Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Jobs

So Nancy challenged us today to tell a story about our first job. Since it feels like I have been working since I was a kid *L* I'm not sure if I should start with my first job of babysitting...but since I did that starting at about 11 yrs old I don't really think that is what she is looking for.
My first 'real' job was the year I started HS, I was 13 that summer. We had just moved and I would be going to a new school and meeting new people. Now you have to remember this was a town of 200 people *L* So everyone knew everyone and half of them..if not more...were related to each other! I got a job working at the local cafe during wheat harvest. When you worked at the mom and pop business you did it all. You waited tables, washed dishes and you were the cashier. I don't remember a lot about that first summer except I dated the bosses son...who turned out to be my ex many many years down the road. And that we were swamped!! I worked so many hours that summer!! With all the harvesters in town we were busy from sun up to sun down. Seriously...we would get orders in the afternoon, when one of the truck drivers would come in to unload the wheat, and he would order 35 hamburgers for the crew to take out...and this wouldn't happen just once, because we had several crews working the farms in the area, so this was going on for a couple hours over lunch time. The guys would all come in and have breakfast before they went out and they would come in and have a big meal for supper.I got SO sick of the smell of food that even though I was barely 95 lbs soaking wet, I lost weight because I couldn't stand to eat anything since I was smelling it all day. I went on to work for them every summer and fall during the various wheat harvest, and since it was the family business my kids started working there also from the time they were old enough to talk. I eventually started doing the grill cooking and even worked in the service station pumping gas...yes this was back in the days of full service service stations..and doing small things like changing bulbs and replacing fuses in vehicles, checking fluid levels, cross-referencing parts, etc. I never learned how to run the tire machine to fix flats..no thank you! *L* Didn't want any part in that job. I worked at that job off and on for over 25 years!

1 comment:

Scrappytbear said...

What a lucky chance for you, to have had that job! It may not have been ideal but to work at something "family" like that would have been SO awesome! Good Job!