of Ron MacLean's wife at the after-party banquet. She remembered at Gemini Awards a year later. Runner for ESPN 2 during an Argo game - at one point in the game, the producer asked me to fetch Lou Gossett Jr. out of the crowd for an ESPN inteview. I did just that. Nice man. Very old and very tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermontdave Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Painter.(House, Portrait, Car) Framer.(Paintings, Houses, Constitutions) Comedian.(Musical, Lyrical, Mime) scratch that last one. I hate mimes peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcane Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 * Cleaning motel rooms vacated by truckers, strippers and drunken teenagers. * Killing radioactive mice; trying to invent glow-in-the-dark bacteria; babysitting geriatric housepets ... all in the same job. * Assembling "Trivial Pursuit" games. * Making stuff to protect your car from door-dings. * Calculus. Lots and lots of calculus. * Front-line tech support. These jobs gave me the sunny disposition I have today, thereby grooming me for my current job in marketing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 -painter -factory worker -foundry worker(aluminium(sp?) cast) -siding installer -window installer -tree topper(Hornpayne) -roofer -gas fitter -framer -line-man -transmisson tower serviceman -hydro tower constructor(sorta like a line man but putting em up instead of wiring them) Currently: -electrician (when laid off) -gas fitter/gas fireplace installer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Bad jobs: -McDonalds. $2.65 an hour. -Roofing. Worst Job Ever. -Loading trucks with pink insulation (of which I seem to be thankfully immune). -Stuffing lawchair cushions with foam (though I really enjoyed unloading the trucks - huge blocks of foam that weighed maybe 100 lbs. We'd look like ants carrying these enormous things). -Putting stickers on boxes. -Threading hinges. This job saved my life. I was a high school dropout, living back at home. Best paying job I ever had or was likely to ever get (somewhere around $8/hr). My uncle had been there for 20+ years, my cousin over ten. I saw a horrible future at something I hated so on my sixth day I quit, and at age 19 went back to grade ten (in mid-October) and ended up getting a few degrees, which led to... Good jobs: -Reading music magazines for the government at $12/hr. -Playing gigs and making a part-time living at it. -Teaching. Rocks. -And (drumroll) Best Job Ever, managing nero. Working for my parents at their warehouse, moving furniture (which I did for two years), and a summer of deconstruction were pretty good jobs too, but I'm glad they were temporary endeavors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kung Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Just curious but when exactly did you make $2.65 an hour Velvet? You're dating yourself buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B & Z Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 I was once a traffic counter. Best job I ever had. Lots of sun, fresh air (if you made sure to sit way back from the intersection), tunes etc. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 like many, my first job was a paper route... then, i got a job at a DutchBoy/IGA where i worked for years, paying my way through WLU. here, i also had the pleasure of working with the palace princess. we used to get it on in the bakery or not, perhaps i was dreaming. after school, i found a job at working for a custom carpet manuf... rendering artwork, to be printed and then tufted by hand. i became supervisor, only to have my ass kicked to the unemployment line earlier this year. (what a blessing!) i did have the excitement of producing carpets for rich american clients such as J-Lo, Oprah, Elton John, Wayne Gretzky, the Chevron Texaco corp, and the Houston Texans of the NFL. cool, eh? now, im back in school. Geographic Information Systems at SSFC in Lindsay. oh joy! i've also become somewhat of a nomadic hippie. the shorthair type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-towns Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Hey, I'm a Flemming grad, not GIS though. Worst job - sorting 10 different types of brass fittings mixed within a box of 10,000 at the age of 6 (damn family business) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Early eighties, the student minimum wage was $2.65 an hour. I lied about my age and got a job at McDonalds when I was 13 or 14. Got fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 quote: Originally posted by Qu'est-ce que c'est?: AD, it was at Fleming that we were discussing mobile mapping... the program here is great, a GIS department was extablished here 20 years ago, whereas other schools are barely on board. they also have a cool cartographic option... the job posting in Kabul is a GIS training internship to teach basic GIS/GPS to U of Kabul geoscience students. ...a 4-5 month internship through the USGS. All mapping is mobile at some point I did GIS at Carleton and boy did it suck. 'OK we'll show you the software, but you can learn the applications and the theory and science behind it somewhere else. Give me $4500 a year.' U of Kabul eh? There's a big shake-up here in postsecondary education... Before and during Taliban it was free for all (if you were male), now they're making it pay... Nobody here can afford USD$4000 a year for school when they make $400 a year... We'll see how things work out... That'd be a cool internship... Can you send me the link, I'd like to read more (not gonna apply, but would make for good reading I think...) Cheers ad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\/\/illy Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 One of the best jobs I ever had was at Home Hardware. I worked there for years. My job was basically problem solving. The cool thing is that now I can basically do anything: plumbing, electrical, construction, locksmithing, make water-bongs from plumbing parts, etc. Very cool job. I worked as a gardiner for one day. Boy did that suck. 8 hours pulling weeds out of a garden. I don't think so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 was once a clerk/messenger for Merrill Lynch wandering around toronto with special financial documents going into buildings with talking elevators where I got to make small talk with billionaires then wander into offices with 20 foot high oak doors or else go 6 stories underground into strange vaults with armed guards where I put letters into a huge wall of metal slots with people on the other side who would grab them outta my hand also got paid 50 grand a year to get baked and sleep in overhead cranes... once spent a whole week wondering if I was in the right place as opposed to diggin ditches for $5.50 an hour the harder you work the less you get paid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long time runnin' Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 In order of favorites: -teaching rich, well-maintained cougars to sail at a sailing/tennis club in Sault Ste. Marie -teaching canoeing to kids at a summer camp, counselling (lots of hot female counsellors) -working a corner store (free haagen daas and porn!) (there was no camera to get caught) -dismantling industrial carousels in San Diego (time off spent at the beach--steady 7 foot rollers) -clinical research at a health clinic in the Soo -building an old miser's cottage for minimum wage -clearing out the office of a prof who retired, then, sadly, passed away (this one was a real treat) Oh, and currently: -grad student at McGill--molecular biology and genetics. Getting paid to go to school is great, but the pay isn't so hot. It works out to slightly more than minimum. IDLE HANDS ARE THE DEVILS HELPER! -protestant work ethic (boo!) - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarfmaster C Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by AD: Anybody else do GIS stuff? i did my undergrad in geography - taught a couple labs of gis. got to do some gis for the coast guard, but more bullshit database and spreadsheet stuff than mapping. now i'm doing a masters in hydrology which will involve a good deal of gis-based modelling. i don't really like how problematic and time-consuming it can be, but it's so freakin useful i'm finding it hard to escape. i like surveying best as far as 'geomatics' goes... the lab work i can do without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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