Jobs

No, not "Steve," but work.....

Still smarting over "just a secretary," I have thought of which of many jobs--full- and part-time--I've had that I've enjoyed the most--and least.

I think my favorite was my road construction job.  It was physical and it was outside.  I liked the work and the guys with whom I worked.  Granted, the most I ever worked there was six or so months at a time since it was a summer job.  But it, I think, was my favorite.  I still can drive past places down in Detroit and say, "I helped to pave that road for the first time" or "We widened that one" or "That's where I was when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon."

My dad made me quit that job.  Back then, guys listened to their fathers.  After graduation, I was offered a full-time position with the construction crew.  I jumped at it and when I told my parents, my father said, "No!  I didn't send you to college to work construction" or something of that nature.  So, there went my construction job.  Would I have like it for 30 or 35 years, esp as I got older?  I don't know, but I still have enjoyed physical labor, such as working in the yard.

I also enjoyed my college job--working in the dining hall.  Of course, the work wasn't very demanding, physically or otherwise, except for Sun brunches after a tough Sat night!  I was with many of my buddies, who also worked, and those who didn't usually came in to eat.  My favorite part was working the large, industrial-size dishwasher.  There was a "front-end" job and a "back-end" job.  Sometimes, esp for that Sun brunch when some scheduled workers didn't show up, I'd work both.  And, later during my senior year when I was the "headwaiter," sort of the boss, I'd work it, too, if needed.  What a great day!  Go to classes, then head to the dining hall for work (beginning at 85 cents an hour!).  After, it was mosey down for rugby or baseball practice.  Then, it was dinner, goofing around with the guys for an hour or two.  Library time was next.  If I was lucky, the cute girls were in the newspaper/magazine room and I could go in and shyly flirt.  My day was made if they said "Hello" and talked a bit.  Then, after about four hours of library time, it was back to the room.  If hungry, it was pizza or a grinder from Mr. Bell's, while we listened to the campus radio sports show.  We listened because M-Th there was a sports quiz and there were quite a few campus "teams" competing to see who'd win after whatever time it was.

I worked in the foundry at Ford's, but didn't like it at all.  Oh, I made good money, great money in fact.  Straight-time, with no OT, was more than 50% more than my first teaching job.  That is, I took a sizable pay cut to teach.  I foundry work was hard, but that wasn't the problem.  I didn't mind the work.  It was the conditions.  It was dirty!  Soot everywhere.  I coudn't wear my contact lenses, even after work or on Sundays--we worked ten hours on Sat, too.  I remember always seeming to have grit in my mouth; even mouthwash didn't get rid of it.  Fortunately, I worked there only about three months.  I remember because I just qualified for the health, eye, dental insurance plans and had full union dues taken from my paycheck.  But I was offered my first teaching job and took it--let's just say with the strong recommendation that I do so from my father.  He didn't have to push that one very hard, though.

I also enjoyed officiating basketball--most of the time.  It was great to have two good teams, a lot of fun for me as well as the players.  I most often worked with a good buddy of mine and we developed a system where we had a good idea of where each of us would be, what we'd call, etc.  It was sort of ESPN between us.  It didn't matter if it was two good teams in the state tournament or during the regular season or if it was two good jr high teams.  Those games were fun.  Now, lousy teams with lousy coaches weren't a lot of fun.  The coaches were lousy, but didn't know it, and if they were losing (and being lousy coaches, what do you think their teams were doing?), they'd always blame us.  "Call it tighter!"  "You're calling too much."  Well, "tighter" meant call it "tighter" on the other team, not his, and so on.

Coaching?  As much as I enjoyed playing sports, from just goofing around as a kid to the pretty competitive levels later on, I never really liked coaching.  I liked the guys I coached with.  But the actual coaching?  Let's just say I didn't live and die high school football and baseball.  Friday nights in football, though, with the stands full, was a trip.  I never got tired of that.  But I didn't care much for practices.  Baseball was different.  I didn't care for the games, esp doubleheaders, but enjoyed most of the practices, where I could actually do something, I guess.

Writing?  I have enjoyed it most of the time. Sometimes I take on too many assignments and don't care much for rushing to meet deadlines/due dates.  But it's fun to put things on paper--in print or online.  Funny, invariably, the columns and articles I've written that I think are the best, at least they are my favorites, get little response.  The ones that I think are pretty mediocre, at best, often are the ones which gather more compliments.  That happens a lot.

My ideal job??????  I'm not sure.  Maybe a research librarian?  Maybe a lawyer who maps strategies, but doesn't actually argue cases.  The guy who names flavors of salad dressings, yogurts, etc.?  Now, that might be a good one.